Bananagrams (My Favorite Game)

Fruit stands are often filled with pears, apples, oranges, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a plethora of other sweet, colorful and seeded meals. One fruit stand, however, is not home to rows of colored berries assorted to make a perfect color wheel of edibleness.  It is rather the home of an apple-shaped bag, a pear-shaped sack, a brown rectangular purse, and a banana-shaped pouch. The made-to-scale banana pouch houses 144 letter-inscribed tiles so crowds ranging from 2 to 7 can indulge in a seemingly perfect way to find enjoyment in one’s day.

Bananagrams, the game aforementioned, became an instant classic when I first played. The smooth, polished tiles slid gracefully off of my fingers and landed securely on the table below me like an Olympic figure skating leaping from and landing on ice. Words that I could barely remember or define began to form in front of me, creating an entire single-person-generated scrabble board.

“Peel,” I yelled once all 21 tiles that I originally grabbed were used and intermixed. A grabbed another tile. I added that tile to my crossword.

“Peel,” I yelled again…and again…and again. My opponents were drowning in a sea of tiles. Then I drew a “z.”

What words begin with z, I asked myself. I could only think of "zygote," but I had neither a g nor a y, so I decided to trade in for better.

“Dump,” I exclaimed. I then tossed the z back into the pile face down and picked up 3 new tiles in its stead.

I flipped the tiles over to see the letters Z, X, and Q. I thought to dump again, but I would be far too behind. I stalled in contemplation, and then I realized that my hesitation was a life raft for my opponents. They began to regain their composure and came afloat to complete the game.

I, in contrast, started suffocating in confusion. I took apart my entire board and started over to find the words coaxial, zealous, and qi hidden in the delicious alphabet soup in front of my body. I played these tiles, caught back up, and eventually won on the last tile.

Bananagrams has had my heart ever since.