Bananagrams Steal is a fast-paced variation of the classic Bananagrams! More competitive and with more player interaction, it’s an interesting twist on an already fun game. The twist being that players can “Steal” words from each other!

Here’s how to play:

Objective:

Form as many words as possible (you will also get bonus points per letter, for any word longer than three letters)

Scoring:

At the end of the game you get one point for each word you have.

• For any words longer than 3 letters you get an additional point per letter (after the first 3 letters)

For example if you had 3 words:

• “awe” , “want” & “delta” you would score:
  • 3 points (one for each word)
  • One extra point for the t in “want” (as the word is longer than 3 letters)
  • Two extra points for the final “ta” in “delta” (as the word is longer than 3 letters)
• Total: 6 points

If you had 5 words:

• “awe”, “bin”, “cat”, “doe” & “ear” you would score 5 points – one for each word.
• You would not score any bonus points as none of the words are longer than 3 letters.

So it pays to have longer words! Be careful however that they don’t get stolen!

Setup:

• Dump all the letter tiles face down in the center – this is the pile of letters
• Each player takes 15 tiles to start – these stay in front of the player in their individual play area.

How to Play:

Setup:

• All players simultaneously flip over their 15 tiles and start making individual words. These words should all be individual and not overlap or share letters like in the original banangrams.
• Each player can continue to rearrange their own letters and form their own words until everyone agrees it is time to start the game (roughly two minutes).
• Players then place all unused tiles (that are not part of their words) back into the middle pile face down:

The rest of the game continues as follows – starting with the first player:

1. Turning over a new letter: the current player turns over a new letter from the pool of upside down letters in the centre so that everyone can see it.
2. Making a new word: If anyone can see a way to incorporate the new letter (or any previously revealed letters) into an existing word in such a way that it makes a new word — then they yell out the new word! If it is a valid new word they then add the letter(s) to the original-word and move the new word into their play area in front of them.
3. Snatching Words: The twist is that players can “snatch” words from other players. To snatch a word:
   • You must add at least one letter to the existing word and make a valid new word.
   • Example: If someone has the word “TRAIN,” you can snatch it by adding an “S” from your pile to make “STRAIN”
   • if an “E” and a “D” were revealed
4. If no new words can be seen then play moves onto the next player who turns over a tile and now two tiles will be revealed in the centre pile.

Winning: When no more tiles are left to be drawn, everyone stops play and counts their score.

The player with the highest score wins! (See above for scoring)

Key Rules:

• Words can only be snatched if they form valid words after adding tiles.
• You can rearrange your tiles and create new words anytime, even while snatching is happening – but you cannot break up existing words to make them shorter. Words can only ever become longer!
• Players can only yell out one word per round, if they shoutout an incorrect word that cannot be made, they have to wait until the next tile is turned over before they can attempt to make another word!

Bananagrams Snatch adds a competitive edge, quick thinking and more player interaction to the original game of banagrams, making it perfect for fast-paced word lovers!