Hi, readers! As you can see, I took a bit of time off from the blog to wrap up the school year and enjoy the first two weeks of summer vacation with my family. As of today, I'm back, and I'm ready to dive in to some new projects.
In the next few weeks, I'm going to do at least a few book reviews - I've read some really good ones lately, and I can't wait to share them with you. I've also got a cartooning tutorial in the works, and a couple of revamped folktales to tell. All in all, I think it is going to be a great summer.
Today, let's start with something different: a game review. What game could possibly be so awesome that I'd want to tell everyone in the world about it? Why, BANANAGRAMS, of course.
Bananagrams is, to put it mildly, the best game in existence on this planet. If you haven't tried it yet, you are seriously missing out. It is deceptively simple - 144 letter tiles neatly packaged in a bright yellow bag shaped like a banana. To play, all the tiles are placed face down on a flat surface. All players take between 15 and 21 tiles, depending on how many of you there are, and once everyone has tiles play can begin. All players flip over their tiles and begin to form interconnecting words. These can be moved or changed around in any way at any time. If you get a terrible letter, like a Z or something, you may exchange it for two more new letters. Once a player has used up all their letters, they yell "peel!" and everyone has to take a new letter for the center. Play continues until there are fewer letter tiles remaining than there are players - the winner is whomever uses up all their letters first.
So, like I said, simple. Not so! I am a Latin teacher. I have extensively studied at least six foreign languages. On top of that, I'm a voracious reader. When confronted by all these letters, my brain turns into oatmeal. I try to figure out the best placement for 'luddite,' which I'm sure I'll be able to make if only I get a 'u' ... in the meantime, a five year old can assemble an arsenal of three letter words and beat me in no time flat!
This game is a challenge, people. It is wonderful fun. I love to use it in class - Latin Bananagrams is an excellent way for students to reinforce vocabulary. I also love to play it at home, with my fam, even though I lose every single time. One fun thing I love to do is to play a category game. Cryptids only!
Give it a try! For those of you app lovers, there is a really fun Bananagrams app available, too! Let me know what you think. If you are already a seasoned player, what are some of your favorite categories or go-to words?
Thanks for spedinng time on the computer (writing) so others don't have to.
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