Get on Board:
Bananagrams Duel!

Bananagrams Duel! is best-selling game Bananagrams’ little brother – taking the classic game and condensing it into a perfect two player option. Just in case you have never heard of Bananagrams, here’s a recap: it plays like a quick-fire Scrabble, with players racing to use up all their lettered tiles, connecting all the letters up however they see fit. Duel! is the same concept but tiles are replaced by 24 cubes, each one containing a variety of vowels and consonants. Each player takes 12 each and is allowed to use any side to create their word grid.

A nice little feature has been added in the form of topic cards. At the start of every round a card is flipped over to reveal a range of topics such as “animals” or “slang words”. This really helps drive the game and gives the player something to focus on where they might otherwise be overwhelmed with possibilities. The creators also give you further ways to play with additional game modes, which help keep the game fresh and accommodate different types of players – be they a wordsmith or someone who didn’t do so well on their school spelling tests.

The game comes in a small, compact hard case, so it’s perfect for travel. Fewer letters allow for faster gameplay and it’s easier than the original, so appealing to kids – even very early readers, if you team up. A great way to sneak spellings into home learning, Bananagrams Duel! is cute as a… banana? And a great addition to any game cupboard.