Em Scrabbled
Ryan has met his match!
Okay, who here has played Bananagrams? Love it! It’s fast, there’s no need for scoring and it’s good practice for Scrabble.
Ryan has met his match!
Okay, who here has played Bananagrams? Love it! It’s fast, there’s no need for scoring and it’s good practice for Scrabble.
No, I haven’t played Bananagrams, and I’m unlikely to, given my sociophobia.
There’s an online version, but you need to be a member of Facebook, Bebo or MySpace. I’ve emailed the company to see if they plan to release a version which doesn’t have this requirement, but I’ve got a feeling they’ll say no.
I play Bananagrams on a regular basis (@Astragali, it has rules for solitaire play), and am very good at it. I also have a game of Facebook Scrabble in progress. I’ve even played a Java implementation (unavailable since October 2006) of the Scrabble game show that starred Chuck Woolery.
I’m not a word game fan, myself, but I’ve played lots of board games! For Sale and Tichu are probably my favourites.
I love the more logic-oriented sudoko puzzles myself. Yeah, hard level! Jumble in papers is fun but sometimes I find myself rearranging the letters far too long and occaisonally coming up with a non-word that doesn’t help when you need to take certain letters from it to solve the main riddle. In competitive scrabble, I’d suck with a capital S, but in playing the occaisonal game against some vocabulary challenged friends or my Mom, on visits when there is pretty much nothing else to do, I do all right. She likes the interaction so she wins that way. smile.
I can understand Ryan’s and Emm’s struggle of waiting for a word like “LO.” Is that even a word? I say, bring on those little sand timers that come in some board games, or better yet, a chess clock, with only a previousely agreed upon time for each player. Run out of time and you either suffer an involuntary forfeit (like chess) or the other player gets to keep going on their own through all the remaining tiles.
Bananagrams? Hmm. If you aren’t keeping score, you’re not playing to win.
I suppose the social aspect could be the winning here, provided, of course, that you’re a social type. Otherwise, well, you lose irrespective of how good or lousy you do.
Astra:
I just checked your link. Hey, it does look like there’s competitive play with scoring involved. In solitare mode it also seems to hark back to the good ol’ quarter video arcade games where high scores are left for everyone to see. Seems like it’d be a fun game if you’re a wordsmith.
In Bananagrams, you kinda keep score… you see you have rounds… You win the round… you score a point. You can play by yourself… but having a crowd is more fun… because there is a time element… you have to use up the letters before your opponents.
“Lo” is a word… to quote “And Lo, the angel of the Lord appeared” … to quote Linus quoting Luke, I believe.
I do like word searches… and jumbles… but profess I am nut much good at anything else… crosswords especially. My Gram & my sister are pros though.
And it is purely coincidence (although I don’t believe in such things) that Sally Forth is about Monopoly… another board game.
I LOVE BANANAGRAMS! 😀
brig:
Sally Forth? Monopoly? An outside comic reference with no link? Ack!
Oh, and speaking of co-inc-i-dinks, (smile), Bananagrams are supposedly on Facebook and Pearls ( http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/ ) is about Facebook friending today, Sunday.
Thing is, whether there’s solitaire play or not, you still have to join one of the social networks in the first place – and there’s a reason why I don’t join… (though I do now tweet)
Emily should be more careful. Given how much Ryan’s ego seems to be wrapped up in his winning at Scrabble, her domination of the game might cause some problems in their relationship. Sounds petty, I know, but that is the way you have developed the character, Brig.
Nice observation, Mike.
Can that relationship survive with two rival alpha types?
I bet it can with some good sportsmanship and a bit of give and take.
Should make for great charged, heated, passionate, emotional and logical fodder for Brig.
Only, when the two go into competitive mode, Randie will be a distant memory.
Today’s SECRET SCRABBLE POWER WORD:
Adz or Adze
Definition: A hand tool used for planing wood. Swung like an axe, but with more controlled swings, an adz has a slightly curved blade that it longer and narrower than an axe blade and turned at a 90 degree angle. The adz was was its greatest use in the Colonial period, before band saws made planing fast and easy, but it is still in use today.
Having the “Z” at the end of the Scrabble game can be awful – points are deducted from your score when the game ends and points are tallied – but this little word can be used to catch up and pass the point leader at the very end!
Ahhh…. adz(e)… thanks for the Scrabble word, Pete. I will add that to my arsenal! Bwahh ha ha! I live with “an Emily’ (in prowess) and every now and then I do actually win.
Oh, I think Ryan likes the challenge, despite his desire to win. I think you’ll agree that Randie is hardly a decent opponent … he might as well be playing by himself. Em will make it a more calculating game… and therefore much more interesting. I don’t doubt, however, that there might be an argument in there at times… that’s just life!
I got an update from Sophia Georgeo, Sales Exec at Bananagrams:
We are in the process of creating a new app for BANANAGRAMS to be played on-line. To be honest we have not yet made a final decision whether it will be a Facebook app, an IPhone app or a simple on-line game (or perhaps one of each). Sorry I could not provide you with any more specific information.