POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Game Play

By Nandy Ekle

I love most word games. However, it’s hard to find one that keeps my interest very long because, well, as modest as I can be, I’m pretty good at them. I have a huge vocabulary, I’m a good speller, and I can think fast and spontaneously. That’s not to say I’m the champion word gamer, because I’m not. I often go for the most grandiose words and don’t think about score, which means I use a lot of letters of very little value.

But I found something new. Well, not really. It’s a renewing of a very old game. It’s called Bananagram, but it’s nothing more than Scrabble. The version I’ve got is a solo game with the option of finding random players from my contacts list, which I don’t do often because I’m always afraid of bothering other people.

There are four ways to play on my app: Quick Game, which is a short timer and set number of tiles; Pop Atack, where letters drop into a well that grows and I have to use them up before the pile touches the top of the screen; Time Race, which is another short timer, but when you use up the letters more appear for you to use; and then, just plain Practice where they give you a set number of letters and no timer and when you touch the letter the diagram shows you everywhere it can be played.

With my semi-obsessive personality, I’ve played, usually the Time Race, with every second of free time I can find. And while it’s a challenge because the time is so short, I’ve invented a new rule. Each game will have a theme. Every word I make now has to be related to the other words in the diagram.

Now. I wonder how many stories that will create?

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