BananagramsWhere the game came from
Updated September 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Abraham Nathanson invented the game in 2005 at age 76 after growing impatient with a slow Scrabble match against his grandson. The design drew from Take Two, an older Scrabble variant with the same underlying mechanics.
The short version
- Learn the history: Abraham Nathanson created the game in 2005 to speed up word play.
- Note the lineage: the design builds directly on Take Two, an older Scrabble variant.
- Recognize the pack: Nathanson's former wife designed the distinctive banana pouch.
- Track other releases: localized editions exist in German, Italian, Spanish, French, and Hebrew.
Nathanson was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1929 to a father who sold fruit. After serving in the army, he studied graphic design at Pratt Institute for a year before leaving to open his own design studio back in Pawtucket. Decades later, he wanted a fast anagrams game, famously telling the Boston Globe that it needed to be quick enough to drive a player bananas.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1929 | Abraham Nathanson is born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. His father sells fruit for a living. |
| after the army | He studies graphic design at Pratt Institute, leaves after a year, and opens a design studio back in Pawtucket. |
| 2005 | Losing patience with a slow game of Scrabble against his grandson, he sets out to build a word game with the speed put back in. He told the Boston Globe: we need an anagrams game so fast, it will drive you bananas. He was 76. |
| first run | Fifty copies get made. His daughter sells half of them in England, the rest go in the United States. Another five hundred follow and sell out too. |
| 2006 | The game reaches the public at the London Toy Fair in January. The banana pouch was designed by his former wife. |
| 2009 | The Toy Industry Association names it game of the year, and three million copies sell that year. |
| 2010 | Nathanson dies at 80 at his summer place in Narragansett, survived by three daughters and four grandchildren. |
The banana pouch itself was created by Nathanson's former wife. An initial batch of 50 copies was split evenly between sales in England by his daughter and sales in the United States, followed by another batch of five hundred copies that also sold out. The game was introduced to the public at the London Toy Fair in January 2006.
Commercial success followed rapidly across multiple markets. The Toy Industry Association named it game of the year in 2009, when sales reached three million copies. Published editions have since appeared in German, Italian, Spanish, French, and Hebrew, alongside alternate formats like Bananagrams Duel, Signature Edition, and Countaloupe. Nathanson died in 2010 at age 80 in Narragansett.
The mistake to avoid
The mistake is to assume the original racing game uses numbers or plays strictly with two players. While spinoffs like Countaloupe use numbers instead of letters and Bananagrams Duel is built for two, the main game uses letter tiles on an open table.
Questions that keep coming up
Who designed the original banana pouch?
The banana pouch was designed by Abraham Nathanson's former wife.
When did the game debut publicly?
The game reached the public in January 2006 at the London Toy Fair.
What older game inspired the mechanics?
The design came from Take Two, an older Scrabble variant that operates the same way.