Question 1

How do I use Banana Buddy during a Bananagrams game?

Accepted Answer

Open bananabuddy.xyz in your browser and allow microphone access. Then just say 'Hey Bananas, is <word> a word?' during your game. Banana Buddy speaks the answer aloud — 'Yes, SLUSH is a word' or 'No, ZQXT is not a word' — so you never have to touch your phone.

Question 2

Which dictionary does Banana Buddy use for Bananagrams?

Accepted Answer

The Tournament Word List (TWL), the standard competitive Scrabble and Bananagrams dictionary. Banana Buddy distinguishes three cases: valid in Bananagrams (in TWL), a real English word but not in TWL, and not a word at all.

Question 3

What are the official rules of Bananagrams?

Accepted Answer

Bananagrams uses 144 letter tiles. Each player builds their own connected crossword grid — 21 tiles each for 2–4 players, 15 for 5–6 players, 11 for 7–8 players. Say 'Split!' to start, 'Peel!' each time you finish your grid (everyone draws one tile), and 'Dump!' to swap one unwanted tile for three. When fewer tiles remain in the bunch than players, no more Peels are allowed and the first player to finish a valid grid calls 'Bananas!' to win.

Question 4

When someone misspells a word and calls 'Bananas!', do the tiles go back in the middle?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If any word in a 'Bananas!' grid is invalid, misspelled, or the grid is disconnected, that player is 'Rotten'. All of their tiles go back into the bunch face-down, that player is out of the hand, and the remaining players continue playing.

Question 5

Are proper nouns allowed in Bananagrams?

Accepted Answer

No. Proper nouns, abbreviations, acronyms, hyphenated words, apostrophes, and foreign words not in the agreed dictionary are all disallowed. Plurals and inflected forms are fine if they appear in the dictionary.

Question 6

How does the Dump rule work in Bananagrams?

Accepted Answer

At any time you may return one unwanted tile face-down to the bunch and take three tiles in exchange. Only you take new tiles — other players are unaffected. You can only dump if at least three tiles remain in the bunch.

Question 7

Is Banana Buddy free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Banana Buddy is free and runs entirely in your browser with no account, no signup, and no data storage.