Something’s Rotten in the Board Game Aisle
When I think tile word games, the natural connection I come up with is fruit. Apparently I am not alone. Top toy company, The Parker Brothers, is getting a run for its money from a multi-generational family enterprise that is the brains behind Bananagrams. Both Bananagrams and TPB’s own Scrabble Apple are expected to be hot selling items this coming Christmas season. But we have to ask ourselves, is this really the kind of ‘entertainment’ kids should be exposed to in this day and age? Let’s take a look at what one toy website had to say about Bananagrams.
To summarize the message, “Addictive fun… Completely addictive.” Just like the best drugs money can buy. The kind of drugs that someone would sell their own grandmother to the Chinese mafia just to get one more sweet sweet taste. Sure the kids are learning to put letters together to make words, but is it the kind of words that create healthy and law-abiding citizens, or is it the kind that create thugs and whores?
Why do you think the fruits chosen are Apples and Bananas? Could it be because bananas have a definite phallic shape and apples are associated with the fall of man? No two ways about it, these ‘games’ are putting our society one step closer to the brink of destruction, and I for one, am against that. I have found an alternative game that will help keep kids on the right track. PlumWords.
The only acceptable words are fruits, unless you’re playing the more liberal version where vegetables are also accepted. I would recommend parent supervision for this type of play as it can lead to some pretty intense games.
– Roscoe