As the board game industry continues to expand, numerous board games themselves see their own beloved expansions

Words by Matthew Vernall

Two thousand and six was the year when the Social Media age truly began, with the very first tweets on Twitter and public access commencing on Facebook, entering the world into a new era of self documentation and cute animal picture distribution. NASA launched the New Horizons probe to take the first pictures of Pluto (making it there in 2015) whilst the IAU formally declared it as no longer a planet (much to the frustration of every primary school in the world.) Most importantly of all though, the greatest video game ever made, Ape Escape 3, launched in Europe.

But enough talk of technology (for now) as we are a tabletop magazine and there was plenty of new classics and refreshing changes to numerous board games that are worth highlighting. Join us as we look back on 2006.

BANANAGRAMS

You don’t become Amazon UK’s best selling toy of all time, enjoyed by countless families and celebrities across the globe, without being a fun word game in a silly bag. Chances are high that you’ve seen a fluffy banana sitting on the shelf of your local game store or board game café, sticking out like a nun in a nightclub. It contains the work of independent game designer and mother of two, Rena Nathanson, who designed the fast paced word game along with her father Abe. Players must rapidly use up all of their distributed letters (think Scrabble meets Countdown) with the winner being whoever can clear out their tiles first.