Pairs in Pears (2009)

About this game

Pairs in Pears is a word game consisting of plastic letter tiles inside a cloth bag shaped like a pear. It is from the Bananagrams (letter tiles in a banana) company. The Pairs in Pears game involves making pairs of intersecting words that consist of tiles of all the same pattern. One word is up/down and the other is left/right, and they share a vowel or consonant. Whoever makes a certain number of word pairs first, wins. Pairpoints is a variation that includes a more elaborate scoring scheme (1 point for non-pattern-matching words, 2 points for matching words, 5 points for finishing first). The large, ivory-like tiles show capital letters in four designs: solid, outline, lines and dots. The different patterns function like different suits of cards. As there are four suits, each containing a complete alphabet, there are a total of 104 tiles. Just as in a deck of cards, each tile is unique (e.g., the G of solids or the H of dots). This adds an interesting new dimension to play with (although the games in the rules only ask that a word consist of same-pattern letters). The instructions emphasize the educational value of the tile set: a fun way for children to develop memory and cognitive skills while learning alphabetical order, word construction, vowels, vocabulary, rhyming, and more.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 1 to 4. It has a designed solo mode.
• Rules load. At 1.1/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 6 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.