Abraham Nathanson (November 26, 1929 – June 6, 2010) was an American graphic designer. He created the game

Bananagrams ''Bananagrams'' is a word game invented by Abraham Nathanson and Rena Nathanson of Cranston, Rhode Island, wherein lettered tiles are used to spell words. Nathanson conceived and developed the idea for the game with the help of his family. Th ...

, a game that uses letter tiles similar to

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left ...

with the addition of the element of speed.

Biography

Nathanson was born in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fa ...

, on November 26, 1929, where he graduated from Pawtucket East Senior High School. Following the completion of his service in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, Nathanson enrolled at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

, where he studied graphic design. He left college after a year and opened a design studio in Pawtucket with his brother. He went into business for himself, opening George Nathan Design in a historic mill in

, a firm that made graphics for gift items.Grimes, William
"Abraham Nathanson, Bananagrams Inventor, Dies at 80"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 9, 2010. Accessed June 12, 2010. Frustrated with the slow pace of a

game he was playing with his grandson, Nathanson sought to create a game that combined the word game aspect of Scrabble, but that had the excitement of the element of speed. He told the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' that "we need an anagrams game so fast, it'll drive you bananas". At the age of 76, he created Bananagrams, which uses a set of 144 tiles and no board, with players arranging the tiles to form words in crossword fashion. The first player to play out all of his tiles in a crossword grid shouts "Bananas" to indicate he has won; games last about 10 to 15 minutes. The banana-shaped pouch was designed by his former wife. He manufactured 50 copies of the game, half of which his daughter sold in England and the other half he quickly sold in the U.S. Another 500 sets were manufactured and quickly sold.Morgan, Thomas J
"A lifetime of design capped by Bananagrams"
''

The Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

'', June 9, 2010. Accessed June 12, 2010. The game was an instant hit at the 2006 London Toy Fair and was named game of the year by the

Toy Industry Association The Toy Association is an American trade association for the US toy industry. Description The Toy Association leads the health and growth of the U.S. toy industry, which has an annual U.S. economic impact of $98.6 billion, and represents hundre ...

in 2009. In addition to domino-like Appletters and spelling game Pairs in Pears, the Banagrams brand has been spun off to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

and the iPhone, with the original game selling 3 million copies in 2009. Nathanson, a resident of

Cranston, Rhode Island Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, Rhode Island. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second largest in the state. The cente ...

, died at age 80 of cancer on June 6, 2010, at his summer home in Narragansett. He was survived by three daughters and four grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanson, Abraham 1929 births 2010 deaths American game designers American graphic designers Deaths from cancer in Rhode Island People from Cranston, Rhode Island People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pratt Institute alumni United States Army soldiers