PROVIDENCE -- There are some surprising essentials getting people through the era of COVID-19:
Masks. Hand sanitizer. Toilet paper. Bananagrams.
Because spelling Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E is a lot more fun than living it.
Rhode Island’s own Bananagrams, the addictive word game in the signature fabric banana-shaped zippered pouch, is topping national lists of games recommended for those stuck at home and getting shout-outs from quarantined celebrities.
Still, the reason behind the sales give CEO Rena Nathanson pause.
“I have mixed feelings about our game being in high demand during such a tragedy,” admitted Nathanson, who founded the company with her late father, Abe, about 15 years ago.
Even though people tell her that the game is giving families joy during a dark time, she said they also look for other ways to give back. “Within our company, what do we have that can possibly help?” she said.
What they have is her father’s invention. When schools closed, they gave out Bananagrams with the lunches that schools were still distributing. They offer worksheets for teachers holding classes remotely. They promote rules for playing over Facetime and Zoom.
“We will do more,” Nathanson said. “What can we all do to get through this?”
* * * * *
The origin story goes back to Abe Nathanson, a graphic designer and the son of a Pawtucket fruit peddler, tinkering around with an idea for a fast-paced word game to play with his children and grandchildren. He invented the game at his dining room table at the family beach house in Narragansett, coming up with the name when he declared, “This anagram game will drive you bananas!”
The small family-run company in South Providence became a big brand. Since its debut to rave reviews at the 2006 London Toy Fair and being named 2009 “Toy of the Year” by the Toy Industry Association, Bananagrams has sold 13 million games and become a worldwide hit.
Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Dame Judi Dench, Scarlett Johansson, and even the cast of “Downton Abbey” have bragged about obsessive playing.
The game’s appeal is that it can be played by people of different ages at the same time. It’s not about big impressive words; it’s about speed, lateral thinking, and fluidity, Rena Nathanson said. “This is a family game,” she said.
Along the way, Bananagrams moved into classrooms, with the Bananagrams School Challenge and the Bananagrams Club, with resources for teachers that children can use at home.
After fans said they were playing Bananagrams over FaceTime, the company gave the idea “form and function” for people to play remotely.
All of these adaptations were already in place when COVID-19 emerged, and shut society down.
Suddenly, Bananagrams was having a moment. Multiple outlets, including CNN and USA Today, named it among the top games to play during quarantine: “It’s never not fun.”
More celebrities popped up. Brooke Shields told Us Weekly about playing nightly games of Bananagrams: “I love games and hate losing.” Pop performer JP Saxe and Grammy-nominated singer Julia Michaels, whose hit together “If the World Was Ending” seems to have new resonance, told the Recording Academy about playing Bananagrams in quarantine.
Now, the company says it can barely keep up with the demand, but not just because shuttered families are playing more. The tiles are manufactured in China, and the worldwide strain on the supply chain is having an impact.
* * * * *
Back in December, there were signs of trouble. Nathanson said that she and others in the toy industry began noticing shipping disruptions. China was losing factory workers. The highly contagious novel coronavirus was spreading.
The virus and its impact on supplies were the talk of the Nuremberg International Toy Fair in late January, where the exhibition halls for the special game industries from Asia were nearly empty. None had come to the fair. “That was shocking,” she said.
When the New York Toy Fair opened at the Jacob K. Javits Center in mid-February, everyone in the industry was talking about the coronavirus. Representatives from brick and mortar stores and large companies didn’t show up; people were afraid to travel.
Within weeks, governors were ordering their residents to stay home, and the Javits Center was being turned into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients.
As people stayed home, sales of games boomed. Market researchers saw toy sales in the US grow by 26 percent in the week ending March 21. Games and puzzles exploded by 228 percent, becoming the fastest-growing category of toy sales, according to the market research company NPD Group.
Even with stores closing, Bananagrams sales skyrocketed, Nathanson said. They were selling out of games faster than they could get them out of China. The cost to ship supplies -- masks, medical gear, Bananagrams -- suddenly shot up.
“We have high demand for games, but some cases, we are not able to fulfill. We have to strategize and allocate who gets what out of China," Nathanson said. The company is using air freight to get the games: “As soon as it’s off the conveyor belt in China, we get it on the plane into America.”
As a result, costs have risen, challenging the small company’s margins, Nathanson said, but so far they’ve been able to get the games to all who want them. “We’re just about getting by on skin of our teeth,” she said. “It’s a good problem to have, but not an easy one to solve.”
Like reworking a Bananagram puzzle, Nathanson, who lives in London, and her 17 employees keep adjusting to keep the company going. Except for those at the warehouse in South Providence, the employees work remotely. “We’re making every effort to keep everyone employed, for as long as we possibly can,” she said.
She’s confident that Bananagrams will pull through. And she hopes that her father, who died in 2010 in Narragansett, would be proud.
“When I have to make a decision, I think, what would he do?” Nathanson said. “We were always closely aligned. I would like to think he would think we are doing the right thing.”
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.