Twenty-five operatives’ secret identities are known to two rival spymasters. Only the spies’ codenames—single-word designations like “disease,” “Germany,” and “carrot”—are known to their teammates. Indeed, carrot. It is a valid codename. Every spymaster wants their crew to recognize their spies ahead of time…without inadvertently revealing the assassin.
Two teams battle in Codenames to try who can get in touch with every agent on the team earliest. Organize 25 cards with a single word on each. The spymasters take turns revealing their comrades’ identities after examining a card that reveals each card’s identity. A single word and a number make up a hint, and the number indicates how many cards in play are connected in some way to the provided word.
The teammates then pick one agent they believe to be on their team; if they guess correctly, they can continue until they have done so an unlimited number of times; if they guess incorrectly, the team’s turn ends; if they fingered the assassin, they lose the game.
Until one team has identified every agent they have or the assassin has eliminated one team from the game, spymasters will keep providing hints.
- In Codenames, two competing spymasters are aware of 25 spies’ true identities. Only their “Codenames” are known to their comrades about the agents.
- Teams compete to see who can contact all of their agents earliest!
- The only hints that spymasters can provide are single words that can lead to several words on the board.
- Their colleagues attempt to guess words with the correct color while avoiding terms from the other team.
- Watch out for the assassin card—if you find it, the game is finished and the opposing team wins!
This is a team-based, deduction-based, word association game. Twenty-five spies’ secret identities are known to the two rival spymasters. All that their teammates know about the agents is their codename.
The teams vie to see who can get in touch with every agent earliest. One-word cues from spymasters can lead to several different words on the board. Their colleagues attempt to guess words that match the correct color while avoiding words from the other team. And everyone wishes to stay away from the killer
Finding the clues is enjoyable whether you win or lose.
Age: above ten
Participants: 2–8
Duration of Play: 15 minutes
The Top Strategy Board Game: Codenames
- Collaborate to get in touch with every agent before the opposing team!
- A great way to spend gaming evenings with friends Players 2–8+ (in two teams) Playtime of fifteen minutes
- Codenames is a party/social deduction game for four to eight players
- At last, a deduction game that even those with poor deduction skills can play
- Enjoy the Laughter This Instant Party Hit Surefire Brings
- Play a Complex Puzzle Game with Two People
- Content: Card Age: More than six years
sixteen agent cards in two colors, one double agent card, seven innocent bystander cards, one assassin card, forty key cards, one rulebook, one card stand, one timer, two hundred cards, and four hundred codenames are included in the package.
Measurements: 23 x 5 x 16 cm
Codenames is actually recommended for ages 10 and older, so I guess that when I chose it, I may have misread the material. I had assumed that younger children could play. Though they are a little young—Ethan is eight years old and Ivy is six—we still decided to give it a try because they play in teams, and they did incredibly well and had a great time!
The Codenames game has somewhat intricate rules at first, so it’s helpful that there’s a video that walks you through them and provides an example of a game in action. It doesn’t take long to realize that playing isn’t tough at all.
We split up into two teams, each consisting of a parent and a youngster. We led the game at first, with our parents acting as the Spymasters. Our partners’ only task was to guess which card we were identifying based on our one-word clue.
Finding every agent on your own team first, staying clear of other teams’ agents and onlookers, and most importantly, avoiding picking the assassin card are the objectives. The clues provided for the words on the cards serve as the sole basis for the game. Thus, the Spymaster selects a card that lines up with an agent’s position on the grid.
Then, with the hope that it is the correct card, their teammate points to one. The agent is positioned there and the turn proceeds if they are right. If they inadvertently select the incorrect card, play passes to the opposing team and one of their agents or a bystander is placed there. The game is over if they choose the assassin’s location.
The kids picked it up quite quickly, and they were both eager to try their hand at being Spymaster. We discovered that this worked best if another parent took on the role of Spymaster so that we could assist them as well.
Without a doubt, we would suggest the Codenames game to others. Although it’s geared toward older kids and would be a lot of fun if they could all really get into it, I do think it could work for families with mixed-age kids as well.