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Codenames

Codenames at the end of play. The game has ended because the assassin (the black card on the left edge) has been found.
Designers	Vlaada Chvátil
Publishers	Czech Games Edition
Players	4–8+ (6 recommended)
Setup time	1–5 minutes
Playing time	15–30 minutes
Chance	Low
Skills	Language skills, concept identifying
Related games
Dixit, 25 Words or Less, Mysterium, Deception

Codenames is a 2015 party board game designed by Vlaada Chvátil and published by Czech Games Edition (CGE). In it, two teams compete by each having a "spymaster" give one-word clues that can point to specific words on the board. The other players on the team must attempt to guess their team's words while avoiding the words of the other team as well as an assassin square; if the latter is selected, then the team which selected it instantly loses. Victory is achieved when one team guesses all of their spymaster's assigned words.

Codenames received positive reviews and won many awards including the 2016 Spiel des Jahres award for the best board game of the year.

Rules

Codenames is a game played by 4 or more players. Players are split into two teams, red and blue, and one player from each team becomes the spymaster while the others play as field operatives.

During setup, 25 cards containing words are randomly laid out in a 5x5 grid. Some of these cards represent red agents (red squares), some others represent blue agents (blue squares), and one represents the assassin (black square); the rest are innocent bystanders (beige squares). The spymasters receive a randomly dealt key card with colored squares showing the board's colored squares. The "lights" on the key card represent which team will go first and have an extra agent that must be found.

Each turn, back and forth, each spymaster must provide verbal clues that allow their respective field operatives to guess the words of their team color while avoiding squares belonging to opposing agents, innocent bystanders, and the assassin. The verbal clue can only manifest in the form of a single word and a number; the number refers to how many word squares should be selected in total by the field operatives for that round, while the single word (ideally) provides a thematic hint guiding the field operatives toward which word squares to select. For example, if a spymaster wants the card squares "beach," "whale," and "water" to be selected, one can give the clue "ocean 3" as these three words are all related to the ocean. The single word must be thematically related, with phonetic hints discouraged—it also cannot be or contain an existing word on the 5x5 ground. If an invalid clue is given, the turn ends immediately, and the opposing team gets to reveal one of their own agents.

After the verbal clue is given, the field operatives must guess which of the words go with the clue. For every card that's selected by the field operatives, it will subsequently be covered with an agent tile, a bystander tile, or the assassin tile by the spymaster based on their key card. The field operatives must make a minimum of one guess per turn. Once a correct guess is made, the field operatives may continue to make guesses or choose to end their turn voluntarily. At most, the maximum number of guesses for a turn is the number given in the verbal clue plus one. However, if a bystander or an opposing agent is revealed, the guess is considered incorrect and the turn ends immediately. If the assassin is revealed, the game ends immediately with a loss for the guessing team.

Assuming that the assassin hasn't been revealed, the game ends once all of one team's agents are found, thus achieving victory. Given the nature of the gameplay, it is entirely possible for a team to win the game during their opponents' turn. For a faster game, or in certain situations such as the opposing team taking too much time guessing, a timer, such as the hourglass timer included in the game's packaging, can be used.

Official variations

Codenames: Deep Undercover was released in 2016 exclusively at Target Stores. Published by Lark & Clam and marketed as an adult party game, the game's 200 new word cards contain sexual references and double entendres, earning it a parental advisory label. The game later received an update called Codenames: Deep Undercover 2.0.

Codenames: Pictures was released in September 2016 and includes 200 two-sided cards that feature images instead of words. The game uses a 5x4 grid instead of the original's 5x5, resulting in 20 cards being used at a time, but otherwise has the same rules as the original. The image cards themselves can also be combined with the word cards from the original game for a more advanced gameplay variation.

Codenames: Disney Family Edition was released in September 2017, featuring characters and locations from Disney and Pixar films and including rules for an easier gameplay variation with a smaller 4x4 grid (and no assassin square), intended for younger players. Codenames: Marvel Edition was released around the same time, featuring superhero characters from Marvel Comics—specifically as depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—such as Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man and Captain America.

Codenames: Duet was released in October 2017 as a two-player cooperative version of the original game. The game packaging includes 200 new word cards which can also be used for the original game. The objective of the game is to reveal all 15 agents within a given number of turns without contacting too many innocent bystanders or the assassin.

Codenames: Harry Potter was released in 2018. Themed around the novel series of the same name, it is played similarly to Codenames: Duet, with two or more players working together to reveal all Order of the Phoenix members before they run out of time while also trying to avoid the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters.

Codenames: XXL was released in June 2018; Codenames: Pictures XXL was released in November 2018; and Codenames: Duet XXL was released in May 2019. They are all the same as their respective original games albeit with a larger format and double-sized cards and tiles.

Codenames: The Simpsons Family Edition was released in November 2019 and features characters and references from the eponymous television series; structurally, it is similar to other collaborative franchise editions like the Disney and Marvel editions. One month later, CGE released another licensed spin-off called Codenames: Blizzard Edition, featuring characters and references from the video game franchises by Blizzard Entertainment, such as Warcraft and Diablo. This particular edition was never available for retail and was gifted exclusively to Blizzard employees, though some copies of this edition were later auctioned for a charity event at the 2023 BlizzCon.

Digital

The same year as the board game's release, CGE released a mobile app, called Codenames Gadget, which can randomly generate agent layouts. They also released an official web version of Codenames and Codenames Duet through their website in 2022. In September 2024, a paid mobile app called Codenames App was released for Android and iOS.

Reception

Codenames received positive reviews upon its release. The game was commercially acclaimed and has been published in 38 languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Bokmål, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish, ultimately comprising six different alphabets.

Nate Anderson from Ars Technica praised the strategy and engagement involved in the game but criticized its downtime; he concluded that it was a "terrific choice for a family friendly game". Writing for Kotaku, Alex Walker stated that the game had high replay value and commended its mechanics. Oliver East, in Just Push Start, commented on the game's entertainment value and described it as an "instant hit".

Awards

References

1. Goodridge, Michelle; Rohweder, Matthew J. (November 15, 2021). Librarian's Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9798216110958.
2. Zimmerman, Aaron (July 7, 2016). "The "Board Game of the Year" winners have been announced". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
3. ^ Machkovech, Sam (August 3, 2016). "First official Codenames spin-off is Target-exclusive, obsessed with sex". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
4. ^ Walker, Alex (February 17, 2017). "Codenames Is Getting The Disney, Pixar And Marvel Treatment This Year". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
5. ^ East, Oliver (September 12, 2017). "Codenames: Duet – Competitive To Coop Brilliance". Just Push Start. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
6. ^ "Codenames: Duet XXL is about to hit the shelves!".
7. McQueen, Amanda (2019-03-19). "The 10 Best Board Games for Adults, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
8. "'Adrenaline,' 'Codenames: Pictures,' 'Alchemists' Expansion". icv2.com. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
9. Cucco, Jackie (2019-03-18). "Join the Order of the Phoenix with Codenames: Harry Potter". The Pop Insider. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
10. Colleran, Meaghan (2024-09-24). "Become the Ultimate Spymaster With 'Codenames'". Bell of Lost Souls. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
11. "BlizzCon® 2023 Charity Auction: now live!". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
12. "Codenames - Czech Games Edition". codenamesgame.com. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
13. "Codenames – Play with your Friends Online". codenames.game. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
14. "Codenames' two-player, co-op spin-off Duet is now free to play online". Dicebreaker. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
15. "Codenames App Press Kit". codenamesapp.com. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
16. "Codenames Download Area". czechgames.com. Czech Games Edition. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
17. Anderson, Nate (2015-11-14). "Ars Cardboard: Codenames, the secret agent party game you've been seeking". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
18. "Everyone Should Own Codenames". Kotaku Australia. 2016-09-13. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
19. "Codenames Review - Teams Make Word Association Awesome - Just Push Start". www.justpushstart.com. 23 April 2017. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
20. ^ "2016 Origins Award Winners".
21. de Veyra, Jeeves (December 14, 2016). "Codenames board game gets local edition". ABS-CBN Corporation. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
22. Hall, Charlie (March 14, 2018). "The best board games of 2017, as chosen by the Board Game Geek community". Polygon. Retrieved March 17, 2018.

External links

• Official game website at Czech Games
• Rules overview video
• Codenames at BoardGameGeek

• Board games introduced in 2015
• Czech Games Edition games
• Czech board games
• Origins Award winners
• Party board games