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Codenames box art

Base game · 2015

Codenames

Give your team clever one-word clues to help them spot their agents in the field.

BoardGameGeek
2–8Players
15 minPlay time
10+Age
1.3/5Complexity
7.5/10BGG rating
1Plays
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7/10

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Last played 2 days ago
  • 5 Oct 20262 days ago

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About this game

From BoardGameGeek

Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames — single-word labels like "disease", "Germany", and "carrot". Yes, carrot. It's a legitimate codename. Each spymaster wants their team to identify their agents first...without uncovering the assassin by mistake.

In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Lay out 25 cards, each bearing a single word. The spymasters look at a card showing the identity of each card, then take turns clueing their teammates. A clue consists of a single word and a number, with the number suggesting how many cards in play have some association to the given clue word. The teammates then identify one agent they think is on their team; if they're correct, they can keep guessing up to one more than the stated number of times; if the agent belongs to the opposing team or is an innocent bystander, the team's turn ends; and if they fingered the assassin, they lose the game.

Spymasters continue giving clues until one team has identified all of their agents or the assassin has removed one team from play.

Designer
Vlaada Chvátil
Publisher
Czech Games Edition (CGE)
BGG rank
#162
Categories
Card GameDeductionParty GameSpies / Secret AgentsWord Game
Mechanics
Communication LimitsDeductionMemoryRaceTeam-Based Game

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The number in the game's BGG web address — boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/260410/… Adding it fills in box art and details.

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Demo mode · sample data, resets nightly ← Dynamic Dexter