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Jueguicos

Codenames

By Vlaada Chvátil. Published in 2015

2+ players22–28 min in totalCommercial board game
DifficultyEasy
What you needGame box
Learn to play

Two teams race to find their agents in a grid of twenty-five words. In each team one person gives one-word clues with a number so their team can find several at once.

The fun is the clue that links three or four words without touching the assassin. The clue-giver suffers and enjoys it in equal measure while the rest debate aloud what was meant. Works well with four to eight people who enjoy wordplay.

The essentials

People who can play
2+ players. Best with 4–8
22–28 min in total
  • Explain: 5–10 min (editorial estimate)
  • Set up: 2–3 min (editorial estimate)
  • Play: 15 min
What you need
  • Game box

How to play

Team game (our explanation). Our explanation of the official rules. Rules version 1.0.

In a nutshell

How to win: Get your team to contact all its agents before the rival team, without ever touching the assassin.

Start right away

  1. Split into two teams; each picks a clue-giver.
  2. Lay out twenty-five word cards in a grid. Only the clue-givers see, on a secret key card, which words belong to each team.
  3. Taking turns, the clue-giver says one word and a number; their team touches words on the table.
  4. Hits let you continue, misses end the turn, and touching the assassin loses the game.

Setup

  1. Split into two teams. Each names a spymaster, who sits facing their team.
  2. Build a five-by-five grid of word cards.
  3. The spymasters share a key card showing which squares belong to each team, which are neutral and which is the assassin.

Turn by turn

  1. The spymaster says a single word and a number, saying how many table words the clue relates to. No gestures or extra information.
  2. The team touches words one at a time. If it's theirs, it gets covered and they may continue, up to one more than the number given.
  3. Touching a neutral or rival word ends the turn. Touching the assassin loses the game.

How it ends

The team that uncovers all its agents first wins, or the other team wins if someone touches the assassin.

Tips

  • The game includes a variant for two or three players; check the official rules of your edition.