Codenames: Clues Next Door

In Codenames, you are working in teams of spies, red or blue; you are working to find your operatives; however, amongst them are also innocent bystanders, or, worse, there is also an assassin in their midst. Your spymaster can only issue you covert clues that will help you to identify your trusted agents out in the field and your opposition in the same situation. Will you be able to contact those agents before your opposing team or the assassin strikes?

One-word codenames identify each agent. As a spymaster, they alone know the locations of the operatives; they will issue one word and a number, which can then be used to identify which agents the spymaster may be referring to. For example, if I state “Blue 4," you will automatically know the four agents are “Sea”, “Sky”, “Water”, and “Whale”. Due to all communication being tapped, I will not be able to communicate outside those transmissions. However, care must be taken; if the team guesses incorrectly, it may be an innocent bystander, in which case their turn is over, or the fateful assassin, in which case the team loses immediately.

​​

The beauty of codenames is that everyone thinks differently. The spymaster cannot say anything apart from the clue they provide; given the time pressures, Codenames becomes more complex than a word guessing game. In Codenames, you need both luck and strategy when you give your clue. Have you strategically picked the best one-word clue, linking as many of your agents together as possible without hinting at a random word? What makes the game fun is watching the spymasters while they are trying to find ANY WAY they can give a single clue to get you to guess "avocado" and "Germany" in the next hint. Will the rest of your team think the same words as you? It is agonising watching as your team discuss selecting the assassin as the answer; all you can do is watch and cry inside. 

Codenames is excellent for a larger group; with no one needing to be a board game wiz, this is an amusing and accessible game. If getting a large group together isn’t easy, a great two-player option is Codenames Duet, a game I’m sure we will cover in another post. Codenames is super easy to set up, a quick game to play and has great replayability, as there are many different key cards, you’re likely never to play the same configuration again.