Rules of Play
Box of Codenames

Board game · 2015

Codenames

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 s…

Players
2 to 8
Duration
15 min
Age
10 and up
Complexity
Family

Vlaada Chvátil · White Goblin Games · Czech Games Edition · Iello · Czech Games Edition (CGE)

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Communication Limits Deduction Memory Race Team-Based Game Card Game Deduction Party Game Spies / Secret Agents Word Game

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Recommended videoVidéorègle jeu de société " CODENAMES " par Yahndrev (#529)(+sub)Full rules · 19 min 51Videoregles. Net
Official rules Règle du jeu - Français Rules · FR
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  1. Set up Matériel et Mise en Place 00:32
  2. Play a turn Déroulement 03:50
  3. End the game Fin de Partie 10:31

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Rules

In brief

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.

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