Party games
Codenames
Get your team to guess all its agents, with one-word clues, without touching the assassin.
- players
- 4–12
- minutes
- 20
You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.
Setup
- Twenty-five word cards laid out in a five-by-five grid.
- Two teams, each with a spymaster who alone can see the key card.
- The starting team has nine agents to find, the other eight. That leaves seven innocent bystanders and one assassin.
How to play
- The spymaster gives one word and one number: the word links several cards, the number says how many.
- Their team touches the cards one by one. As long as it guesses right, it carries on, and always has one guess more than the number given.
- Touching a bystander ends the turn; touching an opposing agent hands it to the other team.
- Touching the assassin loses the game immediately.
Scoring
- No intermediate points: you count the rounds won.
End of the game
- The first team to reveal all its agents wins.
- Touching the assassin loses on the spot.
House rules and pitfalls
- The clue must be a single word, with no link to the form of the cards: no rhyme, no part of the word, no translation.
Frequently asked questions
Can the clue be any word?
A single word, and it must relate to the meaning of the cards, not their form. Forbidden: words that appear on the grid, and clues that play on letters or sound. Proper names are allowed if your table accepts them.
What does the number mean?
The number of cards the clue links. It gives that many guesses, plus one. Saying "zero" or "unlimited" is allowed and frees up all the guesses, for a specific tactical use.
What happens if you touch the wrong card?
An opposing team's card or a bystander ends the turn at once. Touching the assassin loses the game on the spot, whatever the score.
Can you stop before using up your guesses?
Yes, at any time after at least one correct answer. You then keep the cards you found without risking a mistake.
Can the spymaster gesture or react?
No. They stay poker-faced: no gestures, no tone of voice, no meaningful looks. They speak only to give their clue.
Who starts, and how many cards does each team have?
The starting team has nine agents, the other eight. The key card, seen only by the spymasters, also shows which team starts.
The box
- Released
- 2015
- Age
- Ages 10+
- Designer
- Vlaada Chvátil
- Artwork
- Vlaada Chvátil, Stéphane Gantiez, Dávid Jablonovský, Tomáš Kučerovský
- Publisher
- IELLO
- Mechanics
- Communication limitéeDéductionMémoireCourseEn équipes
- Contents
- 200 cartes Nom de code (400 mots)
- 40 cartes Clé et 1 support
- 16 cartes Agent, 1 agent double, 7 civils, 1 assassin
- 1 sablier
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.
Where to find it
Specialist French shops. Marquoir earns nothing from these links.