How to play
How to Play Codenames
One word, several agents, and one assassin you must never touch.
- Players
- 2–8+ players
- Play time
- 15–30 min
- Published
- 2015
- Publisher
- Czech Games Edition
What you are trying to do
Two teams race to identify all of their own agents on a 5x5 grid of words. Each team has a spymaster who can see which words belong to whom, and gives one-word clues to guide the guessers.
The first team to reveal all of its agents wins — unless someone touches the assassin first.
Setup
Lay out 25 word cards in a 5x5 grid. Draw a key card that shows which words are red, blue, neutral and the assassin.
The starting team gets 9 agents, the other team 8, with 7 bystanders and 1 assassin making up the rest. The extra agent is why going first is a small handicap.
Giving clues
On your turn the spymaster says one word and a number: “animal, 3” means three words on the board relate to animals.
The clue cannot be a word on the table, and it must not point at the other team's agents or the assassin. Hand signals, spelling and extra words are all illegal.
Guessing and ending
Teammates discuss and touch one card at a time. A correct guess lets you keep going, up to the number plus one. A wrong guess ends your turn immediately.
If the card was the assassin, you lose the game on the spot — no matter how close you were to winning.
Winning
Reveal all of your agents. Because the starting team has one extra agent, the second team usually needs one fewer correct guess to finish.
Codenames: common questions
Can a Codenames clue be a name?
Proper nouns are usually banned, and a clue can never be a word visible on the table. Agree on house rules before the first clue.
What happens if you pick the assassin?
Your team loses immediately, even if you had already found all but one agent.
How many players do you need for Codenames?
Two teams of two or more is the standard game. There is also an official two-player cooperative variant where you work together against the clock.