Once a codename card is revealed to be the position of an agent, that card is covered with an Identity Card without giving any other clues, whether verbal or non-verbal. One wrong guess leads to the team having their turn automatically end, whether they reveal an opposing team’s agent, an Innocent Bystander or the mysterious Assassin. The operatives must make at least 1 guess per turn, risking a wrong guess and consequences in the process.
The number of the 1-word hint will tell special operatives (agents) how many words are related to the word of the clue, and also the maximum number of guesses the team has, which is the hint number plus one. If there are any questions about a word being used as a codename word it can come down to a ruling between the 2 Spymasters. Only 1 word and 1 number can be said by a Spymaster on a turn, and they should be related to as many words on his or her agents’ cards as possible, but not to the other team’s agents. These verbal hints can subtly point toward respective words on the grid, but they can’t sound too similar. Teams take turns guessing, and on a turn the Spymaster will give a hint about their team’s agentss identities, but only verbally. Only the Spymasters will know the locations of these people. The grid of 25 cards correspond to the map card and the grid positions of the agents, the bystanders and the assassin. Whichever color has 1 more space on the map card than the other will be the team that goes first. Spymaster are given a randomly dealt map card that shows which team will play first in the game. The words are assigned as codenames to 25 people (agents of either red, blue, the Black Assassin or tan for Innocent Bystanders). SetupĢ5 Codename Cards are laid out to form a 5×5 grid of various colors in random order. The game also has 200 cards with 400 codenames. The equipment that comes with Codenames are 16 Agent Cards, 2 colors of 8 cards each (red and blue), 1 Double Agent Card, 7 Innocent Bystander Cards, 1 Black Assassin Card, 40 Key Cards, 1 Rulebook, 1 Timer and 1 Card Stand. It is also important to never find the lone Assassin! Equipment The teammates of both Spymasters will try to guess the right color while avoiding picking cards that belong to the other team. They have the most important role in the game as they will give out 1-word clues that can point to numerous words that are on the board of cards. Teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. The skills involved in playing Codenames include word association, deduction and team play. The theme of Codenames is that spies compete against each other to find enough secret identities to win. Designed by Vlaada Chvatil in 2015 and published by Czech Games Edition, Codenames is a card game that can be played from 2 to 8 players, and one game of Codenames usually takes 15 or more minutes to play.