This is the perfect party game. Easy to teach, plays in about 20 minutes (though you'll probably wind up playing a half dozen rounds).



Really, I've never seen it fall flat, though some clue givers can be a little intimidated at first as making the connections on some boards is quite challenging, but really, it's one of those games that'll be around forever.



Great. Great. Great! Game Play Quality Price Value

We have played over 20 rounds of Codenames in the last few weeks, no joke. Enough said. =-) We've played with family, with friends, with kids, with elderly folk, with single people, with married couples, with liberals, with conservatives, and a bunch of combinations of each. This game is such a blast and engages everyone. Party games often instill varying levels of engagement based on interest, age, type of game, education level, etc. Not so with Codenames. This type of variety actually enhances Codenames and increases the level of fun.



Essentially, you have two teams: red and blue. You have one Spy Master for each team. The goal of the Spy Master is to get her team to guess each of her team's spies for the victory. There is a grid of random, single-word noun cards on the table, visible to everyone. The Spy Masters then have a secret corresponding "code" grid which tells them which cards are associated with which team's spies. Then the guessing begins. Without any hints or insinuations (that's actually really hard!), the Spy Master gives a single word clue with a number (to tell how many word cards she is associating with that clue). One at a time, the team then guesses the words. If they guess right, mark it down and keep guessing. If they guess the other team's spy, the other team gets the benefit and the turn is over. If they guess an innocent bystander, nothing happens, but the turn is over. If they guess the assassin, game over!



Being Spy Master is actually a lot harder than it seems but is so fun! You need to concoct a single word that would lead your team to guess as many code words as possible. Seems easy, but you need to be very aware of your opponent's code words and especially aware of the assassin. You'll find more conservative, risk-averse players will got for only one or two code words per turn (slow and steady). I'm very reward-sensitive, so I say "go big or go home!" But I've also been burned by that strategy. =-)



When you're on the team and not the Spy Master, be sure to listen to everyone's opinions. So often the loudest or pushiest player would convince the team to go one way when the quiet, 10-year-old kid would be spot on. You also need to be very conscientious of a clue's intended meaning. Does the clue "duck" refer to ducking one's head or an actual duck (the animal)? Does "cool" mean chilly or awesome? Or, if the Spy Master is really good, does it refer to both meanings?



I hope Czech Games comes out with an expansion to the first version soon because at our rate, we're going to hit 50 games in no time at all. =-) I dub this as my highest-rated party game at 9.5. It's virtually flawless. The only downside plays into how awesome of a game it is: there are a lot of code word cards included (which can, of course, be shuffled and mixed up), but with how much we want to play, we have blown through the cards quickly. Game Play Quality Price Value

This word game was an instant hit in our gaming groups! It's basically a word game, but with a twist!~ You have 25 different words (double-sided) cards placed in front of you as 2 teams (blue, and red) try to decipher which words belong to whose team all while avoiding the assassin word! One of the players is the Spymaster who hands out specific clues (whether it be obvious, vague, or brutal.) Key thing is not to be too strict, there are no limits as to what clues you may give!



A game that simply shouldn't be missed out on, and you can do no wrong with that price. "Codenames" is the "#1 on Board Game Geek". Codenames: Pictures should be out later this year!

A must-have! Game Play Quality Price Value

I bought this game on a friends suggestion - I couldn't of been more pleased with it. The game was extremely easy to learn (about 5 minutes), and I stress that because I didn't figure it would be so simple. The rules even have variations to them for you to consider before you even begin. I could tell the game had been well planned and most likely extensively play tested.



The game play itself was excellent. Coming up with a one-word clue to describe the meaning of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc words is actually difficult when you have to consider the other players interpretation of that word. Something obvious to you might not be so for them. The average game time for our rounds was about 8 minutes. So it is a really easy game to pull out for a few rounds of quick fun. Setup is very quick; choose teams, place out 25 word titles, place the "agent" cards by the spymasters, pull out a "key" for the spymasters to use, and your ready to go - about 3 minutes on a bad day.



Highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a great quality game, that takes no time to learn or play, with tremendous replay ability, and tons of laughter.



"Simply Excellent" to add to any collection. Game Play Quality Price Value

This isn't usually your typical raucous, rolling on the floor laughing kind of party game.(Though with the right(or maybe the wrong)clues it can be) This is a game that can make you think,especially if you’re giving the clues. But as long as you know that going in you will have a great time with this game. Game Play Quality Price Value

This game has very simple rules and is fun to play. It is a good party game. The game components are not exceptionally high quality but it is good value. Good for those who like wordplay, and good for groups who know each other well and know how the others think. Game Play Quality Price Value

A little clunky at first but once it clicks for you the game really takes off. Very fun can be a brain teaser, and make you think about how your friends and family think. Reminds me of a lot of the discussions we had as a family after games of win lose or draw! "how do you get that from that!". For 13 bucks i don't think you can go wrong with this game. Game Play Quality Price Value

I have played Codenames with only two people and with a huge group and it plays great both ways. The "Code Master" player tries to get his team to guess certain words from a selection of cards, while only using one-word and one-number hints, all the while trying to avoid the other teams cards, the innocent bystanders, and the dreaded assassin. Games play quick and are fun each and every time. There is a fair amount of pressure on the Code Master though so if a player doesn't like a lot of attention on them they may want to stick to playing as an agent and just guessing. Game Play Quality Price Value

This is a great party game. Great for teams of 2. We used a pointer to show deliberately selected the clue word. prevented from shouting out clue words at the same time in multiple word clues. Played with 2 teams of 5. Game Play Quality Price Value

This game is a juggernaut and coming in at under $14, it's a no brainier to buy immediately. The first time my group played this it was going to be warm up game, 4 hours later we were still playing. This game has some replay value and can add future expansions very easily. Get this one. Only gripe is the card quality could be a bit better. Game Play Quality Price Value

This is a great party style game that you can play from 2 to practically any player number, but I have found it excellent with 4-6 players. The gameplay is outstanding, fun to play and hard to master. My gaming group and I were going to start a new campaign of another game when one of them said they just picked up Codenames and we should try it out, this was at 7:30pm. By 1:00am we were still playing Codenames and we had many epic "guys vs. girls" games. Most fun I've had playing in a while, every time you play it makes you want to play again and again. Best party style game out there if you have 4-6 players! Game Play Quality Price Value

Awesome quality, amazing gameplay and great price. This truly has lived up to the hype for me and is my favorite party game. It works great with low and high player counts. Awesome game! Game Play Quality Price Value

I jumped in a bought this mostly due to all the buzz around it. However, I am glad I did. It is a clever team based deduction game that takes a simple concept and makes it quite fun. There is a nice satisfaction when you give a clue and your team flawlessly finds them all. With 400 words and numerous spymaster cards, it really has an unlimited amount of play time. I am glad I picked this one up and can't wait to play it with more family over the holidays. Game Play Quality Price Value

Codenames is a great party game for non-gamers and gamers alike. In this game, a 5x5 grid of word cards is laid out and a multi-colored key card indicates which words belong to the blue team and which words belong to the red team. Some words are neutral and indicated by a beige/tan color and one word is the assassin word and indicated by a black color. Each team has one spymaster (clue giver) who gives a one-word clue followed by a number, indicating how many words on the grid are associated with the clue just given. If a correct word is guessed, that team places their corresponding colored spy card over the word and they can continue guessing until they guess all of the associated words. If a neutral word is guessed, a neutral card is placed over the word, the guessing team can no longer continue guessing and their turn is immediately over. If a team ends up guessing a word belonging to the opposing team, the opposing team gets to place their spy card over the word and the guessing team's turn immediately ends. If the assassin word is chosen, the guessing team immediately loses the game! If this is avoided, the first team to place all of their spy cards on the grid wins.



Codenames is a simple, fun game. It's one of those games that can definitely benefit from meta-gaming, because you're more likely to guess the intended words when you know how your spymaster thinks. I've played this game 8-player, with two teams of four players, 4-player with two teams of two, and I've also played it with the 3-player variant, where there are two spymasters and one guesser, so it's more like spymaster versus spymaster. I personally prefer it 4- and 3-player, with 3-player being my favorite. Three different minds trying to work together to guess clues in the 8-player game made the guessers second-guess themselves too much, but it was still super entertaining. With the 4-player game it was nice to have the team competition working in just partners. But with the 3-player game, it was interesting having two opponents trying to figure out how one single person thinks and work it to their personal advantage. This is a great game that is going to get a lot of play from my regular game group. Game Play Quality Price Value