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Codenames
Year
2015
Players
28
Play time
15min
Min age
10+
Weight
1.25
BGG rating
7.52
BGG rank
#161
Best with
6, 8

Local copies

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.

Categories

Card GameDeductionParty GameSpies / Secret AgentsWord Game

Mechanics

Team-Based GameRaceCommunication LimitsDeductionMemory

Best with how many players

1
Not rec.
2
Not rec.
3
Not rec.
4
Recommended
5
Recommended
6
Best
7
Recommended
8
Best
8+
Recommended

Community votes from BoardGameGeek

Language dependence

Unplayable in another language(142 of 176 votes)

Sub-rankings

  • Party Game Rank#6

Learn to play

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External data

Wikidata enrichment: 6 links · 7 facts · latest game data 06/20/2026.

Latest Wikidata run: ok · 06/20/2026.

Links

Facts

Publication date
2015
Publication date
2016-05-13
Country
Tjekkiet
Publisher
Iello
Publisher
Q124827469