Codenames

TYPE: Boardgame

2 – 8+ players

 Competitive 4 – 8+

Aim: To find your agents using only one word clue and be faster than other team.

Participants will gain..

….Values: trust, cooperation, belief in others, appreciation

……Skills:  understanting each other, english vocabulary, communications

…… Knowledge: how to say shortly what you are thinking and how to do it in a clever way

Description of the game:

SET UP!

Players split up into two teams of similar size and skill. You need at least four players (two teams of two) for a standard game.

Each team chooses one player to be their spymaster. Both team spymasters sit on the same side of the table. The others sit across from their spymaster.  They are field operatives.

Randomly choose 25 codenames and place them on the table in a 5 - by 5 grid. Then one spymaster randomly choose one key card and slide it into the stand between them. Any side can be up. Don´t let the field operatives see the key card.

The key corresponds to the grid on the table. Blue squares correspond to words that Blue team must gueass(blue agents). Red squares correspond to words that Red team must gueass (red agents). Pale squares are innocent bystanders, and the black square is an assasin who should never be contacted at all!

STARTING TEAM!

The four lights around the edge of the key card indicate which team starts. The starting team has 9 words to guess and other team has 8. The starting team will give the first clue of the game.

CARDS

GAME OVERVIEW!

Spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames.

Spymasters take turns giving one-word clue. A clue may relate to multiple words on the table. The field operatives try to guess which words their spymaster meant. When a field operatives touches a word, the spymaster reveals its secret identity. If the field operatives guess correctly, they may continue guessing, until they run out of ideas for the given clue or until they hit a wrong person. Then it is the other team´s turn to give a clue and guess. The first team to contact all their agents wins the game.

GIVING A CLUE!

If you are the spymaster, you are trying to think of one word clue that relates to some of the words your team is trying to guess. When you think you have a good clue, you say it. You also say one number, which tells your teammates how many codenames are related to your clue.

Example: Two of your words are NUT and BARK. Both of these grow on trees, so you say tree:2

You are allowed to give a clue for only one word (cashew:1), but it´s fun to try for two or more.

ONE WORD!

Your clue must be only one word. You are not allowed to give extra hints. Also you have to keep a straight face. No emocion and don´t look that card. When a teammate chooses a word of the correct color, you should act as though it was exactly the word you meant, even if it wasn´t.

-          If the field operative touches a card belonging to his or her team, the spymaster covers the word with an agent card in that color. The operatives get another guess (but not another clue.)

-          If the field operative touches an innocent bystander, the spymaster covers it with an innocent bystander card. This ends the turn.

-          If the field operative touches a card belonging to the other team, the word is covered by one of the other team´s agent cards. This ends the turn. (and helps the other team)

-          If the field operative touches the assasin, the word is covered by the assasin card. This ends the game! The team that contacted the assassin loses.

Tip: Before saying your clue out loud, make sure it doesn´t relate to the assassin.

The field operatives must always make at least one guess!

FIRM RULES!

-          Your clue must be about the meaning of the words.  You can´t use your clue to talk about the letters in a word or its position on the table.

-          Letters and numbers are valid clues, as lond as they refer to meanings. You can use X:1 as a clue for RAY. You can use EIGHT:3 as a clue for BALL, FIGURE AND OCTOPUS.

-          You must play in English.

-          You can´t say any form of visible word on the table. Until BREAK is covered up by a card, you can´t say break, broken, breakage or breakdown.

REFLECTION:

Questions you should ask after the game is:

            Spymasters!

1.      How did you felt durning the game?

2.      Was it easy to keep a straight face even when your team didn´t undrestand your clue?

3.      Was it difficult to think one word clue?

Field operatives!

1.      How did you felt durning the game?

2.      Was it easy to undrestand your spymastes clues?

Both of them!

1.      How was your teamwork?

2.      Did you liked the game? Why?

3.      What was the hardest thing?

NOTES!

At first you may think that this game is really hard, but when you started playing it, it becomes easier. It is important to look at the 25 words before the game and when you don´t know the meaning of some word you say it out load. Big problem about this game is overthinking, so relax and don´t think too hard, your spymaster usually don´t give really hard clues, so enoy the game. It doesn´t matter if you are a spymaster or a field operative, they are both quite difficult at first, but when you undrestand the game it is really cool game.