Codenames Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Setup

Split the players into two teams. You should split the teams as evenly as possible. Each team chooses one of the colors. If there are only two or three players, you need to use special rules (see below).
Each team will choose one player to be their spymaster. Both spymasters must sit on the same side of the table. The rest of the players (field operatives) sit on the other side of the table.
The players randomly choose 25 of the word cards and place them in a 5 x 5 grid.
Each spymaster takes the agent cards that match their color. Place the innocent bystander and assassin cards between both spymasters.
The spymasters will choose one of the key cards and place it into the stand facing them. They should not let the other players see the key card.
Look at the key card. The team whose color is on the sides of the key card starts the game. Their spymaster takes the double agent card and adds it to their pile of agents.

How to Play Codenames

Before starting the game both spymasters should study the grid and key card. The key card shows a color for each space in the grid. The color corresponds to the word in the same space in the grid on the table. Each spymaster is trying to get their teammates to guess all of the words corresponding to their color. For example the red spymaster is trying to get their teammates to guess all of the words that are red on the key card. The pale squares are innocent bystanders and the assassin is the black X. The spymasters want to avoid having their teammates guess the word corresponding to the assassin.

Determining each team's words — For this game the blue spymaster has to get their teammates to guess, play, racket, dinosaur, dance, pilot, game, cat, slip, and bed. The red spymaster has to get their teammates to guess chair, spy, thief, knight, carrot, novel, Germany, and wall. Both teams need to avoid marble as the assassin is on that space.

Giving A Clue

Starting with the spymaster for the first team, each team will take turns trying to get their teammates to pick the words corresponding to their agents. Each spymaster gives their team a one-word clue. You can give a clue that only applies to one of your words, or you can try to come up with a clue that applies to multiple of your words. You can spell out your clue word for your teammates if you want to.

Along with the clue, the spymaster also has to say how many of the team’s words the clue refers to. You can use this number to give your teammates an additional clue. For example the spymaster can say “blue 2”. With this clue the spymaster is telling their teammates that two of their team’s words are associated with blue.

Giving a clue — The blue team takes the first turn. They notice that a lot of their words are related to sports. For example racket, game, and play are connected to sports. Some people might connect dance to sports as well. They need to avoid having their teammates guess marble though, which some people might connect to sports. The spymaster decides to give the clue “sports 3” to try and get their teammates to guess racket, game, and play. They could say “sports 4” but they then increase the odds that their teammates will guess marble.

A spymaster could choose to give a clue that doesn’t relate to any of their words. In this case they can give a clue word and then say zero. This means that none of their team’s words relate to the given clue. The spymaster could also say unlimited instead of a number. This lets their teammates guess as much as they want, but they won’t know how many words relate to the clue that was just given.

There normally isn’t a limit on how much time you get to come up with a clue. If a player is taking an excessive amount of time, the spymaster on the other team can flip over the timer (approximately a minute and a half). The current spymaster then has to come up with a clue before the timer runs out. You can also choose to use a house rule where the spymasters only have until the timer runs out to come up with every clue.

Specific Rules for Clues

When giving clues you must follow these rules:

A player can’t give a clue that is the same or similar to one of the face up word cards. For example if “paper” is in the grid on the table, you can’t say “paper” as your clue. Once the word is covered up though, you can give that word as a clue. Spymasters also can’t use part of a face up compound word until it is covered up. You can use a word that is said the same way, but spelt differently. For example you can give knight as a clue even if night is face up on the table.

Clues should be based off the meaning of the word(s) they are trying to get their teammates to guess. For example you can’t make up words, or use words/letters to tie words together by something other than their meaning. For example you can’t give a clue like three 3 to get your teammates to guess three letter words.

A player can only give letter and number clues if it relates to the meaning of the word(s). For example a player can’t use “a 3” as a clue to refer to three words that start with the letter a. You can use the letter x as a clue for something like “ray” though as it can relate to the word “x-ray”.

You cannot use the number you give along with the clue as a clue itself.

All clues should be in English unless the word is commonly used in English. You cannot use a word in a different language if there is an English version of the word.

A spymaster cannot give any visual clues to help lead their team towards choosing a word.

Some words in English sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. These are considered different words. You can’t give a clue based on the other interpretation of the word. For example you can’t give a clue related to the word “knight” to try and get your teammates to guess “night”.

Compound words that are spelt out as just one word are allowed. The players need to decide whether compound words are allowed as clues if they are spelt out as two words. If players agree to use compound words, they have to be commonly used compound words. You are never allowed to make up a compound word in order to give a two word clue.

Proper names are allowed as clues as long as they are only one word. If they are two or more words, the players have to agree to allow them in the game.

Players have to decide whether acronyms can be used as clues. Acronyms like laser, radar, and sonar that were once acronyms but are now common words are allowed.

You cannot use rhyming clues if their only relation to the words you want guessed is the rhyme itself. You can rhyme if the clue also makes sense with the meaning of the word you want guessed.

While these are the official rules, the game specifically allows some leniency. If players all agree to allow a type of clue that is otherwise forbidden, you can use them in the game.

Should a spymaster give an invalid clue, their team’s turn ends immediately. The other team’s spymaster also gets to cover up one of words that correspond to their color before they give their next clue.

Guessing Words

The other players on the team then have to try and figure out what words their spymaster was giving a clue for. The other players can discuss their options for as long as they want. The spymaster may not do anything that would indicate to their teammates whether they are on the right or wrong track. When the players have agreed on a word, one of the players points to the word they chose. The spymaster then reveals the identity of the word chosen.

If the chosen card matches their color, the spymaster takes one of their color agent cards and places it on top of the chosen word card. The players can then choose to guess another word that they think matches the clue given by their spymaster. They do not receive another clue to help them pick a card though.

Guess correct word — The blue team decides to guess “racket” first. As this matches their color, the spymaster places a blue agent card on top of the word.

The current team can choose to keep making guesses if they keep picking words that match their color. A team can make as many guesses as the number given by their spymaster in the current clue plus one. For example if the spymaster said blue 2, their teammates can make up to three guesses. They can choose word cards based on the current clue, or any past clues that they weren’t able to find all of the associated words. They can also choose to stop at any time after they have made at least one guess. Once the team has decided to stop guessing, play passes to the other team.

Guessing multiple words correctly in a round — The blue team successfully guessed three of their team’s words. Since the spymaster gave them a clue of “sports 3”, they can make one more guess. As they have no other clues to go on though, they are unlikely to make another guess.

If a spymaster gives 0 or unlimited as the number related to a clue, their teammates can keep guessing as long as they keep guessing words that match their color. Their teammate must make at least one guess, but can stop at any time.

Should the players choose a word corresponding to one of the bystanders (tan/pale), their spymaster places a bystander card on top of the word. Their team’s turn ends, and the other team takes their next turn.

Guessing a bystander card — The current team guessed one of the words that correspond with a bystander. The spymaster places a bystander card on the word. The team’s turn then ends.

When the players choose a word that corresponds to the other team, their spymaster places one of the other teams agent cards on top of the word. The players ended up helping out the other team. Their turn ends immediately. The other team takes their next turn.

Guessing the other team's word — The blue team ended up guessing one of the red team’s words. Their spymaster places a red agent card on the word. The blue team’s turn ends.

If the chosen word matches the black x spot on the key card, the current team chose the assassin. The game immediately ends. The current team loses the game.

Pick the assassin word — The current team has chosen the word associated with the assassin. Their team has lost the game.

Winning the Game

Codenames can end in one of two ways.

If a team picks the assassin, the other team wins automatically.

Otherwise a team wins when all of the agents of their color are revealed. This can either happen on your own turn, or the other team’s turn. Whichever team has all of their agents revealed first wins the game.

Winning Codenames — The blue team has found all of their words. They have won the game.

To play another game remove all of the cards covering the words and return them to the corresponding teams. Flip all of the word cards to the other side. Each team can choose a different spymaster, or they can use the same spymaster. To begin the next game you will choose a new key card.

Two Player Codenames

If there are only two players, both players play on the same team. You can also play this variant with more than two players if you want a cooperative game instead of a competitive game. In this game the objective is to get a high score against a simulated opponent.

The game is setup mostly the same as the normal game. You have to pick a key card that has your team’s color as the start team. One player plays as the spymaster and the rest of the players play as field operatives.

The team takes their turn normally. After they complete their turn, the spymaster simulates the other team’s turn by covering up one of the other team’s words. The spymaster gets to pick which of the other team’s words they want to cover up. They can choose a word that will make it easier for their team to guess their remaining words.

Choosing a word for the other team in the two player game — The blue team got two of their words after their first clue. The spymaster then chooses one of the red words to cover up with one of the red agent cards to simulate the other team’s turn.

Should your team pick the assassin or the enemy reveals all of their words, the team loses.

Otherwise the game ends when you guess all of your color words. To get your score you will count up the number of agent cards left in the other team’s stack. You will compare this to the chart below:

8 – That is … difficult to believe
7 – Mission impossible
6 – Wow!
5 – MI6 will be giving you a call.
4 – Top secret clearance.
3 – Your watches are synchronized.
2 – Okay. But you can do better.
1 – Well, a win is a win, right?

Three Player Codenames

If there are only three players, you can play the game in one of two ways. First you can play with the two player rules shown above.

Otherwise you can play where two of the players play as spymasters and the third player plays as an field operative for both teams. The game is played the same as the normal game. Whichever spymaster gets all of their color words covered first wins the game. The field operative should play their best for both teams.

Components

8 Red Agent Cards
8 Blue Agent Cards
1 Double Agent Card
7 Innocent Bystander Cards
1 Assassin Card
40 Key Cards
200 Word Cards
Card Stand
Timer (Approximately 1 minute 30 seconds)
Instructions

Year: 2015 | Publisher: Czech Games Edition | Designer: Vlaada Chvátil | Artist: Stéphane Gantiez, Tomáš Kučerovský, Filip Murmak

Genres: Deduction, Family, Party, Word

Ages: 10+ | Number of Players: 2-8 | Length of Game: 15-20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Moderate | Luck: Moderate

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.