Codenames Board Game

Budget Party & Card Games

Party & Card Games · Budget

Our verdict

Codenames is a team word game built on one-word clues: a spymaster gives a single hint that links several secret words, and their team has to guess which ones — without touching the assassin. It plays in about fifteen minutes, scales to large groups, and generates the kind of debates that keep a party talking after the game ends. It needs at least four players to work properly, and the quality of a round depends on the spymaster, so shy groups may take a game to warm up.

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