Codenames Rules

Codenames is a word-based party game where players are divided into two teams, each with a spymaster giving one-word clues to guide teammates in uncovering their team's words on a grid. The objective is to avoid the opposing team's words and the assassin word

Objective: The goal of Codenames is for one team to successfully identify all their agents based on the clues given by their team's spymaster while avoiding the opposing team's agents and the assassin.

Setup:

4 or more players
Divide players into two teams. Each team chooses a spymaster and players to be field operatives
Lay out 25 word cards in a 5x5 grid on the table.
Each spymaster agree on the key card, which indicates the location of their team's agents, the opposing team's agents, and the assassin on the grid.
The spymasters take turns giving one-word clues and a number to their team. The word should relate to the location of one or more of their agents on the grid (without saying the actual word), and the number indicates how many words the clue applies to

Instructions

Step 1

The key card on the sides will indicate (either red or blue) team goes first. The spymaster for the first team should give a one-word clue with a number indicating how many words the clue applies to

Step 2

The field operatives discuss and then guess which words their spymaster is referring to, touching the chosen word(s) on the grid

Optional: Gameplay may use the timer included to speed up the game and force teams to select chosen words before the timer ends

Step 3

If correct, the team covers the guessed word with their color's agent card and may continue making additional guesses based on the number provided in the clue

Only after the first round: If a team does not get all the cards in their previous turn, going forward that team can guess one extra card on top of the number provided by spymaster - The goal is to hopefully identify the card that was missed

Step 4

If incorrect, the word is covered with the opposing team's agent card, ending that team's turn. If the word corresponds to a neutral word, nothing happens and covered with the neutral card, but if it corresponds to the assassin, the game ends and the the team that selected the assassin loses

Step 5

Once the turn of the opposing team ends (either by picking the wrong card, or they have finished picking cards), it is now the 2nd team's turn. The game continues with teams taking turns until one team identifies all their agents or the assassin is chosen.

Step 6

The first team to correctly identify all their agents wins the game

Have fun! :)