How to play Codenames

2–8+ players — best with 4 or more split into two teams Light — word association and deduction

What is Codenames?

Codenames is a word-association party game by Vlaada Chvátil in which two teams race to identify their secret agents in a 5×5 grid of 25 word cards. Each team has a Spymaster who alone can see the key card mapping every word to red, blue, an innocent bystander, or the single assassin — and must steer their teammates to the right words using nothing but one-word clues.

The push and pull is delightfully tense: a clever clue can link several of your words in a single stroke, but one careless guess can hand the enemy an agent — or touch the assassin and end the game on the spot. Rounds run under twenty minutes and beg for immediate rematches with roles swapped.

Never played a clue-giving game? The whole skill is compression: the Spymaster looks at, say, MOON, BEAM, and IRON and asks "what one word touches all three of mine — and none of theirs?" Guessers do the reverse, unpacking one word back into the Spymaster's intent. Everything else is bookkeeping.

Components

What's in the box, and what each piece does at the table:

200 word cards (double-sided — 400 codenames) — the raw material. Each game deals 25 of them into the grid; with 400 words, no two games feel alike.
40 key cards — the secret maps. Each shows a unique 5×5 pattern of red, blue, beige (bystanders), and one black square (the assassin). Only the Spymasters see the game's key card.
1 card stand — holds the key card upright between the two Spymasters so both can read it while guessers see only its back.
16 agent cards (8 red, 8 blue) — sleek spy portraits used to cover words correctly identified by each team. The covered grid is the scoreboard: when a team's agent cards run out, they've won.
1 double agent card — red on one side, blue on the other. It marks which team goes first and serves as that team's 9th agent card, since the starting team has one extra word to find.
7 innocent bystander cards — cover words that belong to nobody. Hitting one wastes your turn but does no lasting harm.
1 assassin card — covers the black word. The team that touches it loses instantly; every clue is composed in its shadow.

Setup

Split into two teams of similar size — red and blue — and have each team choose its Spymaster. The two Spymasters sit on the same side of the table; everyone else (the field operatives) sits across from them. This seating is functional: the Spymasters share one secret key card, and the operatives must never glimpse it — or the Spymasters' eyes wandering over the grid.
Lay out the word grid. Shuffle the word cards and deal 25 face up in a 5×5 grid. Give the operatives a moment to read all 25 aloud — clues only work on words everyone has actually registered.
Draw the key card at random and slot it into the card stand facing the Spymasters. It shows exactly which words are red, blue, bystanders, and which single word is the assassin. The four lights on its border show the starting team's color.
Set out the cover cards. Agent cards, bystanders, and the assassin card sit within both Spymasters' reach. Place the double agent card with the starting team's color face up — it belongs to that team as their extra agent. The starting team has 9 words to find, the other team 8; the extra word is the price of moving first.
The starting team's Spymaster gives the first clue.

Fewer than 4 players? Two players (or one team of any size) can play cooperatively: one Spymaster, with the enemy team's words revealing themselves one per turn — beat the dummy team to your last word.

How to play

Teams alternate turns, and every turn is one clue plus its guesses:

The Spymaster gives a clue: one word, one number. "Ocean, 3" means three of our words relate to ocean. The clue must be about the words' meanings, must be a single word, and can't be (or contain) any word still visible on the grid. Nothing else — no tone, no gestures, no "you're close". The number is a promise: it tells your team how many cards you've bundled, and it sets their guess limit.
The operatives guess, one card at a time. Discuss freely, then touch a card. The Spymaster covers it with the matching cover card: - Your team's color — covered with your agent card, and you may keep guessing. - A bystander — covered beige; your turn ends. - The other team's word — covered with their agent card (a gift!); your turn ends. - The assassin — game over, your team loses on the spot.
Know your guess limit. You must guess at least once, and you may guess up to the clue's number plus one — the bonus guess exists so you can go back for a word you missed from an earlier clue. You may stop voluntarily at any point.

A turn, played out. Ana is the red Spymaster; among her words are MOON, BEAM, and IRON. She says "steel, 2" — aiming at BEAM and IRON while steering clear of KNIGHT, the assassin. Beto and Carla whisper: IRON is obvious; they tap it — red, covered, keep going. For the second guess Beto likes BEAM (steel beams!) but Carla argues for SWORD. They tap SWORD… beige bystander. Turn over — but two red words are covered on the grid, and next turn Ana can say "moonlight, 2" knowing the bonus guess lets them still pick up BEAM.

How to win

The first team to cover all of its words with agent cards wins — and it doesn't have to happen on your own turn: if the enemy's wrong guess covers your last word, you win right there.

The one absolute exception: touch the assassin and your team loses immediately, no matter the score. Because the starting team must find 9 words to the other team's 8, the second team is genuinely still in the race.

Strategically, Spymasters live on a risk curve: a bold "4" clue can win the game in two turns, but every extra word you bundle drags your operatives' fingers closer to the assassin and the enemy's agents. Watch the whole grid before you speak — the most common Spymaster disaster is a beautiful clue that also fits a word you forgot wasn't yours. And operatives: an unspent bonus guess plus the words you skipped earlier are exactly what late-game "cleanup" clues are made of.