4–8 players15 minAge 14+

Base game (2025 rulebook, with the double agent tile) · Checked against the rulebook, Oct 2026

In short

Two teams race to find their secret agents among 25 words on the table. Each turn, your spymaster gives a one-word clue and a number, and you guess which words it points to. Find all your words first, and never touch the assassin.

How many guesses do you get?Can you give a clue that is a word on the board?Are rhyming or soundalike clues allowed?
1

Setup

  1. 1Form two roughly equal teams of 2 or more players each.
  2. 2Each team picks 1 spymaster. Both spymasters sit on the same side of the table, facing their operatives.
  3. 3Shuffle the word cards and lay out 25 of them in a 5 × 5 grid.
  4. 4The spymasters slide a random key card into the stand between them. It can go in either way round, and only the spymasters may look at it.
  5. 5Each spymaster takes the 8 agent tiles in their color. The 7 bystander tiles and the assassin go between them.
  6. 6The triangles on the key card's edge show which team starts. The starting team has 9 words to find instead of 8, so it takes the double agent tile, flipped to its color.

Rulebook pp. 2–3 (Setup)

2

How a turn works

Give a clue

The spymaster says 1 word and 1 number. The word relates to some of the team's words, and the number says how many.

Guess

The operatives discuss, then touch a card. The spymaster covers it with the tile the key shows. If it's your color, you may guess again.

End the turn

Your turn ends on a wrong guess, when you choose to stop after at least 1 guess, or once you've made the clue's number plus 1 correct guesses.

Rulebook pp. 4–5 (How to Play)

3

How to win

Find all your agents first

Your team wins when:

All your words are coveredEven on the other team's turnThe other team guesses the assassin

Rulebook p. 5 (Winning)

4

Rules people get wrong

9

Codenames rulings

Are rhyming or soundalike clues allowed in Codenames?Can you give a clue that is a word on the board in Codenames?Can you guess a word from an earlier clue in Codenames?Can you set up signals with your spymaster in Codenames?Can you use names or two-word clues in Codenames?Can you win Codenames on the other team's turn?How many guesses do you get in Codenames?What happens if a spymaster gives an invalid clue in Codenames?What happens if you guess the other team's word in Codenames?

Official sources

Official Codenames page (Czech Games Edition)
Rules download and how-to-play video

Play better with

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Codenames DuetStandalone 2-player co-op version; its words mix with the originalCheck price at Amazon
Codenames PicturesStandalone version with picture cards instead of wordsCheck price at Amazon
Codenames XXLSame game with oversized cards, easier to read across a big tableCheck price at Amazon
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Last checked Oct 2026 · Report an error