Codenames
Overall Rating: 10/10
Age: 10+
GLAM Age Range: 10-Adult
Number of Players: 4-8+
Playing Time: 20 min
Publisher: Czech Games Edition
Complexity: Medium
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: I love this game so much. It's kind of like Taboo meets Battleship. It's easy to pick up the basics of the game and it's great for varying skill levels of players. We have been playing it quite a lot lately and have not gotten tired of it, it’s fun to play on repeat. The box says you can play with just 2 people but it’s pretty difficult. Don’t worry though, that’s why they created Codenames Duet!
How to Play: You have a secret grid that only the players giving clues can see and you try to get your teammate(s) to guess as many words as possible per turn by only giving them a one word clue and a number of cards it applies to. You want your teammate(s) to guess all of your words before the opposing team does, and without accidentally picking the deadly “spy” word. Game over if you do!
Variations: It’s fluid in how you form teams and how many people play against each other. You need a base of 4 (two different teams with one person giving clues for each team and one person guessing for each team) but you can add any number after that and have either two people giving clues and just one guessing on the other end, or a bunch of people guessing and just one person giving clues per team. Does not impact game play at all.
Similar Games To Check Out: Codenames Duet, Codenames Marvel, Kingdomino, 5 Minute Dungeon, Exploding Kittens, Bears vs Babies