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How to play
Grounded in Codenames's rulebook — cite-checked answers, not guesses.
Get a straight answer with the exact rulebook passage to back it up.
The easy-to-forget bits, straight from the rulebook.
Starting team words
The starting team has 9 words to guess, and the other team has 8 words.
Double agent
The double agent belongs to whichever team starts and counts as one of that team's agent cards.
Game end trigger
The first team to contact all their agents wins the game, or the game ends immediately if a team touches the assassin, in which case that team loses.
Proper names
Proper names are always valid clues if they follow the other rules, but spymasters should not make up names.
Maximum guesses
A team's turn ends when they guess wrong, decide to stop, or make the maximum number of guesses for that clue.
Extra guess
If field operatives guess correctly, they get another guess (but not another clue).
To set up Codenames: 1. **Players and Teams:** * Players split into two teams of similar size and skill. A standard game requires at least four players (two teams of two). * Each team chooses one player to be their spymaster. * Both spymasters sit on the same side of the table. * The other players, called field operatives, sit across from their spymasters. 2. **Codenames Grid:** * Randomly choose 25 codenames and place them on the table in a 5-by-5 grid. 3. **The Key Card:** * Choose one key card randomly. * Spymasters slide the key card into the stand between them, with any side up, ensuring field operatives do not see it. * The key card reveals the secret identities of the words: blue squares are blue agents, red squares are red agents, pale squares are innocent bystanders, and the black square is an assassin. 4. **Agent Cards:** * The red agent cards go in a stack in front of the red spymaster. * The blue agent cards should be in front of the blue spymaster. 5. **Starting Team:** * The four lights around the edge of the key card indicate which team starts. * The starting team has 9 words to guess, while the other team has 8. * The starting team will give the first clue of the game.
On your team's turn, the Spymaster gives a clue, and then the field operatives make guesses. Specifically: * The **Spymaster** gives a clue that must be only one word and cannot be any of the codenames visible on the table. No extra hints are allowed. * The **field operatives** then try to figure out what the clue means, debating it amongst themselves while the Spymaster keeps a straight face. * They indicate their official guess by touching one of the codenames on the table. * They must make at least one guess. * If they guess a word of their team's color, they can keep guessing. * They can stop guessing at any time. They can guess up to the number of words the Spymaster said, and sometimes even one more. A team's turn ends when they guess wrong, when they decide to stop, or when they have made the maximum number of guesses for that clue. If a field operative touches an innocent bystander or a card belonging to the other team, the turn ends immediately. If the field operative touches the assassin, the game ends, and the team that contacted the assassin loses.
Rules summaries are AI-generated from the official rulebook and may contain mistakes — check the manual for anything critical.
You win the game when your team has covered all of its words. It is possible to win even during the other team's turn if they guess your last word.
Scoring rules are detailed for the two-player variant of Codenames, or for larger groups playing cooperatively. In this variant: * If your team wins, you calculate a score based on how many agent cards are still left in the simulated opponent's stack. For example, 8 cards left is the highest score, while 1 card left is the lowest score. * The score is also influenced by how many turns your team needed and how many enemy agents you contacted accidentally. * If your team contacts the assassin or if all enemy agents are contacted, you lose, and there is no score. For the standard game, the rules describe winning conditions (the first team to cover all their words wins) and losing conditions (contacting the assassin). However, the provided rules do not specify a numerical scoring system for the standard competitive game.
The game can end in a few ways: * The game ends when one team has all their words covered, and that team wins. This can even happen on the other team's turn if they guess your last word. * The game can also end early if a field operative makes contact with the assassin. In this case, the operative's team loses.