Codenames

Two teams, one word grid, and a spymaster whose one-word clues have to connect exactly the right cards without touching the assassin.

Verdict: worth owning
Einar, 23 plays · updated July 2, 2026 · 1530 minutes a game

One word, and the assassin

Codenames splits the table into two teams, each with a spymaster who can see which words belong to which side. Their job is a one-word clue and a number ("OCEAN, two") meant to point teammates at exactly the right cards without touching the other team's words, the innocent bystanders, or the assassin, which ends the game the moment anyone touches it. It's less a vocabulary game than a group mind-reading exercise, and it exposes that fast: the clue that felt obvious in your head reliably lands somewhere upsetting.

Fifteen minutes with a group that already gets each other. Longer, and funnier, once people start overthinking clues that used to be easy.

One word, and everything it touches

The spymaster says…

OCEAN, for two

WAVE
SHIP
SALT
HORSE
BANK
GLASS
PIRATE
TOOTH
SPRING

Every clue is obvious to exactly one person, and the rules require that person to sit there in silence while the rest of you get it wrong.

Ways to play

The physical boxOUR PICK
in-person
free · browser · remote

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