BOARD GAME REVIEW: CODENAMES (2015)

Codenames has been the party-game darling from the end of last year. Done by the same guy who has done Mage Knight (Vlaada Chvatil), this game is at heart a deduction-word game for large groups of people.

In Codenames, you have a set of 25 words arranged in a grid. Each belongs to either one of two teams, neutral or a single assassin (which is instant loss, to discourage random guessing). Each team (or if <3 players, one team) has a spymaster who gives a clue and number that relates to the words on their side. It goes each way until one team wins.

This game is an awesome party game and filler. The addition of the assassin is great to keep tension throughout the game. It is pretty easy to pick up for allot of players. There isn't really that much to say about this game. It is great and simple and really good to bring out with a full range of players (people who don't play to really experienced gamers).

However, its strong points are also some of its weaker points. The rules are simple, but that means that players keep trying to twist them. Every game has had people not able to keep quiet and just let the game go. It isn't that hard to know that the spymaster can only give one clue and if the clue is a dud (a homonym that wasn't spelled out, a word no-one knows the meaning of), it is a wasted clue. This means that the choice of spymaster is very important, and I already have a list of people I don't want to be spymaster.

These problems wouldn't be that bad, but the game is really quite fun and engaging so it is sometimes used as more than just a filler. When this turns into the main gaming event of the night, having these problems continuously happen during the night quickly sours the game experience. At the end, I would still prefer to play this with smaller groups (and 2 and 3 player works really, really well- even better than competitive in some respects) and definitely not as a main course.

Codenames is a great little game. It is at its best with smaller groups and used as a filler. However, this game is mostly a victim of its own success. The problems mostly stem from their own success (it tends to stay out too long and people keep trying to bend the rules) that is currently holding it back in my opinion.

3.5 out of 5 Hidden Waffles.