The first and most important thing to do with a codewords puzzle is to go through and write in the letters you are given in the appropriate places on the puzzle.
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Thus if you are told that 22 is 'T', go through and mark all 22's as 'T': this is done for you if you use our online codewords player tool.
Now, once all letters are written in, you are normally given two or three letters for at least one word on the grid. This is where you should focus as you should normally be able to work out what the word is, or at least narrow down to a couple of candidates.
If you can think of only one word that fits, then write it in and then write in the new letters you have deduced throughout the puzzle, and so on until you reach the solution.
Often you can make an educated guess at which letters go where based on their frequency and where they occur in words. Indeed the first move that many people make is to see which number occurs most on the grid. This is almost always an 'E' and many people write it in straight away.
If you have the option of a couple of words for your first move then see if they would for instance place an obscure letter like 'X' in a cell containing a number that is repeated often in the puzzle: if so, that possibility is almost certainly wrong.
At the start of the puzzle it is important to think like this: what would be the impact on the rest of the puzzle if I place in the word I am thinking of? If it seems to make the puzzle impossible or at least improbable by placing awkward letters throughout the rest of the puzzle then you probably have the wrong word.
There are many other tips you can use when solving code words and a lot of the fun is working these out for yourself.
However particular patterns to think about include the following:
Many words end in 'ing'. Thus if you have an 'i' followed by two unknown letters at the end of the word, consider these may well be the 'n' and 'g'. To find out if that's so, simply see what the impact on the rest of the puzzle would be if they were the 'n' and the 'g': would it seem to make sense?
Similary the 's' is often at the end of words as there will be some plurals or words ending in 's' in the puzzle. Thus if you see the same letter at the end of words quite often this is a likely candidate for the 's', as long as you have already placed the 'e', which tends to be the most popular letter in codewords puzzles.
Once you have found the 'u', the 'q' is almost certainly nearby - therefore always be alert for whether the letter proceeding an 'u' is the 'q' or not. And, almost for sure, when you know where the 'q' is you know where the 'u' is, with the exception of some more obscure scrabble words such as 'qat' in some of the puzzles!
Finally, think of some other patterns. When you have the same letter twice in a row in a word, this is virtually always a double 'e' or 'o' if you have vowels to place. If you have consonants to place, there are more options, and often you will find it is a double 'd', 'p', 's' or 't' though consider other options such as 'f', 'g', 'm' and 'n' too.
Above all have fun and look for your own patterns as you start solving codewords, and you will soon be a maestro at solving the puzzle!
Codenames at the end of play. The game has ended because the assassin (the black card on the left edge) has been found. | |
Designer(s) | Vlaada Chvátil |
---|---|
Publisher(s) | Czech Games Edition |
Players | Recommended for at least 4; can be played by 4–8 players |
Setup time | 1–5 minutes |
Playing time | 15–30 minutes |
Random chance | Low |
Skill(s) required | Language skills, concept identifying |
Codenames is a 2015 card game for 4–8 players designed by Vlaada Chvátil and published by Czech Games Edition. Two teams compete by each having a 'spymaster' give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. The other players on the team attempt to guess their team's words while avoiding the words of the other team. In a variant with 2–3 players, one spymaster gives clues to the other player or players.
In 2016, Codenames won the Spiel des Jahres award for the best board game of the year.[1]
Rules[edit]
Codenames is a game of guessing which codenames (i.e., words) in a set are related to a hint-word given by another player.[2]
Players split into two teams: red and blue. One player of each team is selected as the team's spymaster; the others are field operatives.
Twenty-five Codename cards, each bearing a word, are laid out in a 5×5 rectangular grid, in random order. A number of these words represent red agents, a number represent blue agents, one represents an assassin, and the others represent innocent bystanders.
The teams' spymasters are given a randomly-dealt map card showing a 5×5 grid of 25 squares of various colors, each corresponding to one of the code name cards on the table. Teams take turns. On each turn, the appropriate spymaster gives a verbal hint about the words on the respective cards. Each hint may only consist of one single word and a number. The spymaster gives a hint that is related to as many of the words on his/her own agents' cards as possible, but not to any others – lest they accidentally lead their team to choose a card representing an innocent bystander, an opposing agent, or the assassin.
The hint's word can be chosen freely, as long as it is not (and does not contain, nor is contained in) any of the words on the code name cards still showing at that time. Code name cards are covered as guesses are made.
The hint's number tells the field operatives how many words in the grid are related to the word of the clue. It also determines the maximum number of guesses the field operatives may make on that turn, which is the hint's number plus one. Field operatives must make at least one guess per turn, risking a wrong guess and its consequences. They may also end their turn voluntarily at any point thereafter.
After a spymaster gives the hint with its word and number, their field operatives make guesses about which code name cards bear words related to the hint and point them out, one at a time. When a code name card is pointed out, the spymaster covers that card with an appropriate identity card – a blue agent card, a red agent card, an innocent bystander card, or the assassin card – as indicated on the spymasters' map of the grid. If the assassin is pointed out, the game ends immediately, with the team who identified him losing. If an agent of the other team is pointed out, the turn ends immediately, and that other team is also one agent closer to winning. If an innocent bystander is pointed out, the turn simply ends.
The game ends when all of one team's agents are identified (winning the game for that team),[3] or when one team has identified the assassin (losing the game).
Sequels[edit]
Codenames: Deep Undercover was released in 2016 exclusively at Target Stores. The game's 200 new cards consisted of sexual references and double entendres, earning it a parental advisory sticker.[4]
Codenames: Deep Undercover [2.0] was released in 2018 and is an update of the previous, intended to achieve better game balance. It is published by Lark & Clam.
Codenames: Disney Family Edition was released in 2017, and featured characters and locations from Disney and Pixar films.[5]
Codenames: Duet is a cooperative version of the game where both players work towards a common goal.
Codenames: Duet was released in 2017 as a two player, cooperative version of the base game with 400 all new word cards.[6]
Codenames: Duet XXL was released in May 2019 and is the same as the original Codenames: Duet, except for the fact that it uses larger format (double-sized) cards.[7]
Codenames: Harry Potter was released in 2018 and features the gameplay from Codenames Duet, with players working together to reveal all the right cards before they run out of time or summon Lord Voldemort or another dark wizard.
Codenames: Marvel Edition was released in 2017, featuring characters including Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and others in the Marvel Universe.[5]
Codenames: Pictures was released in September 2016, using images on the cards instead of words.[4] The game uses a grid of 20 cards instead of 25, but otherwise has the same rules as the original.
Codewords Game Rules
Codenames: Pictures XXL was released in Nov-Dec 2018 and is the same as the original Codenames: Pictures, except for the fact that it uses larger format (double-sized) cards.
Codenames: The Simpsons Family Edition was released in November 2019 and features characters and references from the eponymous television series. It is based on Codenames: Pictures.
Codenames: XXL was released in 2018 and is the same as the original Codenames, except for the fact that it uses larger format (double-sized) cards.
Digital[edit]
CGE has released Codenames Gadget, a mobile app to randomly generate layouts of agents.[8]
CGE has also released an official web version of the game, through their website at https://codenames.game.
Other free websites to play the game virtually: https://horsepaste.com/
Reception[edit]
The game reached the 17th (out of more than 84000) position in the BoardGameGeek ranking of games of all time, and first position in the BGG party-games ranking.[9]
It won the 2016 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the year), the most prestigious game award worldwide.[10]
Codenames won the Origins Award for Best Family Game, Fan Favorite Family Game, and Game of the Year for 2015.[11]
Codenames Duet won a Golden Geek award for the best two-player game of 2017.[12]
It has been published in 38 languages (Afrikaans, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, bokmål Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish), comprising six different alphabets.[13]
References[edit]
- ^Zimmerman, Aaron (July 7, 2016). 'The 'Board Game of the Year' winners have been announced'. Ars Technica. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
- ^Chvátil, Vlaada (July 2015). Codenames Rules(PDF). Czech Games Edition. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^D'Anastasio, Cecilia (December 26, 2017). 'Five Family-Friendly Board Games That Aren't Monopoly'. kotaku. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ abMachkovech, Sam (August 3, 2016). 'First official Codenames spin-off is Target-exclusive, obsessed with sex'. Ars Technica. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
- ^ abWalker, Alex (February 17, 2017). 'Codenames Is Getting The Disney, Pixar And Marvel Treatment This Year'. Kotaku. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
- ^East, Oliver (September 12, 2017). 'Codenames: Duet – Competitive To Coop Brilliance'. Just Push Start. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
- ^https://czechgames.com/en/home/news-19-05-30-codenames-duet-xxl/
- ^'Codenames - Czech Games Edition'. codenamesgame.com. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
- ^'Codenames'. BoardGameGeek.
- ^de Veyra, Jeeves (December 14, 2016). 'Codenames board game gets local edition'. ABS-CBN Corporation. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
- ^https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/34748/2016-origins-award-winners
- ^Hall, Charlie (March 14, 2018). 'The best board games of 2017, as chosen by the Board Game Geek community'. Polygon. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- ^'Codenames Download Area'. czechgames.com. Czech Games Edition. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
External links[edit]
- Official game website at Czech Games
- Codenames at BoardGameGeek
Simply Codeword Puzzles
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