Get your code wrong twice, and you also lose. You might intend for “roll” to correspond to “dungeon” if you’re referencing Dungeons & Dragons, but another player might think of the Hong Kong pastry banana roll. Meanwhile, your team might mess up and get your own code wrong if you make your clues too subtle. ![]() If another team is able to guess your sequence correctly twice, you lose. If you need your team to guess “fraud” and you say “tax” one round and “wire” the next, your opponents will likely figure out that “bank” corresponds to the same word. That might allow them to guess what your code is over the course of a few rounds. The trick is that the opposing team will get to know the clues you gave and the sequence they formed. Each team has four words, such as “fraud,” “dungeon,” “elephant,” and “banana,” and needs to get their team to guess them in the correct order by giving them clues that correspond to each word. Much like in Codenames, in Decrypto players swap between trying to give their team clues and trying to figure out what the clues mean. Or for a totally different challenge, check out Codenames: Pictures, where you have to really look at the details in art to find things that connect images - and avoid missing elements your teammates might latch onto. If you tend to just play with two people, try the cooperative Codenames: Duet. It’s a game that can be entertaining when played with friends who have plenty of common references and inside jokes to tie words together, but is even better as a party game for strangers, since you have to reach harder to figure out a universal clue and can be genuinely surprised at the conclusions your teammates will jump to. Luckily, setup for a second round is as simple as flipping the cards to the opposite side and picking a new code card. There’s also a hidden assassin that both spymasters want to make sure their teammates avoid, because guessing that tile will instantly lose them the game.Ī single round of Codenames takes about 15 minutes, but expect groups to want to play multiple times so everyone gets the chance to try being spymaster. Guessing wrong ends their turn and can even result in the players guessing a tile meant for the other team, effectively bringing their opponents one step closer to victory. Do ducks also eat worms? Guessing right puts the spymaster’s team closer to victory. ![]() A spymaster needs to sit stony faced while teammates debate if it’s more likely that worm is meant to represent something a robin commonly eats and the parasite heartworm, or if it’s there because worms are often seen after spring showers. The trick comes from how their teammates interpret that clue. Each tile has a word like “robin,” “duck,” “heart,” or “spring,” and spymasters provide clues by saying a single word, such as “worm,” along with a number indicating how many tiles the clue is meant to apply to. The rival spymasters can see a pattern represented in a five-by-five grid of tiles that forms the game’s board. ![]() Polygon is diving into the world of espionage throughout fiction and pop culture history with Deep Cover, a two-week special issue covering all sorts of spy stories and gadgets. One player on each team takes on the role of a spymaster who has to get the other players to make the right choices by carefully observing the game board and trying to think like their agents. Codenames is best played with six or eight players divided into two teams. The concept behind Codenames is simple enough that you don’t need any prior board game experience, but sessions are so varied that it’s impossible to truly master. These are the nine best spy board games to play to test your potential as a secret agent. Spy-themed board games are as diverse as espionage operations, ranging from fully cooperative narrative games that tell a story over multiple play sessions to fast-paced competitions where it’s hard to figure out who to trust. ![]() Those bits of tradecraft also make great mechanics for board games, providing players with the thrill of using their wits to uncover or share secrets without any risk of getting shot. Spying involves hiding and finding information, cracking codes, and deceiving others by concealing your true intentions.
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