Codenames has become one of my family’s go-to party games for its entertaining combination of skill, communication, and luck. Most people see it as a fun social game, but as with any game when I play Codenames, I play to win! I have found that there are quite a few strategies that significantly improve a team’s chance of winning.
In general, the best Codenames strategies as Spymaster are to check your clues against the entire board (especially the Assassin), eliminate problematic words while leaving them for opponents, and listen to your team. As a Field Operative, guess clues in order of confidence and vocalize your rationale.
The strategy in Codenames is less cut-and-dry than in most other games, but by employing the tips below you’ll get a definite edge on the other team. Remember that team chemistry and familiarity are likely to be a team’s strongest assets, so try to use these strategies as part of a team instead of going it alone.
Always check your clue against the Assassin
As the Spymaster, the most important thing to remember is to always start and end your thought process by checking your potential clue against the Assassin card. I have found that roughly 25% of games are lost because a team accidentally guesses the Assassin and it’s usually because the Spymaster gave a careless clue.
When you are about to decide on a clue to give your Field Operatives, always do one last check to see if it could possibly lead them toward the Assassin. If you think it’s even a remote possibility, try to go with another clue instead. It’s simply not worth the risk!
Avoid guessing the center card as a Field Operative
There are a total of 40 Key Cards that the Spymasters use to check their code names against, and every round of Codenames uses a different, random card. Moreover, these Key Cards can each be in 4 different orientations, making it virtually impossible to recognize or remember the patterns from game to game.
However, 4 of the 40 Key Cards have the Assassin on the central square, and it remains there regardless of which way the card is turned. This means that the Assassin is in the central square in 10% of all games, which is disproportionately high.
In the 160 possible orientations of the 40 cards, the Assassin is located in the middle square 16 times. Accounting for that, the rest of the squares only have a ~4% chance of holding the Assassin card. That means the Assassin is about twice as likely to be in the center than anywhere else!
Knowing this, you should be very careful about guessing a card in the middle of the board. All things being equal, if you’re unsure about choosing the middle card or any other then you’re mathematically better off choosing the one that’s not in the middle.
Give ‘0’ Clues to eliminate problematic words
Sometimes there is a set of three or more cards that could be guessed with one great clue, but there is an additional card that has the potential to spoil it. The extra card could be the Assassin, belong to the other team, or simply be an Innocent Bystander, but in any case, you don’t want your Field Operatives to use one of their guesses on it.
In these cases, you can use a turn to set up your next clue by giving a ‘0’ clue. This clue is targeted at one or more ‘extra’, problematic cards, and by telling your team ‘0’ you are establishing that they should never choose that card. Then, on your next turn, you can freely give the great clue that links a bunch of other words.
For example, in the game above Red might want to give the clue “Royal” to target the cards “Princess”, “Crown”, “Court”, and “King”. However, he is concerned that his teammates might choose “England”. To prevent this, he can give the clue “Countries, 0”, which tells his team that they shouldn’t choose any cards with names of countries. In this case, this has the added benefit of eliminating “Bermuda” which is one of Blue’s cards!
You can also use this strategy if you’re winning by a significant margin. If you’re up by a lot of cards the only feasible way you’ll lose is if your team picks the Assassin, you can use a ‘0’ clue to point out the Assassin. The other team will also benefit from this knowledge, but since you’re ahead by so much you’ll be able to work towards finishing your win without worrying about the Assassin.
Listen to your team’s discussions as Spymaster
When playing as the Spymaster it’s imperative that you listen to your Field Operatives when they discuss what cards they are going to choose. Their discussions give you insight into their thought processes and can help you steer them in the right direction on subsequent turns.
DID YOU KNOW? Codenames has a fun 2-player version called Codenames: Duet (link to Amazon). It’s really nice if you and your partner want to play but you don’t have enough people around to make it a party!
Your Field Operatives can (and should!) also give you input on how confident they feel about particular cards and how many guesses they think they can reasonably use. Listen to their feedback and give them what they’re asking for. Remember that your communication to them is limited but they can send you back a lot of valuable information that you can use to your advantage.
Leave cards that are a problem for opponents
Being the Spymaster can be overwhelming, but you should try to take the time to look at your opponents’ cards to get a sense of what their Spymaster’s strategy might be. Remember that they are facing the same struggles as you, and you shouldn’t make their job any easier!
If you notice that your opponents have three cards that could easily be grouped together but there is a fourth card in your color that also belongs in that group, try to delay having your team guess that card. Leaving that card on the table will force the opposing Spymaster to dance around it for several turns.
In the example above, Blue would love to be able to give “Tableware” as a clue to target “Knife” and “Plate”. Red sees this and notices that “China” could be interpreted as “Tableware”, making that card a problem for Blue. Instead of immediately saying “Countries” as Red’s own clue, she could wait a few turns to make things more difficult on Blue.
Check your clues against opponents’ cards
It can be super frustrating as Spymaster when your Field Operatives choose cards that belong to the other team, but this is usually preventable! You have to remember that you can’t just look at your own cards when formulating a clue. As we previously discussed, you have to check your clue against the Assassin. But almost as important is checking your clue against your opponents’ cards.
After coming up with a clue to give to your Field Operatives, scan the rest of the board and see if your clue could apply to any other cards. If it could apply to an opponent card then you should probably tweak your clue or change it entirely. If it could apply to an Innocent Bystander card you may still want to adjust, but it isn’t as crucial.
Cater clues to your audience
One of the things that makes Codenames such a fun game is the interactions between teammates. Close friends or relatives often have an advantage in the game because of their wealth of shared experiences, but you can always adapt your clues to your team even if you don’t have a long shared history together.
Keep clues fairly generic if you’ve just met some of your teammates. If they’re a similar age to you then they’re more likely to understand cultural references that you’re familiar with, so make use of those.
Try to give clues that appeal to your entire team, not just one teammate. This makes things more fun but also sparks more discussion amongst your teammates that can lead to better clues on subsequent turns.
Try using ‘chained inferences’ for more clues
This strategy is for more advanced players who often have more familiarity with one another. Instead of giving a clue that directly applies to several cards, try giving a clue that directs your teammates toward one card that then links to others.
In the example above, a Spymaster might consider giving “Crucifixion, 3” as a clue. The Field Operatives would likely guess “Cross” first and probably “Death” with little difficulty, but “Ghost” is a bit of a stretch. However, with some inferences, it’s not that hard to see that death leads to being a ghost. And, even better, “Crucifixion” has ties to the “Holy Ghost”.
This strategy is risky but is sometimes the best chance you’ll have at stealing away a win before the other team finishes all of their cards.
Give your team enough guesses to win in a pinch
Near the end of a round, your opponents might be winning by a substantial margin and things are looking dire. They only have one card left, so it’s almost a sure thing that they’ll give a super specific clue and easily win on their next turn.
In these cases, give the best clue you can but always make sure to give your Field Operatives enough possible guesses to win on that turn. If you have 4 cards remaining, make sure to give them an opportunity to guess 4 times. The chances that they’ll guess all of them correctly are low, but a slim chance is better than none!
In a similar vein, you can use the ‘Unlimited’ guess rule, which says you can give your new clue with ‘Unlimited’ as the number of guesses. This allows your team to guess as many cards as they want until they make an incorrect guess. This is particularly useful if your Field Operatives have missed several cards from previous clues that they might now be able to get.
Guess code names in order of confidence
Playing as a Field Operative brings with it a new set of challenges and opportunities to apply different strategies. Perhaps the most important thing to remember as a Field Operative is to guess cards in order of decreasing confidence, and not to make a wild guess when you feel lost.
In the example above, the Blue Spymaster could give the clue “Planetary, 3”. You’re likely to guess “Mercury” and “Saturn” first, and then be undecided between “Moon” and “Star”. It’s logical to think that Moons are closer in nature to Planets than Stars are, so “Moon” would probably be the best third guess. However, if you’re not confident and/or you’re already well ahead don’t push it.
Don’t feel obligated to make three guesses just because your Spymaster says his or her clue applies to three cards. If you really don’t see the connection on the board, just stop guessing and wait until the next turn. This is much better than accidentally turning over an opponent’s card or, worse yet, the Assassin.
Figure out clues that your opponents didn’t
Make sure you’re not mentally checking out of the game during your opponents’ turns! Pay attention to the clues that the opposing Spymaster gives and try to figure them out yourself. If the other team doesn’t guess all of the cards that clue pertained to, try to figure it out for yourself so that you can eliminate them as possibilities on your turn.
If you do think you’ve managed to figure out an opponent’s clue, make sure not to voice it to the other team. Whisper it to your teammates to get their input, but don’t make things easier on the other team by doing their thinking for them!
Discuss your rationale for your Spymaster to hear
Don’t be stingy with your words when working on figuring out your clues. Talk with your fellow Field Operatives to discuss all of the options and explain why you are leaning one way or the other. This can be very helpful to your Spymaster when they are trying to formulate new clues on subsequent turns. It can also sometimes spark an idea in your teammates that nobody has yet considered.
This strategy also applies when you’re the only Field Operative! Don’t keep your thoughts to yourself. Talk things out so that your Spymaster can hear them. This way they’ll understand why things went wrong if you make an incorrect guess and they can steer you in the right direction later on.
Communicate your confidence to your Spymaster
Remember that there are very few restrictions on what you can tell your Spymaster during the game. If you have missed a couple of clues early in the game but you feel like you’ve figured them out since then, communicate that to your Spymaster.
For example, if there are two cards on the table that you think applied to previous clues your Spymaster gave, tell your Spymaster “I feel confident that I can guess 2 of the cards from previous clues.” This allows your Spymaster to focus on different clues and also give you two additional guesses on this turn. Then, you can make your guesses on the clue the Spymaster gives and then makes additional guesses for the older clues.
Thanks for reading! If I missed something or you have your own opinions, please drop a comment below.
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Your strategy comments are excellent, well thought out and very helpful! Thank you
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