Codenames (2nd edition)
- Selwyn Ward
- Jul 4
- 2 min read
Can there be anyone who hasn't played Vlaada Chvátil's Codenames? It was first published a decade ago by Czech Games Edition and it proved an immediate hit. It's a game for two competing teams and a 5 x 5 grid of random words. Notionally the words represent the 'codenames' for your own and enemy agents.
One player from each team takes on the role of clue-giver. The clue-givers know which words they need their own team to get and which words are targets for the opposing team; they also know which one of the 25 words must be avoided at all costs because it will hand their opponents an instant win if it's chosen. The clue-givers are trying to come up with one-word clues that guide their team to, ideally, multiple words that they are targetting. It's quite a cerebral word association game so it rather stretches the definition of a 'party game' but its success is evident in the number of different editions and variants it has spawned over the years, including a Codenames Duet cooperative version, a Pictures version, an 'XL' large-format edition, a risqué Deep Undercover 'adult' version and a bunch of themed variants tied into assorted IPs, including Disney, Marvel, Harry Potter and The Simpsons. In addition, the game is going strong online as an app, incorporating a whole bunch of 'speciality' thematic categories.
I’ve always loved Codenames - original, unthemed and unadulterated - so I was excited when CGE sent over a copy of their new ‘2nd Edition’. The original game came with 200 double-sided word cards, and there's a different set of word cards in the Codenames Duet two-player cooperative version, but it's always puzzled me that the CGE haven’t put out new word packs for the game. A pack of additional word cards would be quite cheap to produce so surely must mean instant profit... I thought that the ‘second edition’ would at least mean another 400 words to play with. Sadly not. I don't pretend to have done a full word-for-word analysis of the cards in this 2nd Edition but, from my sampling they look to be the same as those we’ve already seen. The only material difference between this and the first edition is different box art, more variety in the design of the agent cards, and the removal of the sand timer. What a missed opportunity! An entirely new word set would’ve given existing owners an incentive to buy the new edition and would’ve breathed new life into this great game.
FWIW, I compiled some years ago my own list of 400 multi-use words (ie: English words with multiple potential meanings; for example, words that take a different meaning when used as a noun or as a verb). Maybe I should get them printed up and formatted for use in the game… Perhaps we could then add a Board's Eye View expansion to the long roster of Codenames titles :-)
(Review by Selwyn Ward)
