Description
Codemes duet keeps the basic elements of codemes give one word clues to try to get someone to identify your agents among those on the table but now you’re working together as a team to find all of your agents. Why you don’t already know who your agents are is a question that CONGRESSIONAL investigators will get on your back about later to set up play, lay out 25 word cards in a 5×5 grid. Place a key card in the holder so that each player sees one side of the card. Each player sees a 5×5 grid on the card, with nine of the Squares colored Green representing your agents and one square colored black representing an assassin. the assassin is in different places on each side of the card, and three of the nine Squares on each side are also Green on the other side collectively, you need to reveal all fifteen agents — without revealing either assassin or too many innocent bystanders — before time runs out in order to win the game. Either player can decide to give a one word clue to the other player, along with a number. Whoever receives the clue places a finger on a card to identify that Agent. If correct, they can attempt to identify another one. If they reveal as many as the number stated by the clue giver, then they can take one fil guess, if desired. If they identify a bystander, then their guessing time ends. If they identify an assassin, you both lose.
From the brand
From the manufacturer
What is included?
• 15 green agent cards for cooperative play
• 100 double-sided Duet key cards
• 11 timer tokens
• 1 assassin card (Oh no!)
• 1 pad of mission maps
• 1 card stand
• 1 rulebook
• 200 cards with 400 new words (compatible with Codenames)
Top Secret Co-op Game
Work together to find your secret agents before time runs out!
Based-on the original party game hit, Codenames Duet is a standalone co-op clue giving adventure that sends you and your partner on a top secret mission to a crowded city. Your objective? Contact 15 agents while avoiding a band of enemy assassins.
You know the agents that your partner can contact safely; they know the agents you can contact safely. By giving each other one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board, you must try to find all the agents before your turns run out.
- Mechanics/genre: cooperative play, clue giving, word association, deduction
- Designer: Vlaada Chvátil & Scot Eaton
Azure –
If you like codenames then you will like this. It is harder than the original as there are three assassin spots on each map card. There is a really good mechanic for tracking wrong guesses. I can’t decide which I like more, the original or this cooperative 2 player one. Overall very fun, I would get it for couples or just close pairs of people.
Ryan S –
Easy to learn for most people who have a base familiarity with board or word games but, as with most genuinely good games, while the rules are simple there is no shortage of depth and strategy. Creativity, planning ahead, keeping track of information and the ability to take strategic risks at the right time are all asked of the player.The combinations of words and boards are nearly endless and for 25 dollars or less the bang for your buck and replayability are top tier. You could play thousands of games and they’d each be different.My one caution would be the level of difficulty, as it’s the kind of game that either clicks with someone or it doesn’t. My wife and I are highly experienced gamers and nerdy intellectual types and as such we win the overwhelming majority of the time, as in 90% or more, with very little difficulty. However, we believe our coworkers and their spouses, our parents, our friends, etc would have a much harder time and a much lower win rate, as it’s the kind of game where a single strategic mistake ends the day. If you hit an “assassin” tile you just lose and there’s no opportunity for redemption, so avoiding giving clues that could by any stretch of the imagination lead to your partner guessing one of the forbidden words is absolutely mission critical. Basically, I think this game is probably feast or famine with its difficulty and most average people will lose a lot, and you have to be okay with that if you’re going to purchase this. To the game’s credit, however, it does have a few built-in ways, specifically addressed in its rule book, to make it easier if you need to. Still, given that a certain level of vocabulary is necessary and then within that creativity and abstract thinking is required, this game is almost certainly NOT suitable for younger children.Games are fast and setup/cleanup don’t take long either, and the game itself is small and easy to store. In my mind the pros vastly outweigh the cons for us and we’re very satisfied with our purchase. Like I mentioned earlier, for just 25 dollars or less if you’re even vaguely interested in this kind of game it’s hard to go too far wrong here.
Meredith44 –
I go over to my mom’s house one a week for dinner and to help her out. We had been playing some board games, but had a limited selection, so I looked for an interesting two player game and found this. We’re not the greatest at it yet, but we are enjoying ourselves! I like that it has varying difficulty levels. And that it is set up for many chances to replay it without it getting repetitive.
Becca A. –
I loved the original Code Names, and I’ve played it with family members at tons of parties and holiday functions. I decided to buy this version and rock out with just two players now. But this version is HARD! It’s still gloriously invigorating to play, and I absolutely love this game. But make no mistake, the limited number of turns to guess makes it just that much more challenging.Overall though, it’s a great game. Highly recommend.
Jenni –
I love all the versions of codenames including this one. Great 2 player option
Gina Jo Sedlak –
Quite easy to learn however there are lots of little rules that impact the game quite alot that are a little vague on first look of the rules. if the game feels to easy that means you are probably using a rule wrong. One of the few single player games that I enjoy. I will say im am unsure of replay ability at this point. I have done several runs and even with characters playing very different fighting the same monsters and traps feels meh. like you get different rewards but the pictures are the same.However I have gotten like 4 people to try it and everyone has enjoyed a round or two. so would highly recomend if you are looking for a game for yourself or 1 other person.
Pleasant Waterfall –
I have been playing this with our cooperative board game group and have had such fun! I gifted this to my parents for Christmas, and they have had a grand time beating the challenges therein.
Kevin and Jessi –
We are big fans of Codenames, but find ourselves playing a lot of games just the two of us. The original Codenames has a two player option, so why buy this? In the original game, the two player option is sort of like playing against a ghost team. One player is the code master and the other is the agent and after each turn, you give your invisible opponent a point and start the next turn. That’s fun, but feels more like practice. In this version, which you can mix with your original game for a much bigger pool of agent names (words), each matrix card is double sided and each player has their own secret agent list. You alternate being the code master and being the agent on each turn. There are 15 agents in each game, 6 that are unique to each player’s side of the matrix card and 3 that over lap. There are also multiple assassins that may or may not overlap with each code master. Many innocent bystanders and sometimes even an assassin on your matrix will be a contactable agent on your partner’s matrix, so you have to make sure you completely ignore your own matrix while you are guessing and contacting agents.To shake things up there is a pad of sheets that have a map of the world with multiple cities and a pair of numbers, like Berlin 11-2 or Monte Carlo 9-0. You can play a much more challenging game, working your way around the world. After each turn of guessing and contacting agents, the guessing player takes a timer token, which is a green folder on one side, indicating you completed your turn without contacting an innocent bystander or assassin, or a gray innocent bystander on the other side (I love that two of them are a dog and a snowman). If you contacted an innocent bystander, you place the token on that word card with the arrow facing towards you, indicating that the word is out of play for you, but may still be an agent for your partner. If you guessed only correct words, whether they were the ones your partner intended or not, you place the chip green side up in front of you to indicate that a turn was taken. So here’s what the numbers to mean: in Berlin, you get a total of 11 timer chips (turns) and only two of them are allowed to be contacts with an innocent bystander; in Monte Carlo, you get 9 green folders and no innocent bystanders. If you contact too many innocent bystanders, you might as well have contacted an assassin because your game is over. It adds a lot to the game because you now have a goal to try to get through all of the cities instead of just playing the same game every time. It can be pretty stressful to see your pile of timer chips shrinking while your pile of agent cards doesn’t seem to be shrinking fast enough because you just can’t find a clue that links multiple words together.
Keith Kamer –
I loved codenames and was told about this version of the game. It is a fun little twist to be working together instead of 2 teams against eachother. I will say it is a little harder to connect words than the original game in my opinion
Krystel Barboza –
I like the game, to my surprise it’s different to the regular Codenames game. Something really cool is that the 400 words are totally new from the other game version, yet the cards are interchangeable between both versions which is very nice if you own both.