Two Clever

The newest entry in the game juggernaut Codenames is Codenames: Duet. Intended primarily for two players (though playable with two teams), this takes the familiar gameplay of the original and applies it to a cooperative game.

As before, a 5x5 grid of cards is laid out, each containing a word. A separate card marks the words in that grid that a clue giver is trying to get the guesser to say by giving one-word clues -- and three words (not just one this time) that must be avoided. But this time around, the cards are double sided. Players/teams sit across from each other, each working the same grid and taking turns giving clues. 15 of the 25 words must be guessed between them; each side of the card marks 6 words that only that side is trying to give clues for, while 3 words are shared on both sides. One of the three "assassin" words to be avoided is shared with the other side of the card; one of the words that's an assassin on one side is actually a word to be guessed on the other. The players have just 9 clues between them (10 turns of guesses) to identify the 15 correct words.

I'm quite impressed at the ingenuity in converting this game into something cooperative. The double-sided clue card is a clever innovation, and the rules governing how they're designed add a fun element of deductive reasoning to the game. When you hear there's a cooperative Codenames, you might well ask, "how does that work?" Pretty well, it turns out.

It's also quite difficult. Racing against another team in the standard version is, it turns out, a lot easier than just racing the clock. With one side only able to give 4 clues (and the other only able to give 1 more), you really have to find ways to stitch two or three words on the grid together with just a single clue. You can't let up on the gas like you can in the original when you build a comfortable lead on the rival team. In fact, we played several rounds of Codenames: Duet on the night we first tried it, and we weren't successful -- not even once.

Fun, clever, and challenging -- Codenames: Duet is all that. Yet it also feels a little bit limited to me. It really does seem like it's just a two-player game. We tried it with teams, which led to a whole lot of awkward whispering back and forth within each team about what clue to actually give. Finally, pen and paper had to be brought out just so "discussion" could happen without the guessers hearing. It was awkward any way you slice it, where the simple two player experience would just be you and one other person working together. Personally, I rarely have need of a two-player game, and this awkwardness in trying to include more than that may well mean that my group just opts for the original Codenames when given the chance.

That makes this game a hard one to grade. It feels like its awkwardness in scaling to more players really shouldn't count too much against it if it is a perfect two-player game... though that makes it much less likely I'll actually play it again. Call it a B+? If you're a Codenames fan, or simply on the lookout for a good two-player game, you'll definitely want to pick up Codenames: Duet.