Question 1

True or false: Codenames was originally designed as a party game for 4 to 8 players, but it can be played with just two.

Accepted Answer

True. The game supports 2-player variant rules where one player acts as both spymaster and guesser for each team.

Question 2

True or false: The assassin word in Codenames is always the word that is most dangerous to guess, but accidentally revealing it ends the game immediately with a loss for the guessing team.

Accepted Answer

True. If a team touches the assassin tile, they lose instantly, even if the other team has more unrevealed words.

Question 3

True or false: In Codenames, the spymasters are allowed to speak only single-word clues, but they can point at the board to clarify.

Accepted Answer

False. Spymasters cannot point at the board or give any nonverbal hints; all communication must be through the one-word clue and the number.

Question 4

True or false: The Codenames board includes 25 words, but only 9 belong to the red team, 8 to the blue team, and 1 is the assassin.

Accepted Answer

True. In a standard game, the key card shows 9 red, 8 blue, 7 bystanders, and 1 assassin. The distribution flips for the starting team.

Question 5

True or false: Codenames has an official expansion called 'Codenames: Deep Undercover' that adds adult-themed words to the game.

Accepted Answer

True. Released in 2016, this version includes risqué word lists, though it follows the same core rules.

Question 6

True or false: A spymaster can use a compound word like 'baseball' as a clue even if 'base' and 'ball' are separate words on the board.

Accepted Answer

False. You cannot use a clue that is a compound of two visible words; 'baseball' would be invalid if both 'base' and 'ball' are on the board.

Question 7

True or false: The official Codenames rules state that the word 'university' can be used as a clue for both 'college' and 'school' on the board.

Accepted Answer

True. A clue must relate to the meanings of the words on the board, so 'university' works for both 'college' and 'school' as they are synonyms.

Question 8

True or false: In competitive Codenames, players often use a 'zero' clue to indicate that none of the words on the board are related to the clue given.

Accepted Answer

False. There is no official 'zero' clue; spymasters can only give a single word and a number, which must be at least 1.

Codenames Trivia Questions