Codenames: The Simpsons
Codenames: The Simpsons Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
200 Springfield Cards, 40 Key Cards, 25 Cover Cards (8 Orange, 8 Yellow, 7 Neutral, plus 1 Extra, and 1 Game-Over), 1 Card Stand, Instructions.
- Springfield Cards: pictures on one side, words on the other.
- Key Cards: 5 x 5 grid.
- Cover Cards: Orange, Yellow, Neutral, Extra, and Game-Over. The Extra Cover Card is different on each side (Yellow on one side, Orange on the other).
Setup
Players split up into two teams of similar size. At least four players (making two teams of two) are recommended. Rule variations for two-player and three-player games can be found on page 10 and 11.
Each team chooses one player to be their Cluemaster. Cluemasters sit on the same side of the table while the teammates (guessers) sit across on the opposite side.
Randomly choose 25 Springfield Cards and place them on the table in a 5 x 5 grid. The grid corresponds to the Key Card, which identifies for the Cluemasters which cards are assigned to their team (see Key Card). It is recommended to use only all pictures or all words.
Pictures should be oriented so that the images face the guessers, and the word side should have the large words facing the guessers.
The table layout: the Yellow Cluemaster and Orange Cluemaster sit on one side, with their team's Cover Cards in front of them; the Neutral Cover Cards, the Game-Over Card and the Key Card on its Stand sit in the center; the teammates (guessers) sit on the opposite side.
If you already know how to play CODENAMES, skip to the Two-Player Game / Already Know the Game section.
Key Card
Each game will use one Key Card that shows the location of the Springfield Cards for each team. The Cluemasters choose a Key Card randomly and place it (any side up) on the stand between them. DO NOT let teammates see the Key Card.
The Key corresponds to the grid on the table. Orange squares indicate cards that the Orange Team will try to identify, and yellow squares indicate the ones for the Yellow Team. The gray squares indicate neutral cards that do not belong to either team. The black square is the Game-Over square.
The example is viewed from the perspective of the Cluemasters who are seeing the Key Card; therefore the cards would appear upside down on the table as they would be seen by the Cluemasters.
Starting Team
The color bars outside of the grid on any Key Card indicate which team starts. The team that starts has 9 Springfield Cards to identify, and the rival team has 8 Springfield Cards to identify.
The starting team also gives the first clue. (Giving clues is explained later.)
Each Cluemaster will have 8 of their own Team Cover Cards in front of them, and the starting team will also use the Extra Cover Card as the 9th Cover Card with their color face-up.
Cover Cards
The Yellow Team Cover Cards are placed in front of the Yellow Team Cluemaster and the Orange Team Cover Cards are placed in front of the Orange Team Cluemaster. The Neutral Cover Cards and the Game-Over Card are placed in the center near the Key Card on the Stand.
The Extra Cover Card is added to the starting team's Cover Cards.
Game Play
Teams take turns, beginning with the starting team. On your team's turn, your Cluemaster gives a one-word clue and the teammates may make one or more guesses (see Giving a Clue and Number of Guesses for details on clues and guesses). The clue the Cluemaster gives relates to one or more of the Springfield Cards on the table.
After a Cluemaster gives a clue, teammates try to guess which card or cards their Cluemaster alluded to with their clue. When a teammate touches a Springfield Card, the Cluemaster identifies if that card is one of their team's, one of the rival team's, or that is neutral, and covers it with the appropriate Cover Card. Their turn ends when they guess wrong, decide to stop (after at least one guess) or when they have made the maximum number of guesses allowed for game play, which is the number given by the Cluemaster plus one. (Refer to Number of Guesses for further explanation.)
Winning
The first team to identify and cover all of their Springfield Cards wins!
It is possible to win on the rival team's turn if they guess your last card, OR they touch the Game-Over Card.
Giving a Clue
If you are the Cluemaster, your job is to think up a clue that relates to one, or better yet, some of the cards your team is trying to guess. Your clue consists of one word that relates to those cards and one number that tells how many of your cards are related to that clue.
Example: A good clue for the two cards below might be SNOW: 2. (The two cards show Bart in a snowball fight and a snowman scene.)
Although your clue must have only one word and one number, the number part of the clue may be 1 or more. It is really fun and beneficial toward winning when your team has the opportunity to guess more than one Springfield Card. Getting multiple cards with one clue is a big accomplishment! (See Number of Guesses.)
Keep a Straight Face
Cluemasters are expected to give only one word and one number. Do not preface with additional comments! For instance, "I don't know if you'll get this unless you've seen Season 4" reveals way too much information. Cluemasters should not appear to be staring at one part of the table, and they must never touch or point toward the cards on the table after they have seen the Key Card.
Cluemasters are also expected to keep a straight face when teammates are guessing. Do not reach for a Cover Card when your teammates begin discussing a card. Wait until they actually touch it. When a teammate chooses a card of the correct color, you must act as though that was the card you meant even if it was not.
If you are a teammate, you should focus on the table when you are making your guesses. To avoid non-verbal clues, avoid making eye contact with the Cluemaster.
When the information is strictly limited to one word and one number, then you are playing fair.
Identifying
After a Cluemaster gives a clue, their teammates try to figure out what it means. They can debate it amongst themselves, but the Cluemaster must keep a straight face. Teammates indicate their official guess when one of them touches a card on the table. The Cluemaster identifies if that card is their own team's, the rival team's, a neutral, or a Game-Over Card.
- If a player touches a card belonging to their team, the Cluemaster covers it with one of their Team Cover Cards. Teammates may continue making guesses, but they do not get another clue. (See Number of Guesses.)
- If a player touches a card that belongs to the other team, the card is covered by the rival team's Cover Card. This ends the turn. (AND helps the other team!)
- If a player touches a card that is neutral, the Cluemaster covers it with a Neutral Cover Card. This ends the turn.
- If a player touches the Game-Over Card, the Cluemaster covers it with a Game-Over Cover Card and that team immediately loses the game.
Number of Guesses
Each team's turn always consists of the Cluemaster giving exactly one clue. A clue consists of one word and one number. The number is determined by the Cluemaster based on how many of their own cards are related to that clue. The guessers on the team always make at least one guess.
Teams can stop guessing at any time, but usually you want to make as many guesses as the number the Cluemaster indicated. Sometimes you might even want to guess one more. The maximum number of guesses a team may make is always one more than the number indicated by the clue.
For example, if your Cluemaster says SKATEBOARDING: 2, you can make as many as three guesses, provided you get the first two guesses correct. This does not make much sense on your first turn, but later in the game it could be very useful. For instance, you might be given some clues for which you did not find all the Springfield Cards. You may guess cards for these earlier clues instead of OR in addition to Springfield Cards related to the current clue.
Valid Clues
Remember, your clue needs to be one word, no hyphens or spaces. If you're not sure your clue is one word or not, ask the rival Cluemaster secretly. If the rival Cluemaster will allow it, the clue is valid.
All word play is allowed. For instance, you can use the word sucker to lead teammates to a picture that contains a lollipop, OR a picture of Homer being his usual gullible self.
If the occasion arises, or the teammates ask, spelling the word out is allowed.
In general, clue giving can be trivially simplistic like identifying an object in the scene. Although a little creativity spices it up for everyone, like saying crazy or gardener instead of Willie when trying to lead your team to a picture of Groundskeeper Willie.*
The clue must be about the cards (picture or word), not about the patterns that the cards make on the table, or the letters in certain words. Here are a two examples of what should be considered invalid clues:
- Close: 2 - meaning the two closest cards to the teammates.
- S: 3 - meaning three cards that begin with the letter "S".
*Titles and names are allowed, as long as they follow the other rules. For instance, "Moe's" works as a clue because it is one word, however "King Toot's" is not allowed.
*Any word (or word with the same root) that is visible on the table is not allowed.
Singing, funny accents and foreign words are generally not allowed, unless your group decides to allow it.
Game Play Example
Turn 1
Let's say the Orange Team starts, as per the Key Card that was drawn (at right), with the Springfield Cards randomly placed on the table as shown here.
The Orange Cluemaster wants to give a clue for three cards. The clue given is FLY: 3. The Orange teammates study the grid and see several possibilities, including Itchy and Scratchy on a rocket, Kang and Kodos in their spaceship, Bart's aerial skateboard trick, and Radioactive Man.
They think all are good guesses, but decide to touch the spaceship first. This is a neutral card (per the grid card), so it gets covered with a Neutral Cover Card. The turn ends and the Orange Team does not get another guess. It is now the Yellow Team's turn.
Turn 2
The Yellow Cluemaster gives the clue POLITICS: 2. The Yellow Team successfully guess two cards (City Hall and Mayor Quimbly) according to the clue given and ends their turn.
The grid now appears as shown here and it is the Orange Team's turn again.
Turn 3
The Orange Cluemaster now gives the clue MUSIC: 3. The teammates again study the grid and see several possibilities.
They think that Bleeding Gums Murphy, Otto with a Boom Box, and Homer as a DJ all work for the MUSIC clue. They agree that Otto is most likely to be right, so that card is touched. The Cluemaster then covers it with the Orange Cover Card, and the teammates are allowed to make a second guess. They correctly guess Homer which is then covered by an Orange Cover Card allowing them a third guess. They correctly choose Bleeding Gums Murphy which also gets covered with an Orange Cover Card.
The Orange Team has made three correct guesses, which is the number specified by the clue MUSIC: 3, so they are allowed to make one additional guess. They can now try to identify another card and remember the first clue of FLY. The guessers touch the Itchy and Scratchy on a rocket card for their final guess, which gets covered by an Orange Cover Card.
It is now the Yellow Team's turn, because the Orange Team has used up all their guesses.
The grid would appear as shown here after these three turns.
Alternative Game Play
Expert players may want to take advantage of some alternative game play options described below.
Expert Clue: Unlimited
In this variant, as Cluemaster you can allow your teammates to guess as many Springfield Cards as they want by saying unlimited instead of a number. For example, BEER: UNLIMITED. This is especially helpful if you have given clues for multiple cards that your team has not been able to guess yet.
The disadvantage is that teammates don't know how many cards are related to the newest clue. The advantage is that they may guess as many cards as they want (with the usual risks).
Expert Clue: Zero
In this variant the Cluemaster is allowed to use zero as the number part of the clue. This would tell your team that none of your team's cards relate to that clue. For example, BUILDINGS: 0 means "none of our cards relate to buildings".
If the Cluemaster gives "zero" as the number part of the clue, the usual limit on guesses does not apply. Players may guess as many cards as they want (as long as they keep guessing right, of course), however, they still must guess at least one card.
Example: There are 3 cards with Homer in the grid. Two of them belong to your team, but the third one is the Game-Over card. By saying, "FISHING: 0", you tell your team not to guess the fishing card. This is risky, because the team must make at least one guess. However, they could realize that the fishing card stands in the way of an easy clue, "HOMER", and guess the other Homer cards... perhaps for the win!
Two-Player Game
If there are only two of you, you can play on the same team. This two-player variant also works for larger groups who don't feel like competing with each other. The object is to get a high score against a simulated rival.
Set up the game as usual. One player will be the Cluemaster and the rest will be the guessers. The other team has no players, but you need their Team Cover Cards just the same.
Your team goes first, so be sure to pick a Key Card that makes you the starting team (see Starting Team).
Play your turn as usual by trying to guess your team's cards, avoiding the neutral cards and the game-over card.
The Cluemaster simulates the rival team by covering one of their cards each time they get a turn! The Cluemaster chooses which card gets covered, so a bit of strategy may factor into it.
If your team chooses the game-over card, or all of the opposing team cards are placed, you lose. If your team identifies all their Springfield Cards before either of those things happen, you win!
If you would like to keep score, count the number of rival cards not yet placed when you win, and refer to the chart below.
| Rival cards not yet placed | Result |
|---|---|
| 8 | Ultra Phenomenal |
| 7 | Really Awesome |
| 6 | An Amazing Feat |
| 5 | Pretty Incredible |
| 4 | Excellent Effort |
| 3 | Great Teamwork |
| 2 | Getting the Picture |
| 1 | Better Than Losing |
Three-Player Game
Three players who want to be on the same team can play as described in the Two-Player Game. If two players want to compete against each other, they can be rival Cluemasters while the third player is the guesser for both.
Setup and game play are as usual, except that the single guesser is working for both teams. The winning Cluemaster is determined the usual way with the guesser doing his or her best for both teams.
Already Know the Game
If you already know how to play Codenames or Codenames: Pictures, you can probably jump right into playing a game immediately. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- A refresher on clue giving, number of guesses, and valid clues is recommended (see Giving a Clue and Valid Clues).
- Enjoy playing!
If you own another version of Codenames, you actually may combine games together for more outrageous fun. Just decide whether you are going to use pictures, words, or both!