Codenames Deep Undercover: Review

Codenames Deep Undercover: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Party, Deduction, Word
Player Age: 18+ 

Player Count: 4 - 8 Players 

Time to Play: 15 - 30 Minutes 
Game Designer: Vlaada Chvatil
Game Artist: Stephane Gantiez, Tomas Kucerovsky

Publisher Lark and Clam, Czech Games Edition

Year Published: 2018
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

Everyone should know what codenames is by now, it is a unique game of trying to link words together to get your team of spies to guess your clues faster than the opposing team. Be wary of the assassin though, which if chosen by any team member will result in an instant loss for that team and end of game. Unlike the other codename games, deep undercover dims the lights and lets the innuendos fly as this is the adult version of this fun infamous game.

Card Anatomy:

There are three types of cards for this game:
1. Code names
2. Agents, bystanders and assassin
3. Key

Codenames:

Each of these cards will have a different word on each side of the card. These are the words the spymasters are trying to get their teammates to guess.

Agents, Bystanders and Assassin:

There are eight red agents and eight blue agents as well as one double-sided red/blue agent. These represent both your team colour and your game objectives. Once all of your agents are covering certain codenames, your team has successfully won.
There are seven bystanders who represent the codenames that neither team are gunning for.
Lastly, there is only one assassin card, however, each key card used by the clue giver has their own assassination code name. Whichever team accidentally guesses the codename that corresponds to their assassin ends the game unsuccessfully.

Key:

Each player giving clues to their team will share one key card that will have both blue and red spaces marked out. This key card shows corresponds to which codenames need to be guessed for each team. It will also show which code name cards are the bystanders (grey spaces) and the assassin (black space).

Setup:

- Players split into two teams
- Each team will have one clue giver and the rest of the players will guessing for their respective teams
- Deal out 25 code names in a 5x5 grid
- Place all agent cards within reach in two piles; red and blue
- Place the key in front of the spymasters and the four outlining colours will show which team goes first
- The double agent will switch colours to match the first playing team

How to Play:

Throughout the game each team will take turns, giving one clue at a time, until one team has placed all of their coloured agents over their respective codenames.

There are two phases to a turn; the clue giving and the guessing.
Firstly, the spymaster gives their teammates a clue. This clue will consist of a word and a number. The word given can only be one singular word and cannot be any of the revealed codenames.
When choosing a number, this corresponds to how many codenames your clue can link to, as well as the number of guesses your team can guess plus an additional one.
There are two sneaky moves that can be made with this given number. First, you can say ‘infinite’ as a number to give your teammates an infinite amount of guesses. This seems like a good idea but remember it doesn't give your team a number on how many codename cards are connected to this clue. Since the assassin is hidden somewhere in the masses, without giving a clear clue number there is all the more risk of the assassin being chosen. The other option is to have the number as zero, this is telling your teammates to not go anywhere near this kind of word and they are still able to guess any amount of codenames this turn.

The second phase on a turn is the guessing. Your team members can now discuss and try to guess the codenames that match your clue. The team can only make guesses one at a time to see the result of that guess before moving onto the next. After each guess the spymaster places either an agent, assassin or bystander card on top of the codename. If an agent is placed matching the team’s colour, they may continue to guess until the clue number (plus one) is reached. If a wrong coloured agent or a bystander is played, the turn is over and the other spymaster will begin their turn. Play continues in this way until one team is successful at guessing all their codenames or an assassin is revealed.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:

- Great party game
- Easy to play so it is great in a drinking atmosphere
- Keeps the essence of the original codenames

Cons:

- The clues can either be really easy to create or really hard to create based on the luck of the setup
- Some codenames may have words that players disagree with

Unlike other party games codenames has a element of deduction that come in trying to give the right word to connect certain codenames, ideally you want to connect two codenames every turn, however, if the links are too vague they can get lost in translation and result in either the assassin or the other teams agents being chosen. 'Codenames' is one of the best modern word games and 'Codenames Undercover' changes the target audience from family weight to party atmosphere. If you thought the original concept of codenames sounded fun but your gaming crowd prefers games of a more adult nature such as 'Cards Against Humanity' or 'What do you Meme', then ‘Codenames Deep Undercover' is definitely for you!  It is a step up in gaming mechanisms to create a more puzzling game but still maintains all of the humour for fans of adult games. On the other hand, if you are a fanatic for codenames and own numerous copies, then deep undercover can help you bring out codenames during more occasions. This will be added to my collection for one of my go-to adult party games and receive a 'Silver Seal of Approval'.

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