Teach Codenames in ten minutes

On your turn

1. Spymaster gives 1 word and 1 number, like ocean: 2. Nothing else.
2. Operatives talk it over, then touch 1 word card.
3. Spymaster covers it with the tile the key card shows.
4. Your color: guess again, up to the number plus one.
5. A bystander or the other team's word ends your turn.
6. The assassin: your team loses right away.
7. Stop after any right guess, but always make at least 1.

Setup

1. Split into red and blue teams of about equal size, at least 2 players each.
2. Each team picks 1 spymaster. Everyone else is an operative.
3. Both spymasters sit on one side, across the table from their operatives.
4. Lay out 25 random word cards in a 5 by 5 grid.
5. Spymasters slide a random key card into the stand. Only they look at it.
6. Each spymaster takes 8 agent tiles. Bystanders and the assassin go between them.
7. Triangles on the key's edge show who starts. That team adds the double agent.

Scoring

• No points to count. Covered words are the score.
• The starting team finds 9 words; the other team finds 8.
• Touch the other team's word and it counts for them.
• Clues are about meaning, not letters or where cards sit.
• No clue can be any form of a word still showing, or part of a compound one.
• Invalid clue: your turn ends, and the other spymaster may cover one of their words.

Game end: A team wins when all of its words are covered, even if the other team uncovered the last one. Touch the assassin and the other team wins at once.