Games, Puzzles, & Books Codenames: Duet

In Codenames Duet, you're no longer competing — you're teaming up with a fellow operative (or operatives in a group game) for an exciting cooperative experience. The mission? Work together to find all your secret agents hidden among a grid of mysterious codenames. The twist? You each see part of the key — and neither of you has the full picture. Codenames: Duet is perfect to enjoy with only two players, but you can also play it with more friends, if you'd like a less competitive experience than in the basic Codenames.

Here’s how the game works: Lay out 25 word cards in a 5×5 grid. Between you is a shared key card — each half of the team sees one side. On your side, nine words mark your agents, three mark deadly assassins, and the rest are innocent bystanders.

You’ll take turns giving one-word clues paired with a number, pointing the operative(s) across from you to specific words on the grid. Guess right? Keep going. Guess a bystander? Your turn ends. Guess an assassin? Mission failed — game over. But as long as your guesses are correct, you can keep going, even revisiting past clues.

The game is played over a series of 9 turns, but can be increased to 11 turns for operatives who may need a little more time as they improve their skills.

Your goal: Find all 15 agents — without triggering an assassin — before you run out of time!

The game includes 400 new words that can be combined with those from standard Codenames.