Codenames: Back to Hogwarts
Codenames: Back to Hogwarts Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 198 double-sided word and picture cards
- 72 maps (showing prefects which cards belong to which House)
- 1 stand (for the map card)
- 9 House tiles in each of the four colors (to show when a card has been found)
- 1 Sorting Hat token (to show who goes first)
- 6 locked door tiles (to be avoided)
- 1 Argus Filch tile (to be avoided at all costs)
Special Abilities Components
- 1 double-sided key token (for Gryffindor)
- 2 double-sided serpent/cunning tokens (for Slytherin)
- 4 ability cards (1 for each House)
- 8 herbology cards (for Hufflepuff)
- 2 double-sided deduction tokens (for Ravenclaw)
- 3 double-sided herbology tokens (for Hufflepuff)
House Cup Competition Components
- 36 hourglass tokens
- 4 double-sided House banners
- 1 cardboard stand with hourglasses
Setup for the First Game
Words or Pictures?
Each card has a word on one side and a picture on the other. The game can be played with either words or pictures. Most players believe that one way is hard and the other way is easy, but they usually can't agree on which is which.
Choose words or pictures and lay out 24 random cards, with the chosen side up. Lay them out in a 5×5 grid, with an empty space in the middle.
Houses
Codenames is a game for 4 or more players divided into 2 Houses. You can split into Houses however you like, just try to keep them roughly even in size. For your first game, the team with more glasses-wearing players gets to be Gryffindor, and the other team gets to be Slytherin. Or, you can flip a coin.
Prefects
Each House chooses 1 player to be their prefect. The prefects will give clues, and the other players will be first-years, wandering around Hogwarts Castle, trying to find information that the clues refer to. Both prefects need to sit on the same side of the table, opposite the rest of their team.
Tiles
Keep the red tiles in front of the Gryffindor prefect. The Slytherin prefect gets the green ones. The locked door tiles and the Argus Filch tile are placed between them.
Example: the map shows that PHOENIX is a red Gryffindor card, WHOMPING WILLOW a green Slytherin card, and ARAGOG belongs to neither team. And everyone should avoid GILDEROY LOCKHART.
Map Card
The map corresponds to the grid on the table, showing which cards belong to which House. For your first game, you need a map for Gryffindor and Slytherin, one with red and green squares.
After checking all of you know the meanings of all the cards on the table, the prefects find a map and place it in the stand with a random side up. This map is for prefects only. Do not let the first-years see it.
The Hat
The color on the edges of the map shows which House goes first. Give that House the Sorting Hat.
The Central Tile
The team whose color is in the middle of the map will play second. To even that disadvantage, they start with one House tile on the board.
In the example, the Gryffindor prefect puts one red tile in the empty space in the middle of the cards.
The tiles for the other 2 Houses are left in the box, as well as all components for special abilities and the House Cup Competition.
Gameplay
Before the prefects look at the map, make sure everyone knows the meaning of all cards on the table. If there is one nobody knows, maybe you can figure it out by peeking at the other side. Still nothing? Replace it with another card.
The Houses will take turns, beginning with the team that has the Sorting Hat. Their prefect will give 1 clue, then their first-years will make 1 or more guesses. Then, it is the other House's turn. Keep taking turns until one of the Houses has won the game.
Your Turn
The Prefect Gives a Clue
If you are a prefect, your task is to give a clue for 1 or more cards belonging to your House (the more, the better).
Look at the cards belonging to your House and try to find at least two that go together. For example, WHOMPING WILLOW and HERBOLOGY might be connected by the clue plants.
Your clue must be 1 word and 1 number. The word should tie your chosen cards together. The number says how many cards are included in your clue. That's all you can say. Do not give any other hints. Example: plants: 2.
The First-Years Search
Once the prefect has given the clue, it is time for the first-years to search Hogwarts for their cards.
They discuss the clue, and then the bravest of them – or the one most easily pressured into being brave – touches one uncovered card. That touched card is their House's guess.
The prefect checks the map to see what color that card is, and then covers the chosen card with a tile matching its color. If the card belongs to their House, the first-years can make another guess.
It is possible for the first-years to make more guesses on their turn, but the prefect gives only 1 clue. A guess is most often based on the current turn's clue, but it is a good tactic to also try for cards you may have missed on a previous turn.
The prefect never says if the guess is the card they actually meant. The first-years know only that they have found one more of their cards.
Mishaps
Three things can go wrong:
- If you find Argus Filch, he finds you! You're headed straight to detention, the game ends, and you lose.
- If you find a locked door, your turn ends.
- If you find a card belonging to the other House, your turn ends. You have accidentally helped the other House get closer to winning by covering the card with their House tile.
Ending Your Turn
If your turn does not end due to mishap, you can end it voluntarily. For example, if your prefect says plants: 2 and you find 2 of your cards related to plants, you should end your turn, unless you still have a card to guess based on clues from earlier turns.
Once you end your turn, either by choice or by mishap, it is the other House's turn.
The "Plus One" Rule
As long as they keep guessing their House's cards, the first-years are allowed to guess one more card than the number specified by the clue. So for plants: 2, they can guess up to 3 cards (assuming the first 2 belonged to their House).
You do not need this extra guess on your first turn, but later, you might have some cards that you missed on previous turns. You can use the "plus one" rule to catch up.
Winning
The first House to find all their cards wins. Well, more precisely, when a House has no more of their own cards left to find, they win. It's possible for the other House to accidentally find your last card, in which case you win on their turn.
If a House finds Argus Filch, the other House wins immediately. They don't have to look for any more cards.
Example of Gameplay
Slytherin starts. After considering the cards, the Slytherin prefect finds two Slytherin cards that might go together: plants: 2.
The Slytherin first-years discuss the clue, then make a guess. The map shows that card as belonging to Slytherin, so the prefect marks it as a Slytherin card.
Slytherin's next guess is not what the prefect expected, but it is also a Slytherin card … so the prefect acts as though it was right.
Now it is Gryffindor's turn: giant: 2. The Gryffindor first-years choose ARAGOG. This card is a locked door, so Gryffindor's turn ends immediately.
Back to Slytherin: k-n-i-g-h-t: 2. Slytherin gives a clue for 2. Note the Slytherin prefect decided to spell the word, to make it obvious their clue is not night. And the first-years guess both. (Yes, that's right. In this example, SWORD OF GRYFFINDOR belongs to Slytherin. Well, not the actual sword, of course. The first-years are looking for information about the sword.)
Dumbledore: 3. On Gryffindor's second turn, they use their previous clue and guess a lot of cards.
The Gryffindor first-years have an idea for one more guess, but they have already guessed 4. The clue was for 3. Because of the "plus one" rule, Gryffindor must end their turn now. The Slytherin prefect will give the next clue.
Valid and Invalid Clues
Give clues that are about the meanings of the cards.
- NOT about the letters. Don't say H: 2 for HEDWIG and HORCRUX.
- NOT about the map. Don't say corners: 4 for cards in the corners.
When playing with words, you can't say a word on a card – or any form of a word on a card – until the card is covered. So you can't say weasley: 2 for MRS. WEASLEY and PERCY WEASLEY. If HOGWARTS CASTLE is in play, you can't say words like hog, hogged, warty, sandcastle, or groundhog until the card is covered, even if the card is not one of yours. However, when playing with pictures, it's okay to just say the thing you see in the picture.
"One Thing" Clues (Optional)
In strict Codenames rules, your clue must be one word. The game works well this way, and we encourage you to try coming up with good clues using this restriction. For Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, you can agree to allow multiple-word clues as long as the clue means one thing in the Wizarding World.
Examples: Tom Riddle is one person. Diagon Alley is one place. The Whomping Willow is one tree. Hogwarts, a History is one book. Defense against the Dark Arts is one class. However, this does not give prefects permission to simply add adjectives to normal words. Confusing riddle, dark alley, tall willow, and arcane arts should not be allowed.
If you want, you can expand this to include muggle names like New York City and King Arthur, but don't let prefects make up phrases like aquarium fairy stick.
If this rule leads to arguments about what is or is not "one thing," go back to allowing only one-word clues.
Ask the Other Prefect
If you're not sure whether your clue is valid, ask the opposing prefect. (You have to whisper quietly enough that the first-years can't hear you.) Any clue the opposing prefect allows is a valid clue.
Advanced Techniques
The "plus one" rule allows your first-years to make 1 more guess after they have successfully guessed the number of words specified by your clue. But sometimes you want them to make more guesses than that. Here are 2 special types of clues you can give:
Unlimited Clue
Suppose you have a clue for 2 cards, like heart: 2, but you want the first-years to guess a lot of cards from previous clues. You can say heart: unlimited instead. In this case, they do not know the clue points to 2 cards, but they are not limited to 3 guesses – they can guess 4 cards, 5 cards, or even more, as long as they keep guessing cards belonging to your House.
Zero Clue
The clue heart: 0 also allows unlimited guesses. (This is an exception to the "plus one" rule: we know that 0 + 1 = 1.)
In this case, the clue means "Don't guess the card related to heart." So if LOVE POTION is on the board, the first-years know not to guess it.
They should then ask, "Why not?" Well, if there are other potion-related words on the board, like CAULDRON and SEVERUS SNAPE, maybe the prefect wants to say potions: 2. So guess those cards, while avoiding LOVE POTION.
A zero clue can also be used to avoid a group of words, which may be especially handy for Ravenclaw. And sometimes you need a zero clue to steer the first-years away from Argus Filch.
Even on a turn where a zero clue is used, the first-years must make at least 1 guess.
Oops Clue
Once said, the clue cannot be taken back, even if it accidentally breaks a rule. (No, don't try to use a Memory Charm.) The other players usually just say, "Hey, you broke this rule. Be more careful next time." But if your group is extra competitive, or if they think your clue gave your side an unfair advantage, the official penalty for an invalid clue is: your turn ends, and the opposing prefect gets to cover one of their cards.
House Versus House
Now that you have played Codenames a few times, let's find out what happens when we add all four Houses to the game.
Sorting Ceremony
After players split into teams and pick their prefects, give the Sorting Hat to a random team. They will be going first. If you are playing multiple games with the same teams, give the Hat to the team that did not go first last time.
To determine what House each team will represent, the prefects draw a random map card. The team holding the Sorting Hat plays as the House indicated by the colors on the edges of the map card. The team without the Hat plays as the House matching the other color shown on the map. They will go second and start with a tile in the center (except for Hufflepuff). (But if everyone would be happier to have things be the other way around, feel free to pass the Sorting Hat to the other prefect.)
If you want to try a specific matchup, like Ravenclaw versus Slytherin with Ravenclaw going first, the prefects can search through the deck for a matching map.
Please do not try to play a House not shown on your game's map. Please do not use your House's "going 2nd" ability when the map says you are going first. Your abilities must match your game's map, or things won't work correctly.
If you go back to playing without abilities (recommended when introducing new players to the game), always use Slytherin vs. Gryffindor map cards. The other two Houses have special map cards tied to their abilities, so only the red-and-green maps are suitable for the introductory game.
House Abilities
Each House has two unique special abilities. They appear on double-sided House ability cards: one side is used for games where that House goes first, and the other side for when that House goes second.
Take the ability card matching your House and keep it in front of you, with the correct side up. (The rules on the other side will not apply to this game.) If the card shows any tokens on the left side, take them.
The rules of each ability are explained in detail in the Hogwarts House Compendium booklet, transcribed below under Hogwarts House Compendium.
The House Cup Competition
The House Cup Competition is a year-long contest among the four Houses of Hogwarts. It won't take you an actual year to play it, but it does take place over several games.
Every time you play, you'll score points for the house that you represent. The results of each game can be tracked and stored in the hourglasses, reminding you which House is ahead the next time you open the box.
The cardboard hourglass included with the game lets you keep score in your very own House Cup Competition.
All four hourglasses start off empty. Whenever you finish a game, unlock the hourglass by removing the lock, and add one token of the victorious House's color to their hourglass.
Example: let's say Gryffindor won the first match. Put a red token in the hourglass, and say, "TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" in a bright, authoritative voice.
Whenever a House has more points than any other, they have taken the lead! Place the House banners on the hinges before closing the lock.
These banners will stay there until another House takes the lead. Keep the points and banners locked even when putting the game away.
Note: if you want the House Cup to be fair, you should play with randomly drawn map cards, so every House has an equal chance to participate in the competition.
Head to Head Variant
If you play Codenames a lot with the same two teams, you may choose to make the House Cup a long-term competition between those teams.
Each team picks a different House, which they will all represent for the duration of the school year. Start each game by drawing a random map:
- If one team's chosen House is on the map, they get to be that House. The other team will be the other House.
- If both teams have their chosen House on the map, even better – both teams will represent their Houses.
- If the map has the 2 Houses that belong to neither team, discard it and draw until you get a map that allows at least 1 team to play their chosen House.
As usual, give the Sorting Hat to the team indicated by the color on the edges of the map card, and enjoy playing the game.
When a team wins, add a token to the hourglass of the House they were playing as. Sometimes, they'll add a token to their chosen House. Other times, they'll add a token to a different House, but at least they stopped their main competitor from scoring. (Of course, the matches where each team plays their preferred House are the most important ones. But playing with only those maps would be less fun, since you'd just use the same abilities over and over.)
The End-of-Year Feast
When a House's hourglass is completely filled, the school year is over, and those students win the House Cup! You are free to keep the hourglasses filled for a while in celebration. Or, you can empty them and start another year at Hogwarts.
Wait, but which players won? If you played the head to head variant, you win if your House wins the House Cup. Otherwise, nobody wins. Or, rather, everyone does. This is a competition between Houses, not between players. The players just play games of Codenames, rejoicing in each victory. You may play the game with various players, switching teams and trying different Houses, and each game you play will affect the House Cup Competition in your box. If you won with the victorious House at least once, be proud of yourself – you contributed to that House's success!
Rules Reminders and Helpful Tips
- The prefects must not give out any information except for their clues. They must not talk about the map or about how good or bad their clues are.
- The prefects must keep a straight face. No grimaces, surprised squeaks, or heavy sighs while the first-years discuss their completely misguided ideas.
- Keeping a straight face is difficult. Courteous first-years do not look at their prefects to study their reactions. And even if they are given unintended information, they try to ignore it.
- It is allowed to give a clue for 1 card, but clues for multiple cards are more fun.
- The first-years do not have to guess based on the current turn's clue. They can start with a clue from an earlier turn. They can even guess randomly (but they probably shouldn't).
- The prefects can repeat the clues only when asked by their team, and they must say them exactly as they were given. They should not suggest whether their first-years are still missing some cards for a particular clue or not.
- The first-years can end their turn even if they are obviously missing cards from the current turn's clue. However, they are required to guess at least 1 card.
- As long as they keep guessing cards belonging to their House, the first-years can make multiple guesses. Their maximum number of guesses is the number in the prefect's clue plus one.
- The prefect should not inflate the number in the clue to give first-years more guesses. If the prefect wants the first-years to take more than one extra guess, the prefect should give an unlimited clue or a zero clue.
- Any clue the opposing prefect allows is a valid clue. Be fair. Don't ask to be allowed a clue that you would not allow the other team to use. And when asked to allow a clue, allow it if it is one that you would like to be able to use yourself.
- If you have played enough games with words and with pictures, you may combine them by laying out words and pictures in a checkerboard pattern.
Hogwarts House Compendium
Dedicated, patient and loyal, Hufflepuff students are sure to grow and prosper at Hogwarts – especially in the greenhouse. Bravery and chivalry set Gryffindors apart. A true Gryffindor remains courageous in the face of adversity – and they won't let something as simple as a locked door stand in their way. Slytherins rely on their cunning and ambition to shape the wizarding world. As the cleverest Hogwarts students, Ravenclaws often rely on their wit and wisdom. And where other students might need a fancy spell, Ravenclaws can solve complex problems with simple logic.
Hufflepuff
Herbology Class (going 1st)
Give the Hufflepuff prefect 2 herbology tokens. Give the other prefect 1.
Three cards are marked on the map with a leaf symbol. Two belong to Hufflepuff and one belongs to the other House.
After a marked card is guessed and covered, the Hufflepuff prefect adds a herbology token atop the covering tile. The first-years from the corresponding House draw the top card of the herbology deck. (The herbology card is drawn by the House the covered card belongs to, even if it was the other House that guessed it.)
Greenhouse (going 2nd)
The Hufflepuff prefect starts the game with 3 herbology tokens.
Note that the middle square in the map is not a Hufflepuff tile, but a locked door. Use a locked door tile as the central tile among the 24 cards.
Three Hufflepuff cards are marked with a leaf symbol. When any of these are guessed and covered (by either side) the Hufflepuff prefect adds a herbology token atop the covering tile, and the Hufflepuff first-years draw the top card of the herbology deck.
Herbology Cards
Both Hufflepuff abilities use the deck of herbology cards. Shuffle the deck and place it face down near the Hufflepuff first-years. Whenever a House draws a herbology card, it is kept face up in front of their first-years until it is used. After use, the card is discarded.
Tip: the prefect should try to connect the cards with plants first, so the first-years have enough time to use herbology cards to their advantage.
Gryffindor
Alohomora (going 1st)
The Gryffindor prefect starts the game with the key token, gold side up. It represents the spell being used.
On Gryffindor's turn, before giving the clue, the Gryffindor prefect may say "Alohomora" and place the key on top of the pile of locked door tiles.
If the first-years guess a locked door card during that turn, the door is unlocked. Cover it with a Gryffindor tile instead, and place the key atop the tile. The first-years continue their turn as though they had guessed a Gryffindor card. (And the key cannot be used again this game.)
If the first-years do not use the key on that turn (because they guessed no locked doors), return the key to the prefect and flip its bronze side up. This means the prefect can try to use the key one more time. (If the second use also fails to unlock a locked door, return the key to the box.)
When all Gryffindor tiles are used, either because all their cards were guessed or because one of their tiles is covering an "unlocked" locked door, Gryffindor wins.
Tip: the prefect is allowed – and even encouraged! – to intentionally give a clue for a locked door.
Determination (going 2nd)
The first time Gryffindor guesses a locked door on their turn, the first-years continue as though they never made that guess.
This ability applies every turn. When the first-years guess a card that is a locked door, it is covered with a locked door tile, as usual, but they continue guessing. The locked door is not counted as one of their guesses when applying the "plus one" rule. If they guess a second locked door on the same turn, their turn ends as usual.
Tip: like Alohomora, this ability allows you to give clues that might lead to a locked door. But you still need to avoid the other House's cards, and you still need to watch out for Filch!
Slytherin
Salazar's Legacy (going 1st)
Give the Slytherin first-years 2 serpent tokens.
During their turn, the Slytherin first-years can place 1 serpent token on an unguessed card. This shows they think it might be one of their cards, but they are not guessing it at this time. This does not count as a guess. No more than 1 token can be used per turn.
If the marked card does, in fact, belong to Slytherin, Slytherin no longer needs to guess that card to win the game.
The prefects do not tell the first-years whether the marked cards are green, locked doors, or Argus Filch. They just keep track silently. When all Slytherin's cards are either covered with a tile or marked with a serpent token, Slytherin wins.
A card marked with a serpent token can be guessed as normal, by either side. After the guess, leave the token on the covering tile to show it cannot be used again.
Tip: if the Slytherin first-years think a word could belong to their House, but are scared of guessing it, Salazar's Legacy allows them to safely "guess" a word, without suffering any of the consequences.
Cunning (going 2nd)
Give the Slytherin first-years 2 cunning tokens.
When the other House is guessing, any Slytherin first-year can taunt them: give the opponents 1 cunning token and say something like, "I bet you can't guess them all." (Sneering is optional.) This must be done before they end guessing (either by mishap or by saying that they are ending their turn).
The other House has been challenged to guess as many of their cards as were specified by their prefect's clue. If they succeed, they keep the cunning token and nothing else happens. If they refuse the challenge (by ending their turn) or fail (by mishap) they give the cunning token to the Slytherin prefect.
At the start of any Slytherin turn, the Slytherin prefect can spend a cunning token earned this way to include a second word in the clue, like Hagrid, fire: 4 (but the prefect cannot specify how many cards relate to the first word and how many relate to the second).
Tip: if the opposing prefect gives an "unlimited" clue, you can challenge the other House to guess all their cards. But on a zero clue, challenging them to guess at least 0 is a waste of your token.
Ravenclaw
Connecting Facts (going 1st)
This Ravenclaw ability is imprinted on the map card itself – all Ravenclaw cards are connected by their sides or corners in one continuous group.
At the start of the game, the Ravenclaw prefect should remind the first-years that all their words are connected.
Tips: for any 2 Ravenclaw cards that have already been guessed, there must be a path from one to the other – possibly using diagonals – that passes through only Ravenclaw cards. Whether such information will be super useful or nearly useless depends on the order in which the Ravenclaw prefect gives the clues.
For example, if you have a card in the corner, you are certain that at least one of the 3 neighboring cards also belongs to you.
Don't forget that first-years are allowed to guess randomly. In Ravenclaw's case, this "random" guess may actually be well-informed. In some cases, it may even be a certainty!
Advanced Deduction (going 2nd)
The deduction tokens will be used when Ravenclaw gets their 4th tile on the board. After placing Ravenclaw's first tile in the middle for setup, lift up the next 3 tiles in Ravenclaw's stack and slip these tokens underneath to remind you.
When the 4th Ravenclaw tile is put on the table (also counting the middle tile), the Ravenclaw prefect uses the deduction tokens to show how many neighboring spaces also belong to Ravenclaw. It doesn't matter whether the tile is placed on Ravenclaw's turn or the opponents' turn.
Example: the 3rd Ravenclaw card has been covered with a tile. (There are now 4 Ravenclaw tiles on the table, because Ravenclaw starts with the tile in the middle.) At this time, regardless of whose turn it is, the Ravenclaw prefect places deduction tokens on the tile to show there are 3 neighboring Ravenclaw squares. One is the tile in the middle of the grid. One is a card that has already been guessed. So the Ravenclaw first-years know they have exactly 1 card left to guess in that neighborhood.
Tip: this information is usually somewhat useful. With practice, the Ravenclaw prefect can learn ways to make it very useful.