Codenames: Disney – Family Edition
Codenames: Disney – Family Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
200 Treasure Cards, 60 Key Cards – 20 Easy and 40 Advanced, 1 Custom Stand, 25 Cover Cards – 8 Blue, 8 Red, 7 Neutral, plus 1 Extra, and 1 Game-Over.
Disney Treasure Cards – pictures on one side / words on the other.
Easy Key Cards – 4 × 4 grid.
Advanced Key Cards – 5 × 5 grid.
Stand – shown with Key Card in place.
Cover Cards – Blue, Red, Neutral, Extra, and Game-Over. The Extra Cover Card is different on each side.
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 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 16 Treasure Cards and place them on the table in a 4 × 4 grid. The grid corresponds to the Easy Key Card that identifies to the Cluemasters which cards are assigned to their team (see page 4). 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.
NOTE: See page 10 for Advanced Game setup and rules for more experienced players.
If you already know how to play CODENAMES, skip to page 12.
Key Card
Each game will use one Key Card that shows the location of the Treasure 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. Red squares indicate cards that the Red Team will try to identify, and blue squares indicate the ones for the Blue Team. The beige squares indicate neutral cards that do not belong to either team.
The example is viewed from the perspective of the Cluemasters who are seeing the Key Card at right. Therefore, the cards portrayed appear upside down as they would be seen on the table 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 6 Treasure Cards to identify, and the rival team has 5 Treasure Cards to identify.
The starting team also gives the first clue. (Giving clues is explained later.)
Each Cluemaster will have 5 of their own Team Cover Cards in front of them, and the starting team will also use the Extra Cover Card as the 6th Cover Card with their color face-up (see next page).
Cover Cards
The Blue Team Cover Cards are placed in front of the Blue Team Cluemaster and the Red Team Cover Cards are placed in front of the Red Team Cluemaster. The Neutral Cover Cards are placed in the center near the Key Card on the Stand. NOTE: The Easy Game uses 5 Blue Team Cover Cards and 5 Red Team Cover Cards. Leave the rest in the box.
The Extra Cover Card is added to the starting team's Cover Cards.
The Extra Cover Card is blue on one side and red on the other.
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 pages 6 and 7 for details on clues and guesses). The clue the Cluemaster gives relates to one or more of the Treasure Cards on the table.
After a Cluemaster gives a clue, teammates try to guess which card or cards their Cluemaster alluded to with the clue. When a teammate touches a Treasure Card, the Cluemaster identifies if that card is one of their team's, one of the rival team's, or one 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 according to game play, which is the number given by the Cluemaster plus one. (Refer to NUMBER OF GUESSES on page 7 for further explanation.)
Winning
The first team to identify and cover all of their Treasure Cards wins!
It is possible to win on the rival team's turn if they guess your last 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. (Olaf and Snow White.)
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 Treasure Card. Getting multiple cards with one clue is a big accomplishment! (See NUMBER OF GUESSES on page 7.)
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 the classic films" 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, or a neutral card.
- If a player touches a card belonging to their team, the Cluemaster covers it with one of their team's Cover Cards. Teammates may continue making guesses, but they do not get another clue. (See NUMBER OF GUESSES on the next page.)
- 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.
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 WATER : 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 have been given some clues for which you did not find all the Treasure Cards. You may guess cards for these earlier clues instead of OR in addition to Treasure 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 knight to lead teammates to a picture of a sky with moon and stars, OR a picture of a medieval warrior dressed in armor. 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 Quack or Sailor instead of Duck when trying to lead your team to a picture of Donald Duck.*
The clue must be about the card (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, "Frozen" works as a clue because it is one word, however "The Little Mermaid" is not allowed.
*For the word side, 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 Red Team starts, as per the Key Card that was drawn, with the Treasure Cards randomly placed on the table.
The Red Cluemaster wants to give a clue for three cards. The clue given is ROYAL : 3.
The Red teammates study the grid and see several possibilities, including Ariel, Simba, the Queen of Hearts, and Moana.
They think all are good guesses, but decide to touch the Queen of Hearts first. This is a neutral card (per the grid card), so it gets covered with a Neutral Cover Card. The turn ends and the Red Team does not get another guess. It is now the Blue Team's turn.
Turn 2
The Blue Cluemaster gives the clue MECHANICAL : 2. The Blue Team successfully guesses two cards (Eve and Lightning McQueen) according to the clue given and ends their turn.
The grid now shows those two cards covered with Blue Cover Cards, and it is the Red Team's turn again.
Turn 3
The Red Cluemaster now gives the clue OCEAN : 3. The teammates again study the grid and see several possibilities.
Remembering the previous clue of ROYAL : 3, they think that Ariel and Moana are the best possibilities, and Crush also works for the Ocean clue.
They agree that Ariel is most likely to be right, so that card is touched. The Cluemaster then covers it with the Red Cover Card, and the teammates are allowed to make a second guess. They correctly guess Moana which is then covered by a Red Cover Card allowing them a third guess. They correctly choose Crush which also gets covered with a Red Cover Card.
The Red Team has made three correct guesses, which is the number specified by the clue OCEAN : 3, so they are allowed to make one additional guess.
They can now try to identify another card from the first clue. The guessers touch the Simba card for their final guess, which gets covered by a Red Cover Card. It is now the Blue Team's turn, because the Red Team has used up all their guesses.
Advanced Game
Codenames: Disney Family Edition includes an Advanced game play option. The basic game rules are the same, with a few differences. Instead of Easy Key Cards, Advanced Key Cards are used, denoted with Mickey icons on the back side, and feature a 5 × 5 grid instead of the basic 4 × 4 grid. Additionally, the grid has one black "Game-Over" square for more challenging game play (details below).
Set up the game as usual, except for these modifications:
- Draw an Advanced Key Card at random for the Cluemasters (denoted by Mickey icons on the back and 5 × 5 grid on the front).
- Set up a 5 × 5 random Treasure Card grid on the table.
Blue, Red, and Neutral Cover Cards are as usual except you will need more of them. Depending on whether you start, it will now take eight or nine correct guesses to win!
Game play is exactly the same except for the "Game-Over" (black) square. That card should never be guessed by either team. If a team does guess that card it is immediately covered with the Game-Over Cover Card and that team loses the game!
So, more Treasures to be identified, additional challenges, even more fun!
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 Treasure Cards as they want by saying unlimited instead of a number. For example, FURRY : UNLIMITED.
This is especially helpful if you have given clues for multiple cards that your team has not guessed yet.
The disadvantage is that teammates don't know how many cards relate 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 teammates that none of your team's cards relate to that clue. For example, FEATHERS : 0 means "none of our cards relate to feathers".
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.
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. Things to keep in mind:
- There are Key Cards for the Easy version with a 4 × 4 grid, AND Key Cards for Advanced play that have a 5 × 5 grid. Decide which you are going to play before setup. Rules for the Advanced Game are on page 10.
- A refresher on clue giving, number of guesses, and valid clues that are allowed is recommended (see pages 6 and 7).
- Enjoy playing!
If you own another version of Codenames, you actually may combine games together for more adventurous fun. Just decide which grid count you will use, and whether you are going to use pictures, words, or both!