We first played the party game Codenames in 2015 and were hooked like so many people around the world.

We reviewed the original party game in January, 2016 and reviews for many of the follow-up games since.

Today, we’re happy to share our thoughts on the app version of this super-popular party game.

For starters, now that Codenames is in my digital pocket, it’s not reserved for just being a party game. I can play it on the fly whenever I want since I can match up with people worldwide in asynchronous play.

 

How to play Codenames

If you haven’t heard of Codenames yet, we’re sorry.

But since 99% of the people reading this are already familiar with playing Codenames, we won’t belabor the part of explaining how to play Codenames. Instead, we’ll dive right into the various elements that the digital game app delivers.

(For the 1% that don’t know yet, check out our original Codenames review.)

With the Codenames app, you can play either by yourself against other players around the world asynchronously, or with friends in pass-and-play mode.

In addition to those “mission” modes, you can play Daily Challenges.

These 3 options are present on the home screen of the app.

Since the asynchronous play let’s you play whenever it’s most convenient for you, you can also have multiple games going at a time. The home screen shows missions in progress as well as missions you’ve completed.

When you start a mission, you can play as either the Spymaster (cluegiver) or the Operative (guesser).

The background color during a mission reminds you which team you’re on – Red or Blue.

Along the way, you’ll gain a lot of extras, achievements of all sorts, and of course, experience points to level up. As you level up, you’ll also unlock lots of additional ways to engage with Codenames.

For example, when you hit a certain level, you can be called in to finish missions other players have abandoned. At another level, you’ll be able to be a judge when players submit clues that aren’t yet found in the huge Codenames word library.

Speaking of words, you’ll also earn a bunch of special words that will be collected in your own word library. So when you play games with friends (online or local), those words may come up in the word grid. And when you collect enough words in a category, you’ll be invited to participate in special missions related to that category.

One of the elements of the app that keeps me diving into it every day are the Daily Challenges.

There are two types of challenges. One mode where you’re the Operative trying to find the right agents based on the clue given and another mode where you’re the Spymaster. In that, you’ll have a grid of highlighted words and you have come up with a clue to tie as many of the words together in one clue as you can. Then others will play that puzzle and you’re entry will be judge against other Spymasters for that same grid.

After a bit of time, once the Spymaster submissions have been attempted by other players, you’ll get your score and be ranked against what other Spymasters gave for clues. You may not know who you were competing against, but it’s fun to see your clue take the top spot!

After the results, you can also see which words players clicked on for your clue.

Another area I found myself checking out a bunch was the Achievements.

If you’re a fan of rewards, this section is totally for you. There are a lot of different ways to gain special features in the app.

There are sections for experience, trophies, words, feats, VIP, career, and devotion that have a grundle of ways to earn goodies every step of the way.

When you collect VIP rewards, you’ll also get special missions that are unique challenges. For example, one I’ve played was a “mirror” mission where the agents were arranged in mirrored patterns. So the location of one of your found agents will also be a clue as to where another agent is, even if you haven’t yet been given a clue for the word in that location. Fun twist.

Since the beta was released, I’ve played daily for 4 weeks. And I feel like I’ve still just scratched the surface on what’s packed in the Codenames app. There’s certainly lots to explore. But more importantly, it’s a fun way to exercise my thinking for a few minutes each day.

If you’re already a Codenames fan or are just taking a look for the first time, at just $2.99 (at the time of this review), I’d totally recommend snagging the Codenames app from Apple App Store or Google Play.

Don’t miss the next awesome game for your family! Subscribe to The Board Game Family reviews and articles.

SUBSCRIBE