- Two teams, red and blue, each with a spymaster.
- 25 people known to the teams only by their codenames.
- Only the spymasters have the key which identifies
which people are agents of the teams.
- One assassin hidden amongst the people who
will decimate the entire team that outs them.
- The team that goes first (based on the randomly-selected key) will
have 9 agents to find, the other team will have 8.
- The teams take turns trying to identify their agents.
- The spymaster has up to 30 seconds to utter a single-word clue and
the number of people to which it relates. They remain straight-faced
throughout.
- The team has up to 30 seconds to discuss and make a guess.
For the avoidance of doubt the gamesmaster will take the first
guess in the form "we guess <codename>" heard from any team member.
- If the minute expires the team must make a guess immediately or
they will forfeit their turn and the other team's spymaster will
be allowed to reveal one person of their choosing.
- The gamesmaster will reveal the identity of the person behind
the codename. If the person is an agent of the guessing team they
get another guess up to the number the spymaster said plus 1. If not
play passes to the other team.
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- When all agents from one team have been revealed that team wins.
- If the assassin is revealed the team responsible loses.
Spymasters are expected conduct themselves within the spirit of the game. This means:
- Not giving clues, verbal or otherwise, beyond the single word and number allowed
at the start of their turn.
- No contact at all with their team members outside the shared gathering space.
- If a clue is successfully challenged by the other team for breaking the following
rules their spymaster will be allowed to reveal any card of their choice.
- Clues:
- must be English unless the foreign words used are common in English conversation, e.g. strudel.
- must relate to the meaning of the codenames not the pronounciation, homonyms, rhymes, etc.
- must not be part of any word on the board, e.g. LAND when ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND are on the board.
- must not contain a number meant as a clue, e.g. CITRUS‑8 for LEMON and OCTOPUS.
- can be spelled out if and only if requested by your team.
All decisions of the gamesmaster will be final.
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