Codenames Vs. Codenames Pictures. Do you need both in your life?

Winner of gaming’s highest award, the Spiel des Jahres. Designed by one of the industry’s most respected minds. Over a million copies sold. Translated into 31 languages. Codenames is arguably the most popular party game ever printed; an experience as cerebral as it is funny.

Codenames: Pictures is a spin off title with nearly identical rules, but uses pictures instead of words. Raf and Calvin both have Opinions on which is better - Cardboard Combat: Commence!

Calvin: Okay on three, we’ll say which one we prefer, okay? One, two, three: Pictures!

Raf: Words! Regular! It doesn’t have it’s own name! Whatever you want to call it, I prefer the original (just slightly). I’m too literal for pictures of genies coming out of fire extinguishers.

C: Clearly we must duel to the death now. My weapon of choice will be a genie coming out of a fire extinguisher.

R: Abstract images. My only weakness.

Before we go any further, let’s describe the Codenames formula. Players are divided into two teams led by a Spymaster. The Spymasters sit next to each other on one end of the table talking trash and snickering to each other. Between the players and the Spymasters is a 5x5 grid of cards with the aforementioned words or pictures on them. The Spymasters take a graphical chart that acts as a key; 8-9 words belong to each team and it’s the Spymasters job to give the types of clues that will lead to people connecting Airplanes, Glass, and Rodeo. There’s also an Assassin - pick this card and your team immediately loses.

It’s both simple and clever. Clues must be a single word and a number that informs the team how many words relate to that clue. It’s a race to the finish and the Spymaster’s task is to navigate as many logical leaps as possible to direct their team to victory. Or, if you’re like me, you hand your opponents victory when your team functions a lot more like Archer and the gang.

“M as in Mancy?!”

C: Pictures takes this formula and spins it with, well, pictures. But not your ordinary images.

It also alters the rules slightly by making the default grid 5x4 instead of 5x5 - the loss of a row is because with pictures there are more elements to keep in your head and therefore harder to make clues that don’t inadvertently include a picture that’s not yours.

The smaller grid lends itself to a tenser game since each team can get to the finish line faster - but this also feels like it loses some of the ability to strategically hedge your bets by giving easy clues early in the game to set up for a big play later. Fortunately, you CAN just play 5x5 if you want to, just use the codenames keycards or the ever so handy app.

So the big question: you're looking for a party game. You're looking at Codenames. Which one do you go for?

R: I grab regular. Clue giving in Codenames is impressively nuanced. You can bounce between literal or abstract, and you can even lead people down logical paths where you almost use a correct word as a subtle additional clue. I've found that's much easier to do with words. Additionally, people are familiar with word games which make it easy to pull out at a party.

Why do you go for Pictures?

C: Because it makes me laugh.

C: I like the improved card size and larger components. I like that there are more agent and civilian tiles (who, again, always make me laugh.) I like that this edition is probably better for younger players and also can probably cross language barriers.

Seriously though, those pictures. They’re evocative. They’re funny. They’re thought provoking. I wouldn’t buy a codenames expansion. I would buy a pictures expansion in a heartbeat.

Funnily enough, different people I talk to have different opinions over which is harder. I find Pictures WAY more difficult to give clues for. Some of my friends have expressed the opposite. What about yourself?

R: I definitely find it harder to give clues for Pictures, though you’re completely right about the language barrier. I took Codenames to Guatemala to visit family, and while playing Codenames in “Spanglish” was hilarious and led to some inadvertently hilarious moments...it was also pretty difficult. Party games like this run the risk of making someone feel stupid which is never something you want at the table. It isn’t the fault of the game per se, but I’ve seen it happen. I think that’s why I love that Codenames has both of these options.

It’s a darling party game and both options means it can be “for everyone”.

C: Then there’s literally the mode where you can mix both. Have you tried that? I plan to, I think it will be HIGHlarious. Hard! But oh so funny to watch the spymaster’s brains melting out of their noggin.

R: I haven’t tried it, but I would certainly like to. I’m pretty excited about the game and the system. There are Disney and Marvel versions coming and a 2-player one called “Duet”. There’s even an NSFW one at Target that isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be and is a favorite among friends who like Cards Against Humanity. I can definitely see myself combining everything just to see what happens.

C: So to sum: which one should you get? The one that sings to you the most I guess. If you reckon you’re a visual person you should probably get pictures, if you’re the kind of weird person who likes scrabble go for regular, or just choose the edition that takes your fancy-- LOOK the point is that Codenames is a fantastic game and if you like the idea of fun you should get it.

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