How to play Codenames online over video chat

Link to the game : codenames

(A video-chat friendly edition by @nemo!)

Don’t know the game Codenames? Learn how to play!

Steps to host:

:small_blue_diamond:Everyone join a Hangout/Zoom/HouseParty/WhatsApp video conference
:small_blue_diamond:Decide teams and Spymasters for each team
:small_blue_diamond:Open the link in a new window. Generate a fresh grid by inputting a new Seed
:small_blue_diamond:Click on the Cast buttom in the top-right corner of the screen. This does two things:

  • Provides a link for the Spymasters to view the coloured grid. This link is copied to your clipboard
  • Hides the Seed and reset buttons to only display the grid. This view is to prevent people from cheating by inputting the same seed

:small_blue_diamond:Share the copied link privately with both Spymasters. Ask them to click on the Spymaster button
:small_blue_diamond:Share the Codenames window using Screen share with everyone. Most video chat tools let you share a specific application window instead of your entire screen. This is useful if you want to also be a spymaster.
:small_blue_diamond:As a moderator, you will need to click on the selected words when a team confirms they want to guess it. You don’t know the answers either, so you can play as well!
:small_blue_diamond:If you are the moderator and also want to be spymaster, make sure you have a different tab open with the spymaster view (or use your phone).

A few guidelines:

:small_orange_diamond:Do not repeat seeds. Typically, I use the assassin from the previous game as the seed for the following one.
:small_orange_diamond:Establish and enforce heckling rules from the beginning. In a conference with 5+ people, it is already difficult for a team to coordinate - allowing the other team to cross-talk will make it harder.
:small_orange_diamond:Every team should nominate a player to be the one to inform the moderator which words to select. This will prevent mistakes by the moderator and make the game more streamlined.
:small_orange_diamond:If you want to play as well, make sure you don’t click on the Spymaster button after generating the fresh grid
:small_orange_diamond:By hiding the Seed, this link and method stops team members from directly checking a grid. However, it does not prevent Spymasters from DMing their team answers. Cheating is not appreciated and should not be tolerated.

:small_red_triangle_down: Enjoy and happy guessing! :small_red_triangle_down:

Thanks to a generous contribution, the game now supports a “Popular Hindi Movies” wordset. If folks have other suggestions, I’m happy to implement them :slight_smile:

I’ve also found that the Discord setup of streaming works really well (as compared to Zoom for eg).