Codenames: Duet XXL

Codenames: Duet XXL, the cooperative version of the popular word association game, improves on its smaller predecessor with more comfortable play.

Codenames Duet retains the essential elements of Codenames - provide one-word clues to help someone identify your agents among those on the table - but now you work together as a team to find all your agents. (Why you don't already know who your agents are is a question that congressional investigators will back you on later!)

To set up a game, place cards of 25 words in a 5×5 grid. Place a key card in the holder so that each player sees one side of the card. Each player sees a 5×5 grid on the map, with nine squares colored green (representing your agents) and three squares colored black (representing assassins). Three of the nine squares on each side are also green on the other side; one murderer is black on both sides, one is green on the other side, and the other is an innocent bystander.

Collectively, you must reveal all fifteen agents - without revealing an assassin - before time runs out to win the game. Each player can decide to give the first one-word clue to the other player, along with a number. The person receiving the clue places a finger on a card to identify that agent. If they are correct, they can try to identify another. If they identify a bystander, their guess time ends. If they identify an assassin, you both lose! Unlike regular codenames, they can keep guessing as long as they continue to identify an agent each time; this is useful for returning to previous clues and finding the ones they missed. After the first clue has been given, players take turns giving clues.