I think that Codenames is an okay game. There is one main issue that I find that I have with it. So when there was an app announced or at least previewed on the Dice Tower, I thought, okay, this might be fine. Now, the app is out and I’ve been playing it. How does the app for Codenames compare against the game, and is it an enjoyable time? I’m not going to tell you have to play the game, but I am going to talk about the app, so let’s dive into what the Codenames App does better.

Why I Don’t Like Codenames

Let’s lay the groundwork. I expect that a lot of people like Codenames a lot. And for me, it is basically always a miss. I know, in fact, that my opinion is less than popular because Codenames sells really well, which means that people are trying it and buying a copy for themselves. Which, even though it isn’t for me, I like because more people are playing games.

But what is it about Codenames that isn’t for me? Firstly, it bills itself, or gets treated like a party style game. It really isn’t a party style game. There is a lot of downtime of people thinking and staring at the board. Either the spymaster who is coming up with their next clue. Or the guessers who are using the clue. And that doesn’t make for a party like experience. It is only even okay as a social experience or a lighter game that way. So first issue, there is too much downtime.

Secondly, you are either clever or wrong. Let me talk about this one a little bit more, but when you give a clue either you give a good clue and people get it. Or people mess it up, or you mess it up, and it goes wrong. In Codenames, which is already tight with your creativity, it is a game that can make you feel bad or make you feel dumb. This ties into the first issue, for a game that is supposed to be lighter, that doesn’t feel good.

The App Is Better

Downtime

The app fixes a lot of these issues in a lot of ways. Firstly, let’s talk about that downtime. The great thing about an app is that the downtime doesn’t matter. How does it not matter, like almost every app you expect that there is going to be time between when you take your turn or action and when you can play again. Apps always teach us that, there is a timer before you get another life or attempt in other games. We know you can’t just sit there and wait with an app.

Plus, downtime is less of an issue when you have five or ten games going. And it is easy to play that many games. Again, why? Because Codenames is a game where context doesn’t really matter. I need to know the word you give as a clue and how many guesses I have. That’s going to be it. If I missed one the previous time or sometime before, I look at the history and see that. I don’t need to hold anything in my head. So when I check, I play a few different games.

Finally around this idea of downtime there are solo challenges as well. Somethings that you play, either giving clues to a group of others or trying to solve those clues yourself. But it’s a one off, get the clue solved and call it good and that’s it. Nice quick hits that you can play. They refresh even more slowly, but it’s a filler activity between game play, or can be the only way you play the game and you know your exact timings.

Cleverness

I think that the app also encourages some more cleverness. Let’s start with the solo challenges. When I play as the spymaster, I get rewarded for giving more answers for the one clue I give. So it encourages me to push for some risky clues and guesses. And that is great because it takes away the pressure of winning all for the sake of winning. Yes, that sounds odd, but I don’t have feedback across the table of people thinking it was a dumb clue.

This then spills over into the regular games as well. I play with real people in those games. But there is no one sitting across the table from me. There is no immediate feedback on if I did a good job or not. And if I make a mistake, it’s easier to gloss over it because I am playing a bunch of other games. And because there wasn’t five minutes of me sitting in front of people only to give a bad clue or only to make a bad guess.

It takes away that human element from the game. Now, normally I find that to be a bad thing. On BGA (Board Game Arena) it is often a bit of a miss. Things take so long and you lose context and reads on people for games that might need them. But here, it’s easier to just brush it off and move onto the next thing.

Final Thoughts on the Codenames App

I expect that there is more that I can talk about this game. There are likely going to be more features that I can talk about. And there are even some elements, like getting words and unlocking certain modes of the game that I didn’t talk about. A lot of that falls into standard app stuff. And I mean that in a good way.

But in terms of what it feels like to actually play the game, I really like it. I think it is a much more preferable way to play the game. And I hope that I laid out why I thought that well. I realize that your milage might be different because you might like Codenames a whole lot more than I do. But even if you do, I think the app will scratch an itch that gives you a similar feeling to playing it. I don’t think it’ll have people getting rid of their copies, but playing it alongside and if you don’t like the game that well, like I don’t, it might help you enjoy it more.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here