Codenames

What players like

• Polished, beautiful app design reflecting board game well
• Pure strategic wordplay with no autoplay or idle waiting
• Multiple game modes (standard, Team vs Assassin, Duet variations)
• Strong community with jury system for word validation
• One-time purchase with full content unlocked, no freemium grind

Common complaints

• Online-only multiplayer with long wait times between turns
• Poor tutorial for clue-making mechanics leaves new players confused
• Vertical orientation mode unavailable in app despite working in browser
• Some language versions (Arabic) have exploitable mechanics
• Jury system occasionally accepts misspelled words or proper names incorrectly

What real reviews say

★★★ Brilliant adaptation but read the reviews first! It’s a great adaptation of the party game BUT, I wish I had dug into the reviews before buying. There is some limited offline content but it is - as the devs say repeatedly in their responses here - primarily an asynchronous multiplayer game where your opponents will step away for apparently hours

★★★★★ Love this game We often play the board game Codenames with our friends. This is a great alternative when you don’t have 4 people. We play games when we camp. The board game doesn’t work in wind, but the electronic version is a great alternative.

★★★ So much fun, but do wish there was like a computer automatic system that could play the opposing sid I do love this app. I just wish there was a way you could like. Kind of play with a computer because having to wait for people to respond is kind of annoying but I do get it.

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Compare Codenames vs…

• Codenames vs Candy Crush Saga
• Codenames vs Royal Match
• Codenames vs Happy Color® – Coloring Games