Vox Republica 114: The Staying Power Of Codenames

Length: 58:04

Show Links: RSS | iTunes | Stitcher | Download Episode

Welcome back to Vox Republica, the Cardboard Republic Podcast!

We post new episodes every other Thursday, with each episode being about 30 - 45 minutes long.

Vox Republica is proudly supported by our Patreon. Consider contributing today!

DESCRIPTION: This week, Erin and Ryan cover a whole slew of topics, including some GAMA news, our first annual Laurel awards, and Snakes & Ladders: the video game. Then we dive into a brief review of the super popular social game Codenames.

GUEST: None

RECENTLY PLAYED GAMES - (01:36):

• Paradox by Split Second Games


• Fury of Dracula by Fantasy Flight Games


• Warehouse 51 by Passport Game Studios


• The King Is Dead by Osprey Games

QUICK TOPICS - (22:22):

• With the 2016 GAMA gaming convention coming to a close, Ryan shares a handful of news bits that caught his attention. 


• For reasons that baffles everyone, someone has decided to make Snakes and Ladders into an FPS-style computer game.


• The Daily Worker Placement gamer survey results continue! We look into some of their most recent findings.


• We have unveiled The Laurels, our first annual Games of the Year Awards!

REVIEW - (38:53):

• This week we wade right in to the heavy-hitting social game Codenames by Czech Games Edition. Since it's unassuming debut, Codenames has taken the party/social game category by storm, quickly becoming a fan favorite and making its way to many gamer's shelves. In this word association game, two teams of players, each led by a Spymaster, seek to beat the other team by finding all of their team's words from among those on the board. Using single world clues from the Spymaster, their team must guess their leader's intended word choices without accidentally aiding their opposition - or stumbling onto the game-ending assassin. Simple but engaging and with copious replayability, we explore why Codenames still has staying power in the months since it came out.

A typical 5x5 word grid

The board based on what the Spymasters have to work with

Red would like to say 'Animal: 2', but Mole is a Blue card, which likely won't work

Being Spymaster can be a bit mentally taxing thing...

Codenames in action. Currently Blue is leading 5 to 4

PLUGS - (57:16):

• As always, Cardboard Republic YouTube videos and the BGG Guild are still ongoing. Subscribe to either - or both if you really love us. You do really love us, right?

We’d love to hear from you! You can send questions or feedback via email at [email protected]. You can also reach us social media, including Twitter and BoardGameGeek.

Audio Credits: Intro music track is "Swing!" by Bargo!, used under Creative Commons license.