Board Game Codenames - Back to Hogwarts

Welcome to Hogwarts! This ancient castle is filled with magic almost as much as it is with secrets...even Dumbledore himself never thought he knew all its secrets. Take on the roles of headmasters and freshmen, brace your nerves and set off to become the first house to unlock all the secrets of the wizarding school by using clever clues to explore its many halls and corridors.

Codenames: Back to Hogwarts is a brand new Codenames experience inspired by the wizarding world. Team up and play the classic social word guessing game, representing your favorite Hogwarts houses, using the special abilities of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin to strategically gain an advantage for your team.

Designed for 4-8+ players, Codenames: Back to Hogwarts is the first competitive Codenames game where houses compete against each other, inspired by the wizarding world. It brings a fresh twist to the classic Code Names word association game, offering new thematic mechanics that change the gameplay for long-time fans and new players alike.

How to play

As new first-years at Hogwarts, players will be divided into two rival houses, each with its own headmaster who knows the secrets of the school`s legendary card grid. On their turn, the elders give their team of students a clue consisting of one word and a number that indicates how many cards are associated with that word. Students must then follow these clues to explore Hogwarts, guessing the correct words and opening one card at a time.

If they guess correctly, they can continue to guess the words up to the specified number of times. If they encounter an opponent`s house card, dead end, closed door, or other obstacle, their turn ends. However, be careful not to fall into the hands of caretaker Argus Filch, as this ends the game and means victory for the opposing house. Each win also earns their house points, which can be tracked over multiple House Cup game sessions.

At first glance, this should look very familiar to existing Codenames fans—at least from a mechanical standpoint. Codenames: Back to Hogwarts also adds new levels of strategic depth to the classic Codenames gameplay in the form of unique asymmetric abilities.

Each house has access to two powerful and different special abilities. These abilities were designed to fundamentally change the fundamentals of the Codenames game, giving Muggles and Wizards alike some amazing new gameplay opportunities. Since there are two different houses in each game, and each house will only use one of its two abilities, players can explore and play with many possible combinations!