#Codenames – Why the Hype?

I PICKED up Codenames while on a trip recently. In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues (with a number) that can point to words in the array. Their teammates (the Operative) tries to guess the words while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team and especially avoiding the assassin!

This a very celebrated game, with many awards and nominations such as:

• 2016 SXSW Tabletop Game of the Year Nominee
• 2016 Spiel des Jahres Winner
• 2016 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
• 2015 Meeples’ Choice Winner
• 2015 Meeples’ Choice Nominee
• 2015 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee
• 2015 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game Winner
• 2015 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game Nominee
• 2015 Golden Geek Best Innovative Board Game Nominee
• 2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Winner
• 2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee

But I don’t get it.

I mean, its an OK game that I rate a 6.0…far below the 8.0 it carries on BoardGameGeek. I have played it with my kids and I think they agree with me; the game is more “meh” than “wow!”