When you’re the spymaster of a team, you need to be consistent. If we went elaborate for one clue and blunt for the next, the operatives went mad! Consistency is key. Sure, when you go for the obvious ones you’ll get easy, correct responses, but then going technical straight after will cause issues. As the operative, identifying the pictures that relate to the word given can be equally, if not more, difficult. They will need to start thinking about how their teammate thinks. The pressure is on to identify every location before the opponents reveal all of theirs. 4+ Players The pictures themselves are perfect! They bring together multiple elements; some are creepy, some funny, and some are extremely weird. There may be a little downtime during this game while teammates or opponents are thinking. However, this can give you a chance to think about your own plan of action - so it's not all bad! There are tokens included that point a person to one of these setup grid spaces previously mentioned. There are 3x each for the 16x possible spots (A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, etc). One side has a question mark with the single spot on the other. Put these somewhere that they can be drawn from without looking at.

Choose 9 color cubes from the different available options and then arrange them in a 3×3 grid on the designated card to represent the picture. Being a spy can’t be an easy job. They get a bad rep from all the movies! Arrogant, lone wolf, obnoxious, know-it-all… For some James Bond types that may be correct, though I can’t imagine how they would stay spies for very long. Being a spy requires a higher level of thinking, and an ability to be on someone’s level of understanding. Being able to just get what a group are saying. Receiving messages that are elaborately thought out and cover every base as necessary. You’d need to be able to read between the lines and think outside of the box!The spymaster role requires a lot of thought. The game can easily be won or lost on a single word. Understanding how your other team members may interpret a particular image is extremely important. You must also ensure you choose your word carefully, as many words can have more than one meaning. For example, they could say ‘see’ or ‘sea’. These two words would most likely relate to completely different cards, but the operatives will not know which version of the word is being used. This is a step by step guide for how to play pictures the popular represent a photo party board game. Additional notions and special rules can be found below the list. These will be referenced for your convenience. The pictures themselves are perfect! They bring together multiple elements; some are creepy, some funny, and some are extremely weird. There may be a little downtime during this game while teammates or opponents are thinking. However, this can give you a chance to think about your own plan of action – so it’s not all bad! All players who have one of the clue giving options draws a space marker. This shows them, and only them, which clue they are giving. In the two-player variant, as long as the team can work together and understand each other’s thought processes, this game can be won! However, one simple slip up, and the assassin may be revealed! Your game will end in defeat! Or, at best, the opposing team finds one of their locations and you put them at the advantage. Final Thoughts on Codenames Pictures

Codenames: Pictures is a fantastic addition to Vlaada Chvátil’s growing Codenames franchise and offers something totally different while remaining faithful to the winning formula.Gameplay-wise, Codenames: Pictures works in exactly the same way as its predecessor, with the big difference being that instead of the Spymasters giving clues relating to a 5x5 grid of words, they are now giving clues relating to a 5x4 grid of pictures! In the two-player variant of Codenames Pictures, one player takes on the role of the spymaster with the other player becoming the operative. You need to work together efficiently to beat the board, as the board is never wrong. Being a spy can't be an easy job. They get a bad rep from all the movies! Arrogant, lone wolf, obnoxious, know-it-all... For some James Bond types that may be correct, though I can't imagine how they would stay spies for very long. Being a spy requires a higher level of thinking, and an ability to be on someone's level of understanding. Being able to just get what a group are saying. Receiving messages that are elaborately thought out and cover every base as necessary. You'd need to be able to read between the lines and think outside of the box!

On your turn, you draw a secret token from a draw bag. On it are the coordinates that state which image you need to recreate, using your items. Then you need to get your creative juices flowing. You want the others to guess which of the 16 pictures you’re making! You get points for correct guesses, as do the people guessing.You choose 2 – 5 of the available icon cards and lay them in a road from left to right to represent the picture. Do nothing else. After all players have made their guesses, players reveal what they had by placing their secret grid location chip on the correct space. If you are correct, you get a point, and if not, then nothing. In a standard game, you'll be playing across two teams. Head to head. One spymaster and any number of operatives in each team. Being an operative, you need to think outside the box and look at every image in great detail. Read between the lines. The spymaster needs to see links between pictures that they know their co-spies will also see. Balancing that between your team is a delicate act, as the images are random and comprise many elements! The spymaster role requires a lot of thought. The game can easily be won or lost on a single word. Understanding how your other team members may interpret a particular image is extremely important. You must also ensure you choose your word carefully, as many words can have more than one meaning. For example, they could say 'see' or 'sea'. These two words would most likely relate to completely different cards, but the operatives will not know which version of the word is being used. Codenames Pictures (designed by Vlaada Chvátil) is for two or more players, focusing on big team play. Having four players or more is the optimum number to ensure a game can be fully played. There is also a two-player variant where you play against the board, effectively trying to get the operative to guess all the locations within seven turns.

The spymaster needs to help the operative find the corresponding coloured locations by stating a single word and number, as in the original. They need to locate as many as possible in each turn. After each turn, the spymaster will reveal one of the opposing colour's locations on the board. After all five rounds have been completed, everyone counts up their total correct answers. Whoever has the most wins. The game itself is by no means easy, but learning how to play Pictures is. Codenames: Pictures even suggests some alternative ways to play, such as combining words and pictures into the same game (if you have a copies of both games) and gives rules for an “Assassin Ending” variant where you must guess the Assassin once you have found all of your agents.You will need to alter play in some way to accommodate for having less than 5 players (less than the number of clue options). You can either remove a clue component completely (no one gets) or have rounds designated for a specific clue to come out (some get). Its all fluid, do whatever you want as long as it makes sense. GAME CONTENTS The spymaster needs to help the operative find the corresponding coloured locations by stating a single word and number, as in the original. They need to locate as many as possible in each turn. After each turn, the spymaster will reveal one of the opposing colour’s locations on the board.