How to play Agents, a free online team word-clue game
Two teams, one board. Guess your team's cards from a one-word clue.
- Players
- 4–8
- Length
- ~15 min
- Type
- Deduce
- Price
- Free
Agents is a team game for a group on a call or on a sofa. Two teams, Red and Blue, share one board of 25 words (or 20 pictures). Some cards belong to Red, some to Blue, some to nobody, and one is the assassin.
Each team has a spymaster who can see which card is which. Everyone else only sees the words. The spymaster's job is to get their team to flip the right cards using one word and a number per turn.
Teams talk through their guesses, so a call helps (a group chat works too). Spymasters see the key: keep that screen to yourself.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.
How to play Agents
Split into two teams
The game splits the room into Red and Blue when the host starts. Blips (our bot players) can fill seats, so two people and two Blips make a full game. You need at least four seats in total.
Each team gets a spymaster
The spymaster sees the key: a coloured frame around every card showing whose it is. If a team has a Blip, the Blip is its spymaster, so the people all get to guess. Blips only flip cards for a team with no people on it.
The spymaster gives one word and a number
On their team's turn, the spymaster types a single word and how many cards it points to, like OCEAN 2. The word can't be one of the words on the board, or part of one.
The team flips cards
Guessers tap a card to pick it, talk it over, then press Reveal. Find one of yours and you can keep going, up to the number plus one. Hit a bystander or the other team's card and the turn passes. You can also end the turn yourself after one flip.
Find all your cards first
The team that flips all of its cards first wins. The team that flips the assassin loses on the spot, however far ahead it was.
What Agents looks like
How scoring works
The starting team has 9 cards to find, the other team 8. There are 7 bystanders and 1 assassin. On the Pictures board it is 8, 7, 4 and 1.
The result is a team result. Everyone on the winning team gets the win, whatever their points.
Points still tick along for the scoreboard: 100 for each of your team's cards you flip, 50 to the spymaster for each card their clue finds, and 300 to everyone on the winning team.
Tips for winning Agents
- As spymaster, find the assassin first and make sure your clue can't lead to it.
- A clue for two cards that lands is better than a clue for three where the third is a stretch. The extra guess you get each turn lets your team pick up a card they missed earlier.
- As a guesser, say why you think a card fits before you reveal it. A teammate often spots the trap.
- Spymasters shouldn't react while their team guesses. A groan when someone picks the wrong card gives the game away.
Frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Agents?
Four to eight seats, and Blips count. Two people plus two Blips is a full game, and so is one person with three Blips.
Is Agents the same as Codenames?
It plays like Codenames: two teams, spymasters, one shared board and an assassin card. The words, pictures and bots are our own, and it runs free in the browser.
What is the Pictures deck?
A 5×4 board of drawings instead of words. Clues work the same way. Press and hold a picture to see it bigger.
Are the Blip clues any good?
They link cards that belong together, and they avoid the assassin and the other team's cards. They are careful rather than clever, so a Blip usually aims for two cards at a time.
Do we need to talk to each other?
It helps, since teams argue about what the clue meant. A group chat works too. Spymasters should keep their screen to themselves because it shows the key.
Is it free?
Yes, free to play and free to host. Joining a room needs only the 4-letter code.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.