The rules, step by step
- You both see the same 25 words, but two DIFFERENT key cards. Green edges are YOUR agents, red are YOUR assassins — their card says other things about the same words.
- Take turns. The clue-giver writes one word and a number: how many of their OWN green cards it points at.
- The guesser taps cards, and the GIVER’s key decides what happens. Your own colours don’t count while you guess — a word that is red for you can still be their agent.
- Hit their agent and it locks in green: keep guessing, up to one past the number. A bystander ends the turn. Their assassin ends the game, there and then.
- Every clue spends a token. Find all fifteen agents between you before nine clues run out.
- Out of clues is sudden death: no more hints, and one wrong touch loses.
Scoring and the fiddly bits
Which key decides
The giver’s, always. A card can be an agent on their key and an assassin on yours, and while they are clueing only theirs counts.
Bystanders are one-sided
A bystander marks only the side it resolved against and ends that turn. The card stays live for the other player.
Legal clues
One word, no spaces, with a number from zero to nine. You get one guess more than the number; zero gives you the whole grid.
Sudden death
With no tokens left there are no clues. Either of you may hand the hunt across, and anything that is not an agent ends the run.
The overlap is fixed
Three shared agents, three assassins each, and one of your assassins is always one of their agents. The pattern never changes, only where it lands.
Questions about Secret Codes
Is Secret Codes free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Secret Codes?
Exactly 2 — Secret Codes is built for that number and no other.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Secret Codes over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.
Play Secret Codes online
Free, in the browser, with everyone on their own phone.