Author Topic: NANY 2018 Release: cnpaperplay - Codenames /Codenames Duet Play on Paper Clone (Read 56473 times)

mouser · « **on:** October 13, 2017, 08:40 PM »

cnpaperplay is a play-on-paper game based on a very of an awesome two-player cooperative word-based board game called Codenames Duet by Vlaada Chvátil and Scot Eaton.

Note that this game plays very well over the phone, by text, by email, etc. -- players do not have to be in the same physical location.

Basic rules of the game:

A random grid of words is laid out for both players to see.
Each player receives a secret "key" telling them which of these words they want the other player to guess or avoid. These keys are coordinated in the sense that there are a specific number that will be the same as the other player (read rules for details).
Then players take turns giving a clue to the other player of a specific form (see detailed rules) and the other player will try to use the clue to identify which card they should choose.
Players win as a team if they guess all the correct cards.

My version does things very slightly differently since I designed it to be played on paper, but the basic idea is the same.
The created pdf books have some brief instructions but to learn more how to play see the official detailed rules of Codenames Duet: https://czechgames.c...es-duet-rules-en.pdf

What I chose to do is write some fairly flexible code that makes print-and-play "books" (pdf files) that can be split up between two players, who can then play the entire game with paper and pencil.
Each page is a separate game/puzzle.
The code can make random books of any size and with difference configuration parameters, and supports custom word files.

I'll open source the code at NANY time but for now here are two sample books. Remember that each player gets their own book -- you can't look at the book of your partner!!

If you feel like trying a game (or 10), these two booklets are all you need. Print them and give each player a book and a pen and you are good to go:

NANY 2018 Release: cnpaperplay - Codenames /Codenames Duet Play on Paper Clone

MAIN DOWNLOAD: 1mb zip file with books for 100 games of cnduet and 100 games of cnteam, in english: https://www.donation...ooks_englishonly.zip

Or get a version with japanese and other language translations: https://www.donation...npaperplay_books.zip.

Download/browse the python source code which has now been open sourced on github:
https://github.com/dcmouser/cnpaperplay

The data files (words and instructions) are easily translatable into different languages if anyone feels so inclined.

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2017, 06:59 AM »

Sounds great !
I have played this, but once only.
Will we non-coders be able to create our own word lists? (I'm thinking for other languages as well.)

mouser · « **Reply #2 on:** October 14, 2017, 08:21 AM »

Will we non-coders be able to create our own word lists? (I'm thinking for other languages as well.)

Yep already implemented, and unicode supported.

tomos · « **Reply #3 on:** October 14, 2017, 08:34 AM »

Will we non-coders be able to create our own word lists? (I'm thinking for other languages as well.)
Yep already implemented, and unicode supported.
-mouser (October 14, 2017, 08:21 AM)

sounds even better

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2017, 10:56 PM »

Someone try playing it!

mouser · « **Reply #5 on:** October 15, 2017, 10:43 AM »

If anyone wants me to make a pair of books in a different language I just need a text file with your words (original file has 400 english words but the number isn't important).

mouser · « **Reply #6 on:** October 16, 2017, 07:45 PM »

For those curious -- I wrote it first in PHP, thinking I might use the codebase for a web-based version of the game. Then for fun I re-wrote it in python.

mouser · « **Reply #7 on:** October 17, 2017, 04:12 AM »

Update: I extended the utility to make books for standard team-based Codenames as well.. Standby for samples..

For team play you can get away with only 2 books, one for the leaders, and one for the guessers, which mirrors how the real game is played (one key card shared between the leaders and then the public display of cards that everyone can see).

But a nice aspect of the play by paper version is you could give everyone their own booklet and they could spread out across the room in any way they wish and play.

NANY 2018 Release: cnpaperplay - Codenames /Codenames Duet Play on Paper Clone

[EDIT: See first post for download]

tomos · « **Reply #8 on:** October 21, 2017, 01:38 PM »

First play (of duet) this evening -- I really enjoyed it

We got confused about the black: I thought if something was black on my list, I couldn't guess it -- but once we figured that out that I could gues them (and it was the other player could not) it was fine.

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** October 21, 2017, 02:03 PM »

Excellent. Yeah that can be confusing -- maybe I can put a reminder about that up front.

tomos · « **Reply #10 on:** October 21, 2017, 03:24 PM »

How did you choose the word list mouser?
Are they random, or is there a logic or conditions to it?

(Wondering about creating a word list in other language/s)

mouser · « **Reply #11 on:** October 21, 2017, 03:53 PM »

It's the 400 word list used in the original board game.
There was a discussion thread on boardgamegeek about using alternate words and it was mentioned that many of the words used have alternate meanings, which was by design.

mouser · « **Reply #12 on:** October 21, 2017, 04:07 PM »

Here's the combined english wordlist from Codenames and Codenames Duet.
It's what I'm currently using.

tomos · « **Reply #13 on:** October 22, 2017, 02:12 PM »

^ thanks for the wordlist mouser -- mind if I ask where you got it?
was it from that boardgamegeek.com thread? if so any chance of a link for it -- search there is not working at the moment (504 error).

Simply translating the list wouldn't really work -- as you say, many of the words have a couple of meanings -- that would be lost in translation.

Reminds me of a german spoken game:
Teekesselchen, literally meaning 'tea-kettle', but today used to mean homonym.
Two people choose a word with two different meanings, then each person 'acts' as one meaning of that word:
'I am small' 'I grow' 'I am not alive' etc. etc.
others meanwhile try and guess the word.

mouser · « **Reply #14 on:** October 22, 2017, 02:17 PM »

https://boardgamegee...ad/1413932/word-list
https://boardgamegee.../codenames-word-list
https://boardgamegee...tors-codenames-games

tomos · « **Reply #15 on:** October 22, 2017, 03:25 PM »

^ thanks mouser

mouser · « **Reply #16 on:** October 22, 2017, 11:53 PM »

Simply translating the list wouldn't really work -- as you say, many of the words have a couple of meanings -- that would be lost in translation.

I'm not so sure -- I don't think the specific words make that big of a difference to be honest.

tomos · « **Reply #17 on:** October 23, 2017, 06:05 AM »

Simply translating the list wouldn't really work -- as you say, many of the words have a couple of meanings -- that would be lost in translation.

I'm not so sure -- I don't think the specific words make that big of a difference to be honest.
-mouser (October 22, 2017, 11:53 PM)

With the help of phitsc's Text Inspection & Manipulation Utility, I now have ~240 german words which are all 'Teekesselchen' (homonyms).

I know that might make it too easy, but how about we go with that for the moment?
and I can get a couple of people to try it out and give feedback, and maybe improve the list for a future version

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** October 23, 2017, 02:10 PM »

Games generated from your list -- can you please check the words in the games and make sure the character encoding is correct?

tomos · « **Reply #19 on:** October 23, 2017, 03:05 PM »

Games generated from your list -- can you please check the words in the games and make sure the character encoding is correct?
-mouser (October 23, 2017, 02:10 PM)

the character coding is correct so far, but I'll have to get a native speaker to look at that list, I see one word I'm not 100% sure of (sorry, should have gotten that done first :-/)

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** October 23, 2017, 03:06 PM »

Only takes a second to regenerate the files, no worries.

mouser · « **Reply #21 on:** December 29, 2017, 04:37 PM »

Added link to github repository.

mouser · « **Reply #22 on:** December 29, 2017, 05:32 PM »

The code supports alternative languages -- both for the word lists and optionally for the instructions and other texts.

I have someone making a full japanese translation but I could use other language translations if anyone is willing to help. Anyone?

mouser · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2017, 06:31 AM »

Updated first post with link to download premade books with 100 games.

For those who haven't tried playing this, I can't emphasize how good a two-player game this is for couples. It can be played while casually sitting in a room in different locations and is fun, challenging, and thought-provoking. And it is a way to get to know each other's way of thinking, and gives you something to talk about afterwards.

Note that this game plays very well over the phone, by text, by email, etc. -- players do not have to be in the same physical location.

Report your best scores for specific game id#s and we can compete/compare to see which team can get the highest score on each game.

mouser · « **Reply #24 on:** January 01, 2018, 01:04 AM »

Updated with japanese translation of words and instructions (thanks to Naoki!).

Preview:

Screenshot - 1_1_2018 , 1_03_57 AM_ver001.png

NANY 2018 Release: cnpaperplay - Codenames /Codenames Duet Play on Paper Clone