Bookish Challenges discussion

Codenames



Rules

Welcome to the Bookish Codenames Challenge! This game will test your bookish instincts and reward you with exciting reading tasks. Here's how to play:

Objective

Your goal is to complete as many tasks as possible, earn points, and avoid penalties. The game ends when all connection tasks, word in title and word in cover are revealed.

Setup

The List: The game features a list of 25 words (everyone will receive a different set). Each word is secretly assigned a category:

Connection Tasks (5 words): Choosing these will mean you would need to read any book that somehow connects to that word

Cover Tasks (5 words): Choosing these will mean you need to read to have that particular object on cover

Word in Title Tasks (5 words): Choosing these will mean you need to read to have that particular word in the title

Neutral Words (5 words): These have no effect—just your lucky break! You need to read any book that meets general guidelines

Penalty Words (5 words): Landing on these triggers a penalty. You need to either give 2 points or complete one of the penalty tasks

Clue master will provide clues to guide you through the list (Be aware and make the correct choice as sometimes clues can make you tempted on penalty words).

How to Play

Clues and Turns:

The clue master will give you a one-word hint (e.g., Magic). The clue master's objective is to hint toward words which are related to connection tasks, cover tasks, or words in title tasks (avoiding the neutral and penalty). The hint relates to one or more words in the list.

Based on the clue, you pick a word from the list that you think matches.

Revealing Words:

If the word is a Connection Task / Cover / Word in title , you will complete the challenge.

If the word is Neutral, nothing happens, just read any book that meets general guidelines and you move to the next turn.

If the word is a Penalty, you must complete a small penalty task.

Scoring

Connection Tasks: 2 points each

Cover Tasks: 4 points each

Word in Title Tasks: 3 points each

Neutral Tasks: 1 point each

Penalties: -2 points or complete one of the penalty tasks from below

Wild Words: 4 randomly assigned words may have special powers:
1- Swap a task for another eg: if you have "home" as cover - you can switch it to word in title / ask for challenge / change to neutral - you will get points based on the task you change it to
2- Skip a task completely
3- Skip a penalty completely
4- Substitute that word with any other word and complete that challenge accordingly eg: if you "home" as cover but you are reading a book with "girl' on cover you can change the word home to girl and complete that challenge

Skips

1 free skip is available, then 4 points per skip

Progress
Connection: 02 / 05
Word: 01 / 05
Object: xx / 05



Your list
1- Crime
2- Woods - Connection
3- London - Word
4- Memoir
5- Knight
6- Castle
7- Smile
8- Dog
9- Queer
10- Daughter
11- Gown
12- Ladder
13- Eye
14- Dragon
15- Kiss
16- Villain
17- Fruits
18- Medical
19- Year
20- Cage
21- Summer
22- Edge
23- Lie - Connection
24- Court
25- Flight


Wildcards unlocked
1. Skip a task completely
2.
3.
4.

Penalty Tasks

1- Read a book that you own
2- Read a book with author initials in "PENALTY"
3- Read from a series that you have already started
4- Read a book published before 2015
5- Read a book with any 3 letters of PENALTY in title

Points: 4

First 3 cluemaster clues are:
a. Shift
b. Gloom
c. Nature

These 3 clues relate to 3 different words. You now guess 3 words from the above list which you think fits the clues and I will reveal what they relate to. You can complete the first 3 tasks in any order

Here are my guesses:

Shift - Lie

Gloom - London

Nature - Woods

Congrats! You revealed 3 correct words!

Lie - Connection
Read a book that you can connect to lie

London - Word
Read a book with London in title

Woods - Connection
Read a book that you can connect to woods
Congrats you revealed a wild card - Skip a task completely
You can use your wild card at any point in the game

You can read them in any manner. Cluemaster will be back with 3 more clues after you complete these tasks!

Lie - Connection

Book: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
Author: Ally Carter
Date Read: February 22, 2025
Task: Read a book that you can connect to lie
How it Fits: Lies abound in the mystery about a famous mystery author, her disappearance and family

Woods - Connection

Book: Heartstone
Author: C.J. Sansom
Date Read: May 12, 2025
Task: Read a book that you can connect to woods
How it Fits: A couple of very significant events in the story happen in the woods