Decrypto Review – Cracking the Code of the Cerebral Party Game

Have you ever learned about breathing? How air travels through your mouth into your lungs producing oxygen in the bloodstream? It’s a complicated explanation for something you’ve been doing naturally since birth. This is how I feel about explaining the code-deciphering board game Decrypto.

Not the part about being able to crack codes since you exited the womb. But the part about it being easier to play than explaining how to play. Meaning the best way to teach Decrypto is just to start playing, rather than teach all the rules.

…So I’m definitely going to flub this how to play section.

How to play

Before you begin, divide everyone into two teams, giving each team a cipher of four words. These words might look like this:

1. Firefly
2. Cheese grater
3. Wheel
4. Swimsuit

The teams then choose a clue giver, who will receive a code of three numbers; 342 for example. From there, these clue givers must generate a clue for each number of the code. So continuing our example, my clues would be car(3), wet(4), and spaghetti(2).

Both teams write down these clues on their note sheets.

Then the teams discuss what they think the numbered code is, adding it to their note sheets once they’ve all agreed. After both teams put their pencils down, starting with the opposite team to the clue giver, both teams state their guesses.

If a team successfully guesses their opponent’s numbers then they receive an Interception Token. Likewise, if a team fails to guess their code then they get a Miscommunication Token.

Any team with two Interception Tokens wins. Any team with two Miscommunication Tokens loses. Otherwise, choose a new clue giver, and begin the next round.

Seven degrees of separation

With Decrypto, your goal as a clue giver is to provide obvious hints to your team members, but impossible to guess for the other team. This is easy to do in the first round because the other team has no idea what your code means. However, after both teams announce their guesses – the correct code is revealed to all players, and they write it down on their note sheets.

Now, if you imagine a Venn diagram, each clue given is another circle surrounding the centre point of one of your numbers. So given infinite rounds, it’s impossible not to give your words away. As you’re providing more and more details about the number as the game goes on.

Therefore creating the duality of Decrypto. Every time you provide a clue for a number, it becomes more difficult for the next clue giver to generate an indecipherable code.

Continuing my example above, if I used the excellent clue spaghetti to represent the number 2. Then probably all pasta-related clues, and even all food-related clues are now ruled out as being effective. As the enemy team would associate them with the number 2 – even if they don’t know that the word is cheese grater.

This makes clue giving really fun as it allows you to get creative and add more degrees of separation between your clue and the word. However, you need to temper this creativity, as your team failing to guess correctly puts you closer to losing the game.

This perfect balancing act between challenge and reward makes Decrypto such an excellent game.

The party-Less party game

So far we’ve only covered one half of the game, but the code guessing side of Decrypto is also a blast, and very forgiving. Unlike other word-guessing games, where you need to be specific. Here, you only need to be in the same general area as the words you’re guessing.

As such, picking up on themes and patterns through multiple rounds of clues is the aim of the game. Once you’ve picked up a pattern or figured out part of the opponent’s code, you can then use logic and deduction to close in on the missing pieces. It’s this really nice blend of creativity and logic.

Between the giving and receiving clues, Decrypto is wonderful at keeping everyone at the table engaged. Despite being labelled a party game, because of its high player count, and low setup time. Decrypto is not like other laugh-a-minute type games, like Wavelength.

It’s a more subdued, and cerebral experience, and its design leans heavily on this. As a result, the game lacks excitement. There’s no feeling of tension or pressure or reason to get animated at the table. It’s more about coming together and solving a puzzle.

However, it’s this relaxed style of play that makes Decrypto stand apart from all other party games. It’s a unique experience. And in a world of fast food, fast fashion, and faster board games, sometimes a relaxed unique experience is all you need.