At the start of last year it was difficult to imagine how the admin planned to match the excitement of the preceding gap year, jam-packed with challenges and brand new activities. They certainly did not disappoint, introducing a number of new ways for members to participate in some site-wide fun, including a rapidly rising fan favorite: Codenames.

Immediately, teams began to form, and with them came a series of brilliant team names ranging from the absurdity of Jooms on Brooms going Zoom—consisting of myself and Naomi-Jayne--to the more clever play on words that lead to Fish and Chelps, a team with K-Fish and Ichigo Mirai. Disa and Dragon, collectively known as Disagon, were quick to become known for their attempts at smack talk, while Madlara, Maddy Rose and Elara Lufkin, were an almost unanimously supported underdog simply for being nice. Some teams even came with a complimentary logo, completed by the use of player bitmojis and tasteful photoshopping. Teams developed their own unique tactics, with Disagon opting for Dragon Tactics, a method of playing in which the clues had little to do with the meaning of the actual words like Frog - 1 for Tadpoles and Toads, or Japan - 1 for Yajirushi. Kevin and Chel played a bit differently, with Chel guessing correctly with impeccable luck and consistently incredible logic. At the end of the day, however, what all players and spectators alike had their minds on were who might prove victorious.

The pre-bracket rounds led to a clear assessment of what the competitors were bringing to the table. Isabella and TheSmartpool, K-Fish and Ichigo Mirai as well as Jess the First and Asphodel all proved hard-to-beat pairings while teams like myself and Naomi-Jayne or William Riddle and Memrah took their places further down the rankings with pride. Even the losers found the fun in their failure, as evidenced by players like Disa and Dragon, who wore their record of shortest played game like a badge of honor.

The tournament rounds were a blur, chaos ensuing match after match. The craziness culminated in the semi-finals round as an abundance of technical difficulties led to a match lasting over 24 hours, including lots of unfortunate 4 A.M. gameplay for our Australian competitors. Yet, despite the unforeseen trouble, the semi-finals match resulted in what was arguably the most valuable thing to come of the Codenames tournament. K-Fish, also referred to as Kevin, took it upon himself--despite some serious teasing about the general nerdiness of Computer Science majors--to design myHogwarts’ own Codenames website. Not only did he succeed, but the website went above and beyond to include a spectator-safe gameboard and features we hadn’t even realized we’d been missing, such as a History tab for past clues, as well as a perfect dose of friendly, built-in smack talk. The website can be found at mycodenames.com.

Isabella and Smart faced off against Kevin and Chel in a nail biting final match, with both teams giving it their all. In the end, Fish and Chelps saw themselves victorious with a well-earned win but not without Isabart putting up a fight. We all hope to see the craziness continue as Codenames general play moves forward, but I know we’re all excited to see when the next tournament might take place, and what new wild ride we’re in for.