Building comparison
head to head
CodenamesvsTabletop Simulator
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Codenames demands more reads; Tabletop Simulator demands more variance.
Codenames
Reads · Pure Mind Games
A team word game about predicting how partners will read your clues.
Tabletop Simulator
Reads · Bluff & Deduction
A physics sandbox whose actual skill test is whatever board game you load into it.
Codenames leans Reads (Pure Mind Games); Tabletop Simulator leans Reads (Bluff & Deduction).
CodenamesTabletop Simulator
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 1
Tabletop Simulator leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Codenames
No physical skill in giving word clues
Tabletop Simulator
Fiddly physics manipulation, never a skill ceiling
Reads7 vs 4
Codenames leans clearly harder on reads.
Codenames
Modeling how teammates interpret your clues is the game
Tabletop Simulator
Depends entirely on the tabletop game played with humans
Variance2 vs 4
Tabletop Simulator leans clearly harder on variance.
Codenames
The fixed board adds little randomness mid-game
Tabletop Simulator
Dice and shuffled decks supply whatever randomness the game has
Optimization3 vs 3
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Codenames
Some clue-efficiency math underlies the prediction
Tabletop Simulator
Strategy lives in the hosted game, not the simulator
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.