Mastermind®, was originally a board game that I bought sometime in the 1970s, which I've adapted for online use. The object of the two-person (or two-entity) game is for one player to create a code and have the other player attempt to break it by using hints provided by the code-maker. Once the code is solved (or not) the players' roles are reversed for a second round and each code-maker is awarded, in points, the number of guesses it took the code-breaker to solve it. (In the case of the "Game" scoring mode, the player with the least number of guesses is awarded one point.)
The number of games in each match is determined prior to the beginning of the match. The match may consist of fewer games if it's impossible for the player with the lesser number of points to win (e.g., match play golf) or more games (sudden-death overtime) if the match is tied after the agreed-upon limit.
Each player may be human or computer AI; if the player is the computer, an AI level is selected, usually to make the game as fair as possible (especially when the other player is human). Ten is the highest level and an AI with that level can solve a code in as little as four or five guesses, while one is the lowest level and an AI with that level may not be able to solve the code at all. (Of course, a code may be solved in as little as one guess if the player is lucky enough.)
The AI algorithm for solving codes, along with more detailed background and instructions, can be found in Wikipedia.
NOTE: This application was designed with Microsoft Edge. It does not work with Internet Explorer due to IE's lack of support for many of the necessary JavaScript functions. It does work with Google Chrome, however there may be formatting issues as it handles some of the HTML tags differently. Apologies for any inconvenience!
Close this window to begin using the application. Click on Mastermind Online™ on the main screen prior to starting a match to display this window again. |