Mastermind
Crack the hidden row of colours from the marks each guess earns, before the guesses run out.
What is Mastermind?
Mastermind is a code-breaking game. A row of colours is hidden; every guess is marked for how many pegs are the right colour in the right place, and how many are the right colour in the wrong place. The marks never say which peg they mean.
Every guess left unused pays extra, so the short solve is the one worth chasing.
How to play Mastermind
The aim: Work out the hidden row of colours before the guesses run out.
- Build a row. Tap colours from the palette to fill the row from left to right. Tap a peg you have already placed to take it back out.
- Read the marks. A filled mark means one peg is the right colour and in the right place. A hollow mark means the right colour in the wrong place. They never say which peg.
- Change one thing at a time. Move a single peg and compare the marks. Better means that peg was right, worse means it was wrong — and either way you have learned something the last row could not tell you.
- Wrong guesses are not wasted. Every row rules codes out. A guess that scores nothing at all is often the most useful one on the board.
How scoring works
- Cracking the code pays a completion bonus scaled by difficulty.
- Every guess left unused pays on top, so a short solve is worth chasing.
- A lucky first-guess crack is credited, but never above a deduced one.
How a round ends
The round ends when the code is cracked, or when the guesses run out.
Skills it draws on
- Deduction from partial information
- Testing one idea at a time
- Elimination
Play it in Calquest
Mastermind is one of 15 games in Calquest, a free puzzle and logic app for Android. Each game has a ladder of levels that starts gentle and keeps climbing, daily quests and streaks give you a reason to come back, and you can play as a guest with no account.
Get Calquest on Google Play