Mind Games
This is one of my favourite games, but like working in a chocolate factory, you get too much of a good thing and the excitement wears off.
I had a couple of tricks with this ( that now escape my mind ) and helped me win a lot until Rumblemumbles figured what it was.
Some interesting thoughts from Wikipedia are:
Mastermind or Master Mind is a simple code-breaking board game for two players. The modern game with pegs was invented in 1970 by Mordecai Meirowitz, an Israeli postmaster and telecommunications expert.
It is apparently not hard to win, just follow these game play rules to win in 5 simple steps
Five-guess algorithm
In 1977, Donald Knuth demonstrated that the codebreaker can solve the pattern in five moves or fewer, using an algorithm that progressively reduced the number of possible patterns. The algorithm works as follows:
1. The first guess is aabb.
2. Calculate which possibilities (from the 1296) would give the same score of colored and white pegs if they were the answer. Remove all the others.
3. For each possible guess (not necessarily one of the remaining possibilities) and for each possible colored/white score, calculate how many possibilities would be eliminated. The score of the guess is the least of such values. Play the guess with the highest score (minimax).
4. Go back to step 2 until you have got it right.
Games & Board Games Theme
Jim at Mere Mailbox
Mind Games
This is one of my favourite games, but like working in a chocolate factory, you get too much of a good thing and the excitement wears off.
I had a couple of tricks with this ( that now escape my mind ) and helped me win a lot until Rumblemumbles figured what it was.
Some interesting thoughts from Wikipedia are:
Mastermind or Master Mind is a simple code-breaking board game for two players. The modern game with pegs was invented in 1970 by Mordecai Meirowitz, an Israeli postmaster and telecommunications expert.
It is apparently not hard to win, just follow these game play rules to win in 5 simple steps
Five-guess algorithm
In 1977, Donald Knuth demonstrated that the codebreaker can solve the pattern in five moves or fewer, using an algorithm that progressively reduced the number of possible patterns. The algorithm works as follows:
1. The first guess is aabb.
2. Calculate which possibilities (from the 1296) would give the same score of colored and white pegs if they were the answer. Remove all the others.
3. For each possible guess (not necessarily one of the remaining possibilities) and for each possible colored/white score, calculate how many possibilities would be eliminated. The score of the guess is the least of such values. Play the guess with the highest score (minimax).
4. Go back to step 2 until you have got it right.
Games & Board Games Theme
Jim at Mere Mailbox