MASTERMIND® is not your ordinary board game. You will not find your thoughts wandering aimlessly as you await your opponent’s next move. This is a game that will challenge you to continually assess and then reassess your position during the game. As the codemaker, you’re calculating how you would create your next secret code, based on the guesses your opponent has made. As the codebreaker, you are facing a sea of pattern possibilities and only one will ultimately unlock the code you seek.
Mastermind is a board game with an interesting history (or rather a legend?).
Some game books report that it was invented in 1971 by Mordecai Meirowitz. After many rejections by leading toy companies, the rights were obtained by a small British firm, Invicta Plastics Ltd. The firm originally manufactured the game itself, though it has since licensed its manufacture to Hasbro in most of the world. However, Mastermind is just a clever readaptation of an old similar game called Bulls and cows in English, and Numerello in Italian... Actually, the old British game Bulls and cows was somewhat different from the commercial version. It was played on paper, not on a board... Over 50 million copies later, Mastermind is still marketed today!
The idea of the game is for one player (the code-breaker) to guess the secret code chosen by the other player (the code-maker). The code is a sequence of 4 colored pegs chosen from six colors available. The code-breaker makes a serie of pattern guesses - after each guess the code-maker gives feedback in the form of 2 numbers, the number of pegs that are of the right color and in the correct position, and the number of pegs that are of the correct color but not in the correct position - these numbers are usually represented by small black and white pegs.