Mystery Box was inspired by the board game Black Box邃｢, once marketed by Parker Brothers. However, I have made many enhancements of my own, including solitaire play and two-player match play. I have also created what I think to be a unique scoring system that makes the game more fun and challenging. Of course I designed the Macintosh user interface for the game.
Mystery Box is an intriguing game. It could be described as a logic puzzle. You must determine the location of several hidden balls inside a two-dimensional box by sending invisible rays into the box. The resulting action of these rays is your clue to the location of the hidden balls. This is not always as easy as it sounds and the more balls that are in the Mystery Box, the harder it becomes. You will have to exercise logic and use your deductive skills to find all the balls with the fewest clues and in the least amount of time.
The Game
The game is designed for one or two players. During the one-player game, the computer will always hide the balls and the player will try to find them. The one-player game is lots of fun by itself or it can be used to sharpen your skills for future matches against other players.
The two-player game may be played in a 'Seek Only' version or in a 'Hide and Seek' version. During two-player games a number of games will be played, called the Match. After the match is complete the points will be totaled and a winner determined. A match will consist of from two to five rounds. Each round being a pair of games.
During the 'Seek Only' game the computer will always hide the balls and the players compete for highest score by finding the hidden balls in the fewest moves and the least amount of time. In the 'Hide and Seek' game each player takes turns hiding the balls while the other player attempts to find them. Players switch positions after each game, the hider becomes the seeker and the seeker becomes the hider.
Both two-player games can be played with from two to eight balls (two being the easiest and eight being the hardest). When starting the two-player game, players select how many rounds will be in their Match. Each round consists of a pair of games. For example: Playing three rounds is really six games. Each player would be given three opportunities to find the balls and score points.
