MindBuster! is a computerized implementation of the game of Mastermind. The object of MindBuster! is to guess a secret hidden code consisting of colors. The standard game has 4 holes and a supply of Red, White, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black pegs. In this computer version of the game these colors are shown as colored squares.
After each move (guess), the pattern entered is scored. This score gives the guesser some feedback on how close the guess was to the hidden pattern. In the board version of the game, this scoring is done by means of smaller black and white key pegs. On the computer, these are represented by small black and white circles to the right of the pattern.
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One can view the game as a struggle between the one who MAKES a code and the one who tries to BREAK that code. In the SOLO version, YOU try to break the code made by the computer (the PC). In the DUEL form of the game, the PC also tries to guess YOUR code. Thus both of you (you and the computer) make codes and both of you attempt to break the other's code.
>2,0,Enhancements
Most of the rules which follow assume that you are playing the standard games with 4 holes. This computerized version, however, allows for several variations on the standard game.
(1) You can play an EXPANDED version which has 5 holes rather than the standard 4.
(2) The standard games uses 6 colors, but in this version you can choose to use from a minimum of 3 colors to a maximum of 8 colors in any given game.
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The rules will generally assume that you are playing the standard games with 4 holes and 6 colors. The changes required for any of the variations should be obvious.
>3,0,Structure of the Game
If you are playing the DUEL version then both you and the computer have hidden codes and both attempt to guess the other's code.
The first thing you must do in the DUEL version is supply a hidden code. The colors for this code are supplied in the same fashion as the colors for one of your guesses as the game progresses. (See Part 4 of these rules).
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Once the hidden code (or codes) have been set, the game consists of a sequence of turns. Each turn is made up of the following phases:
(a) [Guess] The one who is trying to Break the code makes a guess by placing 4 colored pegs in the first row.
(b) [Score] The Maker of that code then responds with a score. The score gives some clues as to how close or far the guess is from the hidden pattern.
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If the computer is also playing against you, then the roles will be reversed for the next guess. Play alternates between the Guessing and Scoring steps until the pattern is guessed or 10 guesses have been used. The PC's guess is automatically scored for you.
>4,0,Making a Guess
There are four (4) things you can do when it is your turn to make a guess.
(1) You can Drag-and-Drop Colors from the Palette,
(2) You can Make a Random Selection,
(3) You can Duplicate a previous move,
(4) You can Move colors already placed.
Each of these is described in fuller detail below.
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Drag-and-Drop
You move the mouse over to the palette of available colors. When the mouse is over the color you wish, hold down the mouse button. While still holding it down, DRAG the pointer over to the place on the board where you want that color to appear. When it is over the desired spot, release the button (DROP it) -- the color will drop in place. This process can be repeated for each of the slots in the guess.
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Random
You can also Click on the [Random] button (or hit the F4 key) for a randomly generated choice. There is no guarantee that this a particularly smart or useful guess, but it is a valid one. All of the slots in the guess are filled in this way.
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Random (cont.)
Note that once you have generated a guess in this fashion, you can override any or all of the colors by using method (1) to drag-and-drop one or more colors to replace those already in place. You can also move a color from one slot to another as described below.
Note too that a Random move will wipe out ALL previously placed colors in a given row.
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Duplicating a Previous One
Once the game is under way, you can move to cursor to any square of one of your previous guesses and click anywhere on that cell. The colors of the ENTIRE ROW will be copied into the current active row. You would then most likely want to change one or more of them with one of the other methods available.
This method of making of move becomes handy as you get closer to the answer, since your guesses at that point are often very similar with only one or two squares different.
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Copying a Previously Placed Color
Once a color has been moved into your guess, you can use Drag-and-Drop to copy it onto any of the other squares of the guess. Thus, if you wish to have a guess has, say, three RED squares, all you have to do is the following:
First, Drag a RED from the palette over to the guess, somewhere.
Second, Drag the RED which you have just placed over to any of the other squares and drop it where you wish.
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Notice that the program will not allow you to click on the [OK] button (or hit ENTER) if you have not chosen colors for all of the holes. This is to avoid inadvertently hitting [OK] before it is intended.
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Repeated Colors
Note that a color can be repeated in a given guess as well as the hidden pattern or codes. Empty holes are allowed in guesses, but not in hidden patterns.
No matter how you make your guess, when you are satisfied with your choices, you click on the [OK] button in the lower left of the screen (or just hit ENTER)
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NO PEG
The [NO PEG] 'color' allows you to get around the fact that the program will not allow your to register your guess (by clicking on [OK]) until all the spots in the guess have been filled. There are times when you might want to make an 'incomplete' guess. You might want to verify that the colors in spots 1,2, and 4 are certain ones, but not wish the scoring to be complicated by whatever color is in spot 3. Simply put [NO PEG] into slot three.
The [NO PEG] option is not available for use in the hidden codes -- neither yours nor the computer's.
>5,0,The Method of Scoring
One of the more unusual aspects of Mindbuster! is that of its scoring mechanism. As indicated in the Rules, each pattern of colors played is scored zero or more black or white pegs. One can think of the black pegs as meaning "Direct Hit!" and the white pegs as meaning "Near Miss!". When scoring a pattern, the first thing that is looked for are the "Direct Hits" -- a peg in the guess corresponds in both in COLOR and LOCATION to a peg in the hidden code.
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A Score consists of 0 to 4 (5 in the expanded game) of small black and white pegs. These pegs (circles on the screen) have the following significance:
- a BLACK circle indicates that the Breaker has placed a correct color in the correct position (without any indication of which position it was.)
- a WHITE square indicates that there was a correct color played but in an incorrect position.
- NO square means a totally wrong color.
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There is nothing about the squares or their placement to indicate which colors are being referred to. That is the challenge. One of the small pegs simply corresponds to one of the colors played.
Perhaps the easiest way to think about it is that (1) we check if there are DIRECT HITS - the right color in the right slot - if there are, each of them merits a BLACK dot. Once this is done, we look at the other pegs in the guess. If any of them is a NEAR MISS - i.e. the colors match, but are in the wrong slots - it gets a WHITE peg. One White peg is awared for each Near Miss.
Thus if a given color is both an Direct Hit and also a Near Miss, it is awarded a Black peg, since Direct Hits are scored before Near Misses.
>6,0,Scoring - Examples
If you are new to MindBuster!, the scoring might seem a bit strange. Here are a few examples.
Whi Yel Blu Blk <== Guess
Red Whi Blu Grn <== Hidden Code
Score = (B) (W)
The reason for this score is that there was 1 color [Blu] which was the right color in the right place and another [Whi] which was a correct color, but in the wrong place.
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The following are some more examples. If you understand them, you understand the scoring principles.
Red Blu Grn Blk <== Guess
Whi Yel Grn Grn <== Hidden Code
Score = (B)
Yel Blu Yel Blk <== Guess
Red Blk Yel Blu <== Hidden Code
Score = (B) (W) (W)
Red Whi Grn Grn <== Guess
Grn Whi Red Grn <== Hidden
Score = (B) (B) (W) (W)
>7,0,Scoring - Assistance
Under the Help Option of the Main Menu, there is a selection called Show Scoring (also via F5). This is included to allow you to see in a more visual way the meaning of the Black and White Pegs.
This gives you a concrete picture of how the last score was computed for the PC's guess. It will not function when you are playing solo (since the only way to show you how the score was obtained would be to show you the answer!)
Solid lines connect the Direct Hits; Dashed lines connect the Near Misses.
>8,0,Some Basic Strategy
After several guesses you can begin to deduce what colors might be in the pattern, even if you don't know in which holes they are. You can also sometimes deduce that certain colors are NOT in the hidden pattern.
4 White circles obviously means that you have all the correct colors but all of them are in the wrong holes.
4 Black circles means you have hit them all on the head and the game is over. No more thinking is required.
No circles at all would mean that the colors used in the guess do not appear at all anywhere in the pattern.
>9,0,Starting and Stopping
Starting, Quitting and Exiting
If you click on the Game Option of the Main Menu you will see that you have several choices. Among them are:
-- Starting a New Game (F2)
-- Quitting a game in progress (Ctrl-Q)
-- Exiting (Ctrl-X)
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If you are in the midst of a game and you no longer wish to continue with that game, you must Quit it before you can start another.
You can exit from Mindbuster! program at any time.
>10,0,Game Settings
Before you begin a game, or series of games, you can change the type of game which you wish to play. This ability to change the Game Settings, or Options, can be done only before the game actually begins.
The standard game is 4 Holes, 6 Colors, 2 Players
If you click on the Change Setting menu option under Options (or hit F3), a subsidiary screen will pop up which allows you to modify these and several other settings. Simply click on your choices and then click on [DONE] when you are finished.
The main screen will not visually reflect these changes until the next game actually begins.
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You can modify:
The number of Colors: 3 through 8
The number of Holes: 4 or 5
The number of Players: 1 or 2
You can toggle the Sound Effects On or Off, if desired. This version of Mindbuster! provides 'beeps' at certain points, and for those who have a sound driver a few other sounds.
For those with Monochrome or gray-scale displays or for those who are color-blind, or who simply wish to use numbers, clicking on the Color Numbers option will cause each of the colors to be displayed with an associated number.
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In addition, you can also cause the computer to play dumber or smarter. These options are labeled Homer Simpson and Albert Einstein on the Options screen. The ability to 'dumb down' the computer is handy if you find yourself being beaten too often. The computer does not cheat, but it does play a very good game if allowed.
If you are playing a 5-hole version with 7 or 8 colors, there might be a significant delay at some point while the computer 'thinks' about its moves. This is natural, even if annoying. The delay is due to the nature of VisualBasic. In a 5-Hole, 8-Color version, there are actually 32,768 possible patterns of the colors! The program does take a bit of time to work its way through them. In the standard 4-Hole, 6-Color version, the total number of possibilities is 'only' 1,296. The program makes a fairly quick scan through them.
>11,0,Shortcuts
A number of Shortcuts have been provided to speed up playing the game. Note that none of them is required, since you can play the game entirely with the mouse. However, these shortcuts can speed up play, if you wish. These allow you to play a good bit of the game without having to use the Mouse, or without having to pull down a menu. However, there is currently no way to select colors from the palette without using the mouse.
F1 Give you HELP
F2 Starts a New Game
F3 Games Settings Form
F4 Gives you a Random choice
F5 Illustrates last score
[ENTER] Is the same as [OK] when that
is available, or as [Random]
when that is available.
[ESC] Will allow you to exit the
program at any time
Ctrl+Q Quits the Current Game
Ctrl+X Exits Mindbuster!
>12,64,Miscellaneous
The program is written to be run on a computer with an EGA or a VGA color monitor.
Whereas previous versions of this program were written in TurboPascal, this current version is written in VisualBasic 2.0
DOS
This program is NOT a DOS program; it requires Windows to run. However, it does not require that the user have a copy of Visual Basic. The presence of the file VBRUN200.DLL is sufficient. This file (VBRUN200.DLL) must either be in your Windows System directory or in the same directory is the main program.
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Files
The files which this program uses are:
MINDBUST.EXE the executable program
MINDBUST.RUL the text of the Rules
MINDBUST.HLP the text of the Help File
MINDBUST.NDX an index files for Help
MINDBUST.INI a file saving game parameters,
created when the program is first
run, if it does not exist.
VBRUN200.DLL a file needed by Visual Basic
*.WAV various sound files
If you are absolutely tight on space, the Rules and Help files could be eliminated. Of course, this would also eliminate your having access to them while play the game. You could also remove the .WAV files.
The Rules and Help files are plain ASCII text files. They could be imported in your favorite Word Processing progam and printed. The only Carriage Return-Line Feed characters are at the end of the various paragraphs -- not at the end of each line.
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Shareware
This version of MindBuster! is Shareware. That means we depend on your honesty to support its developer. Quite a few hours were spent on developing the program. It is hoped that it will reward the user with a similar amount of enjoyable hours of playing. Registered contributors will be rewarded with info about enhancements and the like and receive them FREE. Suggested support is $10.00
Richard VandeVelde
Department of Mathematics
Loyola University
6525 N Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60626
(312) 274-3000 or
(312) 508-3206
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Acknowledgements
Visual Basic, and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
MasterMind is a trademark of Invicta Plastics (U.S.A.) Ltd.
