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Mastermind is a commercial board game with an interesting history. It was invented in 1970-71 by Mordecai Meirowitz, an Israeli Postmaster / Telecommunications expert After many rejections by leading toy companies, the rights were obtained by a small British firm, Invicta Plastics Ltd. Over 50 million copies later, the game is still marketed today. (Mastermind is a registered trademark of Pressman Toy Corporation, by agreement with Invicta Toys and Games, Ltd., UK.) 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 (to 6) colored pegs chosen from 6 (to 10) colors available. The code-breaker makes a series 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 represented by small colored pegs. If the code-breaker guesses the correct pattern in 10 (to 12) or fewer turns, he wins, otherwise the code-maker wins. The intellectual skills that are at work here are the hypothesis-test process. |