It’s hard to believe I did this two years ago. That was right after I got my first iPhone.

The whole reason this came about was because there was no good, true-to-the-original version of Mastermind in the app store. Some looked the same, some were wildly different. Some had new rules, some didn’t use all the rules, some were just broken.

None had what I wanted: the perfect recreation of the original. Six colors, four slots, use as many duplicates as you like. I still haven’t found a good, faithful version for my iPhone. There is one (called CodeFinder, I believe) that you can play the original rules, but you have to set the difficulty to hard everytime you start the app or else it won’t use duplicates, or something.

So, I set out to make one in Flash. (Two years ago, I was under the mistaken assumption that if I could make something in Flash it would be easy to make the same thing on the iPhone. I know. Ha ha ha ha.) But that’s what I did. This is entirely Actionscript 3, no library objects or timeline stuff, which was a big deal for me at the time, and one of the challenges I set for myself. I succeeded with that part.

I started to add in stat tracking, to keep track of your average number of guesses over time, and was going to tie that into a leaderboard and such. Sounds cool, huh? It would have looked like this maybe:

Then my second kid was born. End of project.

I miss you, Mastermind Incomplete. Maybe we will meet again some day.

For some reason that I haven’t time to track down right now, the instruction text file isn’t loading (maybe I used the font InvisibleInk? hmmm … copyright 2010 Jeff Culbertson!). Here are the missing instructions:

• The objective of this logical thinking game is to guess the sequence of four colored pegs the computer has selected at random (crack the secret code).

• Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select the colors that you think are in the secret code. Left and right arrow keys move the cursor left and right. Up and down arrow keys cycle through the six colored pegs.

• You must fill in each hole in a row to make a valid guess.

• Press the Enter key on the keyboard to submit your guess.

• The computer will compare your guess to the secret code and place markers in the small holes next to your guess to give you hints to how close you are.

• Each black marker means you have placed one correct color peg in the correct position. Each white marker means you have placed the right color peg, but in the wrong position. No markers means you haven’t guessed any of the right colors.

• There is no relation between the position of the markers and the position of your pegs.

• You have ten guesses to crack the secret code.

• Good luck!

I’ve been obsessed with Trism. More specifically, with one of the game variations in it, Syllogism.

Trism is a really fun app for the iPhone. It’s not new or anything; it has been around awhile apparently. The goal of syllogism is to get rid of all of the triangles in as few moves as possible. A couple of months of this and I’ve gotten it down to as few moves as I can: 14 under par. I can’t see any way to get it lower, but maybe someone else has some suggestions…

Although I’m including my solutions, I encourage you to try it on your own. Use the walkthrough sparingly if you must. I understand how maddening it is when you can’t figure a level out (I’m looking at you, Blackhearted) so if this helps, great. If you have a better solution to a level let me know!

SPOILER ALERT!!

Walkthrough:

Here’s how I completed each of the 30 levels of Syllogism to get to -14 -15 -17!(see comments):

1. DR
2. DL
3. DL – L
4. UL(2) – DR(2) *the number in parens means let the triangles continue to slide after the first group is eliminated
   
5. DR – UR – L
6. DR(4) – DL(4)
7. L(2) – DR – L
8. UR – L
9. R – DR – DL
10. L – UR – DR
11. DL – UL – DL
12. DR – L – UL – UR
13. UR – L – DL
14. UR – DR – DL – UL – UR
15. L – UL – UR – L – DL – DR – UR
16. L – UR – R – UR(2)
17. DR – DL – UR – UL – UR – DR – DL – DR – DL DR – DL – UR – UL – UR(2) – UL – UR – R (thanks Newbie!)
18. L – DL – UL – R – DR(2) – UR
19. UR – UL – DL – DR – R
20. UL – UR – DL – R
21. R – L – DR – DL – R – UR – L – UL
22. DR – DL(2) – R(2) – DR
23. DL – L – UL – UR – R – UL – R – DR – R – DR – UR – DR
24. R(2) – UR(1) – DR *the 1 in parens means DO NOT continue the slide after the blocks are eliminated
25. UR – UL – DL – UL – UR – DR(2) – L
26. DL(2) – DR(1) – DL – DR – UR – UL
27. L – UR(1) – UL(2) – DL(2) – R – DL
28. DL(1) – UL(1) – DL – DR – R – DL
29. L(1) – UR – L – UR(2) – R(2)
30. L – UL – UR – UL – UR – DR(2) – DL – R – UR – L – UR

For whatever reason, 18 was particularly hard for me. It took forever to get past that level. But once I had the solution it seemed really simple. Also, 29 took some work to get it below par. I had it at 7 for the longest time then I stumbled on the 5-step solution almost by accident.