A question about Mastermind.?

Question

In the game Mastermind, if I am the codemaker, and I have a code that has a BLUE in it, and the decoder makes a guess that has two BLUEs in it, but in the wrong position, do I put one WHITE marker to say that there is one BLUE in the wrong position, or do I put two WHITE markers to say there is two BLUES in the wrong position?

Answer 1

I have to DISAGREE with the above poster...

Putting TWO "White" markers would say that there are TWO blue pieces in the code... when you have said there is only ONE!!!  

I guess ANOTHER way of looking at this would be to say "What if someone put down FOUR blue pieces as their guess"??  Would you put down FOUR white markers or just ONE??  

WELL... if you put down FOUR white markers, that would be saying that each blue piece is the right color, just in the wrong spot!!!  WELL THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE if all the pieces are the same color... you couldn't change them around to different spots... that would still be the same thing  FOUR BLUE PIECES!!!  

So... following that logic, the answer HAS TO BE that you would just put down ONE "White" marker!!!!

Just wanted to add a bit more...

If someone DID guess four blue pieces... obviously ONE of those blue pieces would be in the correct spot and receive a Black marker!!  Would you then put three white markers for the other three blue pieces...  OF COURSE NOT!!!  That would be saying that the other three blue pieces are correct but just in the wrong spot!!  But, there is only ONE blue piece in the puzzle, right, so that couldn't be right!!!  

You really kind of answered your own question... One white marker says that there is one Blue piece in the wrong position... AND two white markers would say that there are TWO Blue pieces in the wrong position!!  Which, in your example would be wrong!!  

The answer is ONE WHITE MARKER!!!

Okay, Okay, one more thing!!

It's kinda funny... the above poster obviously copied the rules from over on "Wikipedia"... if you go over their and look up Mastermind, you will find an example game shown...  it shows the player guessing with his first guess two yellows and two light blue pieces...  there is ONE light blue piece in the puzzle and the player was given ONE white peg!!!!!!  I would say that pretty much answers who's right and who's wrong here...

Answer 2

NOTE:The answerer below mine correctly pointed out that I was wrong - so I have edited this to make my info correct.  I appreciate the other answerer pointing out my mistake.  He was correct.

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Because you have only one blue in your code you should only use one white marker.  There should always be a marker (usually white or black - or - white and colored), representing each COLOR that the codebreaker has guessed correctly whether they are in the correct position or not.  There should only be empty marker holes for each color guess that isn't in your code at all.

I love Mastermind.  Good luck!

The following is an explanation of the game from Wikipedia.com:

The game is played using:

a decoding board, with a shield at one end covering a row of four large holes, and twelve additional rows containing four large holes next to a set of four small holes;

code pegs of six different colors, with round heads, which will be placed in the large holes on the board; and

key pegs, some colored, some white, which are flat-headed and smaller than the code pegs; they will be placed in the small holes on the board.

The two players decide in advance how many games they will play, which must be an even number. One player becomes the codemaker, the other the codebreaker. The codemaker chooses a pattern of four code pegs. Duplicates are allowed, so the player could even choose four code pegs of the same color. The chosen pattern is placed in the four holes covered by the shield, visible to the codemaker but not to the codebreaker.

The codebreaker tries to guess the pattern, in both order and color, within twelve (sometimes ten or eight) turns. Each guess is made by placing a row of code pegs on the decoding board. Once placed, the codemaker provides feedback by placing from zero to four key pegs in the small holes of the row with the guess. A colored key peg is placed for each code peg from the guess which is correct in both color and position; a white peg indicates the existence of a correct color peg placed in the wrong position. Once feedback is provided, another guess is made; guesses and feedback continue to alternate until either the codebreaker guesses correctly, or twelve incorrect guesses are made.

The codemaker gets one point for each guess a codebreaker makes. An extra point is earned by the codemaker if the codebreaker doesn't guess the pattern exactly in the last guess. The winner is the one who has the most points after the agreed-upon number of games are played.