************************************* MathMagic Cycle 17: Level K-3 Regular (Practice help needed here) ************************************* The activity has several names (I learned it a "few" years ago as Pegs) but currently it is being marketed in the US under the name of Travel Mastermind by Pressman Toy Corp.of New York (item #2218) - it should be available in all major supermarkets (and, no, I have no ties with the company ;-) The object of the game is for one player (team) to try to "break the code" the other player has built by setting four CODE PEGS in some order using any combination of six colors, red, blue, yellow, green, orange and brown. To begin the game, one team sets up their code (say GN BU OR and RD) - the other team then tries to "break the code" by guessing at the colors and the positions. Let's say the second team picks BN BU YW and OR. From left to right, the BN receives no KEY PEGS from the first team (they are responding to the attempt the other team is doing to break their code) , the BU is a color match and a position match so it gets a black (BK) KEY PEG, YW gets nothing and OR gets nothing. Each team must use skill in giving out the answer and figuring out the pos- sible order. The attempts/responses continue until the code is broken. Some more examples with responses: CodeMaker: RD BU GN BN YW BU YW BN RD BU RD YW CodeBreaker: OR YW GN GN RD YW GN OR GN RD RD OR CodeMaker answer: BK WH WH BK Tactic: Rather than Yellow is a One red matches a white for color match color the other position a BK matches position for color match To play, the team that is the CodeMaker at first, sends out a blank invitation: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Their NTP should respond with their first guess: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (BL) (BL) (YW) (YW) The CodeMaker responds: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (BU) (BU) (YW) (YW) ( ) (No hits) so the CodeBreaker tries: ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) } (BU) (BU) (YW) (YW) }Notice how the whole exchange keeps ( ) } accumulating - LOTS of cut and (GN) (RD) (OR) (BN) } paste here... A CodeBreaker's job is NOT DONE if the team cannot explain why they chose the moves and colors they did. So, the last step before switching roles (The CodeBreakers become the CodeMakers) is to explain their moves. This means that GOOD note keeping is essential. The *FINAL* posting may turn out to be a very lengthy file, because there will be TWO explanations. Don't give up, and maybe you should get your own Peg (sorry, Mastermind) board. Good luck MrH ps.Adjust freely - CodeMaker could use [ ] while CodeBreaker uses ( )