MasterMind 1.14
 Paul Sprangers


*** !MastMind supports the interactive !Help application ***


GENERAL
!MastMind is a computer implementation of the popular 
Mastermind game. As a bonus, the computer can play 
mastermind too! Double click on the icon in the 
directory viewer to load the game. Click on the iconbar 
icon to display the main window. !MastMind will remem-
ber the best score of 10 different players.
Click subsequently on the players icon to get the 
picture of the player of your choice. If a player has a 
score, !MastMind will display it.


CHOOSING A LEVEL
There are 5 levels, that can be chosen by clicking on the 
level button (which displays level 1 by default).
Level 1: Only 6 colours, that will be used uniquely in a 
 combination
Level 2: Seven colours, that will be used uniquely in a 
 combination
Level 3: Six colours, that can occur more than once 
Level 4: Seven colours, that can occur more than once 
Level 5: Ten colours, that can occur more than once.
 This is the expert level, which gives 10.000 combinations

Note: When the computer plays Mastermind, you can 
only choose between level 4 and level 5.


PLAYING A GAME
You can now play a game by clicking on OK.
!MastMind will hide its combination in the secret area. 
Choose the colours by subsequently clicking on them. 
A cursor shows where the colours will be put. 
Mistakes can be deleted by clicking the < button.
Alternatively, if you want to determine your own flow, 
click on the hole of your choice to place the cursor 
there. Then click on a colour. Repeat this until your 
combination is finished.

Click OK when you finished your combination. 
!MastMind will evaluate the combinations by means of 
black and white pins:	
  Black means:	 a right colour on the right place      
  White means:	 a right colour on the wrong place
You thus have to collect 4 black pins!
If you cant find the combination within 10 moves, the 
program will finish this game and charge you for 11.


BEST SCORE
There are four items that determine your score:	
the level, the average number of moves, the number of 
games, and the average time you needed.
The level is the most important item; you never can 
improve your best score playing at a lower level.
The number of games is the second most important. 
However, when playing more than 10 games, the average 
number of moves gets the second most important item. 
Time is only taken in account when all other items are 
equal.


USING THE KEYBOARD
You can also use the keyboard to play the game. 
Colours are represented by the keys 0-9. The OK-
button is represented by Enter, and the <button by < 
You will notice that all colours now have their subse
quent number displayed. This is particularly easy when 
you are used to play mastermind with numbers rather 
than colours.


LET THE COMPUTER PLAY
Click on the Computer button to let the computer play 
mastermind. You can now enter a combination in the 
secret area, using the mouse or the keyboard. 
Click OK to let the computer guess. Evaluate its moves 
by means of the black and white colours, exactly as the 
computer evaluates your moves (see above).
(You can also click OK with ADJUST to let the computer 
evaluate its own combination).
Note: If you dont trust the program, you can leave the 
secret areablank. You then have to remember your 
combination very carefully and may not make any 
mistakes evaluating the computers moves.


PLAYING A MATCH
If you have finished playing a number of games yourself, 
you can let the computer play these same games by 
clicking on the Match button. The computer will now 
subsequently play all these games and eventually point 
the winner (only taking the average number of moves in 
account - not the time!).


CHANGING THE LANGUAGE
Currently there are two languages available: English and 
Dutch. Open the !MastMind directory by double clicking 
on the !MastMind icon whilst holding down SHIFT. 
Now open the directory Resources. Finally open the 
directory Languages. Copy the language of your choice 
to the previous directory and rename it to Messages. 
Restart the program.


CHANGING THE PLAYERS PICTURES
First create a sprite of max. 40 x 40 pixels. (You can use 
!ChangeFSI to scale down your scan very accurately). 
Now open the !Sprites file in the !MastMind directory. 
Save the new sprite in the sprite window, using the 
same name as the sprite you want to replace (human1, 
human2 etc.). Save the !Sprites file.


RESETTING THE HIGHSCORE
You can reset the highscore simply by deleting the file 
HighScore from the Resources directory within the 
!MastMind directory.


EASTERN EGGS
- If you right-click on the bottom right evaluation square,
  the computer will generate 100 random games, that can be
  played as a match (so you don't have to play those 100
  games first your self).
- If you left-click under the computer icon, the program
  will show how many combinations it has processed before
  the right answer was found.
- If you right-click on the right square of the secret area,
  when in Computer mode, the program will enter the combi-
  nation that forces the computer to process every available
  combination (i.e. the combination to be found is the last
  one in the list of possible combinations).


Version 1.13 (02-12-02)
- Outline fonts added

Version 1.14 (16-03-03)
- Playing WAV-files rather than sound modules



QUESTIONS, COMPLAINS, COMMENTS
Paul Sprangers
Zuid-Oosterstraat 29
5014 BB Tilburg
The Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)13 5368444
e-mail: paul@sprie.nl