Mastermind Game Quiz: Color Pegs, Codes and Feedback Clues

This mastermind game quiz guesses a row of colored pegs behind a shield. Play 10 interactive questions on Mordecai Meirowitz's 1970 invention, Invicta Plastics, the codemaker and codebreaker, four holes and six colors, black pegs for right color and place, white pegs for right color wrong place, the older Bulls and Cows game and Donald Knuth's proof of five guesses.

Start Mastermind Game Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Who
Who invented Mastermind?
Year
When was Mastermind invented?
Roles
What are the two roles called?
Holes
How many pegs make a classic code?
Colors
How many colors are in the classic game?
Black
What does a black key peg mean?
White
What does a white key peg mean?
Order
Do key pegs show which guess peg they refer to?
Old
Which older pencil game is similar?
Knuth
Within how many guesses can any classic code be solved?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Who invented Mastermind?
Answer: Mordecai Meirowitz
He was from Israel.
Q2: When was Mastermind invented?
Answer: 1970
Invicta Plastics released it.
Q3: What are the two roles called?
Answer: Codemaker and codebreaker
Players can switch.
Q4: How many pegs make a classic code?
Answer: Four
Hidden behind a shield.
Q5: How many colors are in the classic game?
Answer: Six
Repeats can be allowed.
Q6: What does a black key peg mean?
Answer: Right color in the right place
Sometimes colored red.
Q7: What does a white key peg mean?
Answer: Right color in the wrong place
Position must change.
Q8: Do key pegs show which guess peg they refer to?
Answer: No
That is the puzzle.
Q9: Which older pencil game is similar?
Answer: Bulls and Cows
It used numbers.
Q10: Within how many guesses can any classic code be solved?
Answer: Five
Donald Knuth showed it.

Cracking the Color Code

Mastermind was invented in 1970 by Mordecai Meirowitz of Israel and released by Invicta Plastics. One player, the codemaker, hides a code of four colored pegs chosen from six colors behind a shield. The other, the codebreaker, tries to guess it.

After each guess, the codemaker places key pegs. A black peg means a correct color in the correct place, and a white peg means a correct color in the wrong place. Key pegs do not show which guess peg they refer to, so logic is needed to work it out.

Mastermind resembles Bulls and Cows, an older pencil game using numbers. In 1977, computer scientist Donald Knuth showed that any classic code can be solved within five guesses with the right strategy, sparking mathematical interest in the game.

What This Quiz Teaches

Logic fans will enjoy these questions.

Who invented Mastermind
How codes are set
What key pegs mean
What inspired it
How fast it can be solved

Did You Know?

Wordle uses similar feedback ideas.
Super Mastermind uses more colors.
Players alternate roles in rounds.
Fewer guesses earn more points.
Box art featured a man and woman.