Mastermind

I had this game when I was a kid and liked it. I still do. I like the kind of thinking it takes, and I like to see how my opponent is thinking.

So I got one to play with my kids, and noticed some things about the Pressman version that make the game less enjoyable than the Invicta version I had back in the day:

- The colors in the new version are terrible. The plastic shield that hides the code from the code breaker puts the code into a dim light that makes it hard for me to distinguish the colors and compare them to the codebreaker's colors that are in better light (I am not colorblind, and my son had the same problem). The old colors were bold, mostly primary, and visually distinctive: red, yellow, blue, green, white, and black. The new colors are namby pamby and easy to confuse: pink/magenta, turquoise/teal, fluorescent orange, purple, yellow, and white. I have to keep reminding myself that what I see in the code as "green" or "blue" is the same as the codebreaker's "turquoise", my "red" is his "pink", my "purple" is the same as his "purple", "yellow" is not "white", etc. This is a logic game, not a color-recognition game.

- The shield keeps coming off and is a nuisance to reattach. The old shield just set down on top and was held in place by gravity. Simple.

A few other things:

- The box is really large. The old game came in a right-sized box. I think the idea is to just recycle the box since the board has storage space for the pegs, but I didn't like playing from the storage space for some reason.

- There are some numbered holes down the side of the board that seem intended to be used for keeping score, but they're not mentioned in the instructions and none of the pegs fit in them anyway.

My advice: get this game, it's a good one, but try to find a used Invicta version somewhere.

I love this game and think it is really good for young and old. One thing I did find negative was that they do not provide you with enough of the red and white pegs. You will need more of these.

Ah, it's so nice when, as parents, our kids start getting into games that we can play that don't drive US nutty (Candyland, Hi Ho Cherrio, etc). Here's a game that I can play with my 7 and 9 year olds but I have played with my husband as well.

The premise of the game is simple; the codemaker selects 4 colored pegs to be hidden in a pattern, the codebreaker tries to guess the code.

When I play this game with my kids I can really see the proverbial wheels turning in their heads. At first we played this game in pairs so an adult could help guide the codebreaker in logical thinking and the codebreaker in how to give the correct feedback as to how the codebreaker is doing. My 7 year old can usually break the code; if she's really having a tough time with it and is getting horribly confused then she might get frustrated, but I see that as being a good thing to learn how to cope with. Princesses are not quitters! In those cases I (as codemaker) might ask leading questions to help her get her thinking back on track.

Anyway, this game is just as much fun when played adult vs adult; it's not just a kid's game. Obviously when played vs. an adult you get the competetive juices flowing in a way you might not with your younger kids. A 5 star game, totally low tech but lots of fun.

my whole family loves this game ... we have a lot of fun and I am sure the kids are getting smarter and smarter! It is easy to take along places, too.

This is a great toy. Makes kids think through things logically and develop strategies. Besides, it's lots of fun, for adults too.