How to play
Select four colours from the palette to form your guess. Submit the guess. The feedback row shows black pegs (correct position) and white pegs (correct colour, wrong position). Use the feedback to refine your next guess. You have ten total guesses to crack the code.
Game features
- Faithful 1970 ruleset with selectable colour count
- Difficulty modes from four to eight colours
- Optional duplicate-colour permission (advanced)
- Hint system suggests possible remaining codes
- Strategy stats: average guesses to solve, fastest solve
- Daily seeded code for cross-player comparison
Editor review
Mastermind is the code-breaking puzzle. Your opponent (the computer here) picks a four-digit code using six possible colours. You guess. The computer tells you how many of your guesses are the right colour in the right position, and how many are the right colour in the wrong position. Repeat until you crack it.
Look, this is a classic deduction puzzle and Mastermind Classic here handles it correctly. Standard rules with the option for repeated colours in the code. The feedback display shows your guess and the result (white pegs for right-colour-wrong-position, black pegs for both right). You get ten guesses to crack the code; the four-position-six-colour version is provably solvable in five guesses or fewer with optimal play, so ten is generous.
What's missing is variation. Mastermind Classic gives you exactly the standard rules and nothing else. There's no five-position variant, no eight-colour variant, no time-pressure mode, nothing to push past the basic puzzle. After a dozen plays I'd memorised the optimal opening guesses for the standard variant and the game had nothing more to teach me.
Three-and-a-half stars. The classic puzzle is great. This particular implementation is a thin slice of what the puzzle can be.
Math tutor turned freelance writer. Reviews puzzle and logic games, mostly the ones with an obvious right answer she got wrong on the first three tries.
Frequently asked questions about Mastermind
How do I play Mastermind?
Select four colours from the palette to form your guess. Submit the guess. The feedback row shows black pegs (correct position) and white pegs (correct colour, wrong position). Use the feedback to refine your next guess. You have ten total guesses to crack the code.
Is Mastermind free to play in my browser?
Yes. Mastermind runs free in any modern browser. No installation, no signup, no payment required. Click the play button to load the game.
Does Mastermind work on mobile devices?
Mastermind runs in mobile browsers on iOS and Android with touch controls. Most puzzle games on FinanceMass support both desktop and mobile, though precision-heavy titles tend to play better on desktop with a keyboard or gamepad.
Who reviewed Mastermind on FinanceMass Arcade?
Maya Brennan reviewed Mastermind. Their full editor review appears above and their other coverage is available on their author profile.
Where can I find more games like Mastermind?
More puzzle titles are available on the Puzzle category page. Every game on FinanceMass has been played and reviewed by one of our three reviewers before publication.