Mini Mastermind

About this board game

Mini Mastermind is a two-player code-breaking game with a typical play time of 10 minutes, released in 1972. One player creates a four-color code from six possible colors, while the other tries to uncover it in no more than six guesses.

After every guess, the code-maker provides exact feedback using colored pegs. A black peg marks a color that is correct and in the correct position. A white peg marks a correct color that appears in the wrong position. The code-breaker uses these clues to refine each attempt and work toward the hidden solution.

As the travel version of Mastermind, Mini Mastermind keeps the central deduction challenge while reducing the number of available rows from the original game’s usual 10 to six. This creates a compact format in which every guess matters and the code-breaker must solve the pattern within the available attempts.

• Players: 2
• Play time: approximately 10 minutes
• Code: four colors selected from six possible colors
• Attempts: six guesses
• Clues: black and white pegs indicate exact and misplaced colors

Once the code has been broken—or the code-breaker has used all six guesses without solving it—the players generally switch roles. After the second play following the role change, the winner is generally the player who solved the code in the fewest guesses.

A common edition comes in a small 2-by-5-inch plastic box with a playing-board cover encased in a slipcase. The components fit neatly inside, making Mini Mastermind a portable version of a classic head-to-head deduction contest.