Bulls and Cows — crack the code
Each player writes a secret four-digit number with no digit repeated. You guess the other player's number, and they tell you how many digits are right and in the right place (bulls) and how many are right but in the wrong place (cows). You work out the number from these counts.
From Bulls and Cows, the pencil-and-paper game Mastermind was based on.
What it shows a designer
Pure deduction from counted clues. It shows how much information a single answer can carry, and how a guess can be made to learn rather than to win.
Credits
- Made by
- Traditional
- Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_and_cows
www.bullsandcowsgame.com/howtoplay.html
What you need
- paper
- a pen each
How to play
- Secret number. Each player secretly writes a four-digit number using four different digits, such as 4271. Agree whether it may start with 0.
- Guess. Toss a coin to see who starts. Take turns guessing the other player's number, also with four different digits.
- Bulls and cows. The other player answers with a count: a bull for each right digit in the right place, a cow for each right digit in the wrong place. They do not say which digits.
- Write it down. Keep a list of your guesses and the answers. Use them to rule digits in and out.
- Win. The first to get four bulls wins.
After playing, talk about
- Which guess told you the most?
- Did you guess to win, or guess to learn?
- Did you keep notes, or hold it in your head?
Its blocks
How its blocks were checked against BoardGameGeek
- Bulls & Cows: partly checkable, nothing against it. race to finish: not checkable. solo in parallel: not checkable. mostly skill: not checkable. deduction: confirmed (Deduction). abstract: not checkable. take turns: not checkable.
In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.