MASTERMIND 3.0 "Tut's Revenge"
©2005 Brian Power / Tink Tank

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About the GAME

MUM's the word!

Though the mummies change roles of truth teller and liar, with practice and with a little bit of paying attention, you can figure out their secret. The Rules of this version of Mastermind are different than those for my previous version, MasterMind 2.0 "In the Tomb of the Mummies".

In this version, you will not know what pieces you are choosing but instead must remember the location of the pieces based on where you chose them.

There are 6 available pieces on the board which are randomly selected each time you begin a game, from the 12 pieces of the game set. The game set is the row of golden pieces which are to the right of the board, and being held by the two Tut's.

During Game Play, if King Tut opens his mouth, which happens randomly, one of the Golden Tuts will light up, and a clue will appear. Depending on which Tut is lit up, you may or may not rely on the information, because ONE Tut is randomly chosen as a truth teller, and the other is a liar. Every new game randomly chooses these roles again.

To Play, look at the golden gameboard and move the mouse over the square blocks. They change color when you do this. Drag any block out onto the gameboard by dragging to the left. You only need to move it a small amount. If you change your mind before you release the mouse, simply drag the piece to the right until it is in line or anywhere to the right of the other blocks. When you drag out the block and release it a new game piece is automatically placed at the next available spot on the board.

Once you have selected 4 pieces, there will appear a dark bar on the board. Click anywhere within the bar to have your choices evaluated. The game has randomly selected a combination of 4 pieces in a certain order and will give you a hint as to whether you have guessed any of those pieces correctly.

If any are correct, there will appear a golden token, if any are almost correct in that they are a piece which is the same as a correct piece but in the wrong place, then there will appear a grey token. Lastly, if any piece is not used at all, there will appear a red token.

The total of 4 tokens will appear to the right of your guess.

The tokens do not represent the placement of your pieces but appear only in the order of correct, nearly right, and wrong. So, if you have one piece right and three of the same piece in the wrong places, you will get one golden token and three grey tokens. Remember that grey tokens do not mean you NEED the piece. They appear any time a correct piece is in the wrong place, and do not indicate that you must use that piece elsewhere, just that the piece is used SOMEWHERE in the combination.

The mummies ONLY give you a hint when King tut opens his mouth, it is possible for him not to open his mouth at all during a game, or he may do so many times. Hint one is that you have chosen well, which if the truth teller is lit, means that the piece you just chose is correct. However, the liar can also say the same thing and in this case he is lying. So you must first determine whether the mummy which is speaking is telling the truth or lying. The second hint with the same rules is that you are on a path to destruction, which means that this piece is not used at all. Again, the truth teller is always telling you the truth. The liar, can choose to tell you the truth to confuse you. The third hint is that you may use the piece elsewhere, and again the same applies.

If you determine the truth teller, you can rely on anything he says for the duration of the game. As soon as you start a NEW game, three things happen. A new truth teller is randomly chosen, a new set of pieces is chosen so that the game blocks will produce new results, and of course, a new answer to the riddle.

If you lose, the correct answer is shown so you can evaluate your decisions and see what was wrong.

If you win or lose, click on the gold square that will appear below the game board, and you will get an animated transition to start a new game.

Last but not least, on occassion, a purple FAN will appear beneath Tut. He will request that you fan him because he is hot. If this happens, it may be that a mummy is lit up as well but there will not be a hint given as above, instead, you should click on the fan and it will provide Tut some relief from the terrible heat of the Pyramid. As a reward, he will speak to you about various things of interest to him, mostly about his kingdom. Nearly everything he says will include a NUMBER.

That number, represents a clue but not all numbers are useable. Look at the game pieces on the board. You will see that, possibly, the QUANTITY of DIGITS in the number that Tut has uttered MATCH the number of spots remaining to be played in the current row. In other words he says "345 crows fly in my domain", and at the same time, you see that there are 3 empty spots in your row. The FIRST digit (in this case a 3) is the only number of significance. If you look at the row of playing blocks you will note that there are 6 blocks. Count them from 1 to 6 from top to bottom.

Now, if the first digit that Tut provides in his ramblings it higher than 6 then it is not possible that he is giving you a clue. However, if the number is 6 or less, then it is possibly a clue, but still maybe not. Sometimes he is just talking and is not trying to help you. In order to tell the difference, watch for him to be speaking about something which he owns or are in his domain or that is of his direct possession. If he has not indicated that it is HIS as in saying " it is mine " or some such thing, then he is just babbling and it is not a clue. Bearing this in mind, if you think he is hinting the answer, try dragging out that block, (in this case the third block from the top of the playing blocks on the game board).

Occassionally, he will be really helpful and you can keep clicking the fan and he will keep giving you answers. Other times he will tell you to stop or he will say he is tired of talking, etc... and the fan will vanish. The Fan appears completely at random and there is no way to make it appear on demand.