Colors Help Index

How To Play

             Playing the Game

             Strategy and Hints

Commands

             Game Menu Commands


 Playing the Game

Colors is based on the board game Mastermind.  The object of the game is to correctly guess the color sequence within the allowed number of attempts.

There are three levels of play: Easy, Medium, Hard.

 I) EASY  -  At this level, player is given six different colors and will attempt to correctly guess the four-color sequence in ten tries.

II) MEDIUM  -  At this level, player is given eight different colors and will attempt to correctly guess the six-color sequence in twenty tries.

III) HARD  -  At this level, player is given ten diffenent colors and will attempt to correctly guess the six-color sequence in twenty tries.

At the beginning of each game, the computer randomly generates a color sequence (the sequence might have duplicate colors).  Clues are given after each guess in the form of black and/or white diamonds.  The number of black diamonds indicates the number of color pieces that have been correctly positioned for the current guess, and the number of white diamonds indicates the number of color pieces that appear in the hidden color sequence for the current guess.  (Note: The color pieces might be of the same color).  For example,

For your first guess, you have correctly positioned a blue color piece and a light blue color piece in the 3rd and 4th column respectively, thus, you see two black diamonds.  You also have a purple color piece in the 1st column, however, in the hidden sequence, the purple color piece appears in the 2nd column.  Thus, for correctly guessing a color, you get a white diamond.

For your second guess, you have correctly positioned a blue color piece in the 1st column, therefore, you see a black diamond.  You also have two other blue color pieces in the 2nd and 4th column, however, in the hidden sequence, there is just one other blue color piece which is in the 3rd column, therefore, you see only one white diamond.  So, for this guess, you see one black diamond and one white diamond as clue.

(Note: the positions of the diamonds do NOT correspond to the positions of the color pieces.)

To make a guess, simply point to the desired color piece at the top of the screen, drag and drop it onto the playing grid. To make changes then, just point to the desired color piece at the top, drag and drop it to the desired location.  To save time from dragging and dropping, you can simply click the Repeat button to repeat  your last guess, and then just drag and drop the color pieces that you deem need be changed.  If you are satisfied with your guess, then simply click the OK button and the computer will examine the guess and give clues along with a regular beep.  If you hear a dull thump, it means that none of the color pieces of the current guess appears in the hidden color sequence (this could be very helpful afterall since this eliminates the choices of colors!).  Once the OK button is clicked, the guess cannot be changed!  So, think twice before doing so!

You can start a new game or end a current game at anytime, but this is a very addictive game, once you start you will never quit...


 Strategy and Hints

Your first guess is basically at random, but try to select different colors for your first guess.  From your next guess on, you should follow the clues given and try to analyze and deduce the hidden color sequence.  By following the clues, you can eliminate different combinations and thus improving your chance of making the correct guess.  For the easy level, the hidden color sequence has a possible combination of 1296!  And you are only allowed to have 10 guesses.  Therefore, you will find yourself running out of guesses pretty soon if you were to just guess at random without using the clues.  The same strategy goes for  the other two levels.


Game Menu Commands

New

Terminates current game and starts a new one at the current level settting.

Easy

Starts a new game at the easy level.

Medium

Starts a new game at the medium level.

Hard

Starts a new game at the hard level.

Exit

Terminates the Colors program.


How To Play

          Playing the Game

          Strategy and Hints


Commands

          Game Menu Commands