Best Game:
Leonid A. Broukhis
Moscow Centre of SPARC Technology
123481 Liberty St.,
89-1-95 Moscow
Russia
Judges' comments:
To make:
make leo
To have the computer guess:
leo [colors]
To guess the computer's number:
mind [colors]
where:
colors number of possible colors (1 to 15) (default: 6)
By default, the number of colors if 6. You may specify a
value of between 1 and 15 colors. See the author's notes
for instructions of how to play.
We look forward to more entries from the newer members of the
International Internet community.
On some systems, you may need to remove the line:
#include <malloc.h>
or replace that line with:
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/malloc.h>
to successfully build this entry.
Selected notes from the author:
This program plays mastermind, if you call it by a name ending by
'd', otherwise it _solves_ mastermind. Call it without parameters
to use 6 digits (colors), or indicate the number of possible digits
(you cannot change the number of positions so easily).
The number in parentheses is the number of possible combinations,
based on previous questions and answers. If you solve the puzzle,
"(1)" indicates that your previous moves are enough to give correct
answer. If the program acts as solver and terminates prematurely,
it means that you have mistaken in your answers to its guesses.
Question marks indicate the number of digits you have to enter
(either 4 when you guess or 2 when computer guesses).
Note that the program uses the same code for both player and
solver, and the only place where it makes difference is the
interactive part. Many obfuscations have been made to achieve
this. An expression giving (bulls * 16 + cows) from two numbers
is, however, quite straightforward :-) , as well as the arithmetic
of binary coded colors-base numbers is.
Limitations: maximum number of digits (colors) is 14 (1..F).
Suggestions: Use terminal (or emulator) with non-destructive
backspaces. Do "disable scrolling" on cmdtool or similar emulators.
Bugs: Please don't type ^D at the prompt!!
EXAMPLE: Suppose we think of 1234:
judges-385> leo
(1296): 6433
?? 12 # one 3 is a bull, another is a cow, and 4 is a cow
(160): 5363
?? 02 # both 3's are cows
(21): 4231
?? 22 # 2 and 3 are bulls, 4 and 1 are cows
(2): 4132
?? 13 # 3 is a bull; 1, 2 and 4 are cows
(1): 1234
?? 40 # you may enter everything there
EXAMPLE: Guess the computer's number:
judges-387> mind
(1296): ???? 1122 # my strategy isn't the best, just as example
00
(256): ???? 3344
20
(18): ???? 5566
02
(6): ???? 3654
11
(2): ???? 3355
00
(1): ???? 6444
40 # we have guessed the number
Copyright (c) 1993, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel. All Rights Reserved. Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety and remains unaltered. All other uses must receive prior permission in writing from both Landon Curt Noll and Larry Bassel.