What is the game you played? Give a quick summary of how to play.

The objective of Mastermind, is to figure out the hidden marble pattern within ten tries to get it right. Using the given coloured marbles, the player can create different patterns to match the hidden code. If the player uses a red marble in one of their patterns but puts it in the wrong spot, the computer player will use a white peg. The white peg means one of the colours in your pattern is correct but in the wrong spot. Let’s say you move the red marble from the third spot to the first spot, and the computer player uses a red peg. The red peg means that one of the coloured marbles is in the correct spot. Once, your pattern satisfies the code you win!

What are some strategies that you used to win the game?

My strategies were mainly paying attention to the coloured pegs, I received. This helped me reassess my patterns by either moving my coloured marbles to different spots or using new colours altogether.

Describe whether you think the game uses inductive or deductive reasoning (if you think both, describe both!)

Inductive Thinking: Basing conclusions on the patterns and observations made. By observing the colour patterns created and the colour of the pegs, we can come to a conclusion. If I use a purple marble in three of my patterns and receive a white peg three times, I can conclude that the purple marble may be in the wrong spot. Or if I use red and green in four patterns and receive two red pegs each time, I can conclude those colours are in the right spots.

Deductive Reasoning: Using facts or general knowledge to help us argue that something is true. General fact = the pegs determine if my patterns are correct or incorrect. If I receive a white peg from my pattern this means one of my coloured marbles is in the wrong spot. If I receive two red pegs from my pattern this means two of my marble’s are in the correct spot. Lastly, if I receive no pegs from my pattern this means none of my colours are part of the code.

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning