Cows & Bulls.

What is Cows & Bulls.?

Mastermind is a brain-teasing game meant for two players that functions a little like the old Battleship game. Players are tasked with guessing the number of their opponent, who responds to each guess by telling how many digits were incorrect (via cows) and how many were correct (via Bulls). This continues until the correct number is guessed.

Mastermind is rated for players of all ages and is available for download in the App Store for $0.99. This app features both in-app purchases and advertisements.

When users first open the Mastermind app, they’re greeted with a welcome popup that gives them the option of a tutorial for playing the game. Players are told that they must come up with a secret n-digit number with no recurring digits that their opponent must guess.

For each turn or guess, the opposing player tells their opponent how many digits are in the correct position, via a bull emoji/icon, and how many in the wrong place, via the cow icon.

After a guess, the response will be something like this: “Two “cow” and one “bull,” meaning that the player has guessed one number in the correct position and two numbers in the incorrect positions.  It’s a little like one of the games on the Price Is Right game show.

As Mastermind is a two-player game, players have the option to play against the game’s AI or a live player in multiplayer mode. The game begins with players selecting their secret number from the numerical options.

Players will have chosen the number of digits they’re playing within the settings area beforehand. The idea is that fewer digits will be an easier game than those with more digits to guess so the number of digits a player chooses to play with is essentially picking their Mastermind difficulty level.

Digit buttons are located at the bottom of the screen for players to enter their guesses and their number history is displayed in list format with columns showing both the bull and cow, in addition to the number of right or wrong digits for each guess.

Mastermind game difficulty can also be increased by setting a time limit for players to take turns; the default time setting is “unlimited” in Mastermind, with games timing out after 48 hours.

In addition to viewing their turns, players may also take a look at their competitor's history of guesses. Also, players are also able to keep “notes” in a help screen where they can mark numbers they know appear in their competitor’s secret number, as well as those numbers that do not appear.

Again, the default setting for the help panel is set to “off,” but players can turn this area on in their settings menu.

Points are awarded by difficulty level, with more points being earned the more difficult the puzzle. Points can also be lost in Mastermind if users play a game that ends in a draw.