Codebreakers is a tough game where you are given ten tries to break a code. You have a set of four codestones and they are set in a hidden color pattern that you must figure out. By clicking on each stone, you change its color from red, white, yellow, orange, blue, green, and back to red again.
When you’ve clicked each stone and decided on what colors to guess, you click “go” and it will respond with how many stones are correct, and how many stones are the right color – but in the wrong place. It won’t tell you which stones are which, though. Black lines mean that you’ve gotten a stone the right color and in the right place. White lines mean that you’ve got a stone the right color, but it’s in the wrong place. Using these ‘hints’ you change your guess until you’ve finally gotten it right.
Important: Some people think that the lines are meant to represent each stone. For instance, the first line means the first stone, the second means the second, etc. THIS IS WRONG. When you start playing the game, you’ll realize that the lines don’t line up that way, nor do they represent each stone. The lines are simply marks to show you how many stones you have the right color or in the right place. They don’t tell you which stones are in the right place though! Only that some are or aren’t.
So what’s a good strategy?
The best thing to do is keep the stones all the same color for as long as you can. If you just start randomly clicking different colors and guessing, you’ll never figure it out. You have to be systematic, going through each color and weeding out the guesses that are wrong.
So start your first guess with all the stones as the same color. You’ll get many different responses:
The two easiest responses to deal with are the following:
- All black lines: Which will mean that you’ve gotten them all right and have won on your first guess!
- No lines at all: Which means none of the stones are the single color you’ve chosen If this happens, change all the stones to another single color and see if you get better results.
However, if you get:
- A few black lines: That means some of your stones are the right color and in the right place. But the remaining are the wrong color. Now you’ve just got to figure out which ones!
- To do this, you’ll have to start changing colors and see what response you get. If you have one black line, leave the first stone the same color and change all the rest to a different color. If you get 2 black lines, change the second two. And so on.
- If you do it in an orderly fashion, it’ll be easier to keep things straight. Hopefully you’ll choose a color that is right and you’ll either get a white line for your trouble, or another black line. If you get no new lines, try another color. And it’s alright if the black lines you had turn white – that just means that when you changed colors to find new lines, you changed them in the wrong place.
- On the next guess, change the colors of the other stones (keep playing with colors until you have four lines – whether white or black. Once you figure out what colors you have, you can spend the rest of your time figuring out where they are supposed to go).
- Mixed white and black lines: When you have four lines of mixed black and white, you can begin deciding where the colors go. Some of them are in the right place and some of them aren’t. But all of them are the right color – so no need to change colors – just the placement.
- This is mostly where you’ll have to use your brain. Keep trying different combinations – keeping an eye on what you’ve changed, and how it works with the amount of black and white lines.
It takes some practice. But if you play around with it, you’ll get the hang of how it works. Just don’t get discouraged and remember to go in order of colors and organize your thoughts, otherwise you’ll get mixed up.