Whats the name of this game?

Question

This is not a programming question per se, although the ultimate goal is to devise an algorithm. I'm looking for references or at least the name of a type of game. It is pretty widespread on television game-shows. The game is as follows:

You have a number of slots, each slot contains an item (from some finite set), which you don't know. You have to guess what each slot contains. You tell your guess to the judge (who knows what each slot contains) and he tells you how many guesses are correct, without telling you which. The game ends when you successfully guess all items.

I'd be interested in any information about this type of game, including references to algorithms for solving in the least possible guesses, etc. Just the name so I can google it would also be fine.

Thanks!

Answer 1

you mean Mastermind?

Answer 2

Sounds like Mastermind to me.

Answer 3

The game has been around a long, long, time as Bulls and Cows with a computer version - moo - being written in the 1960s. Mastermind was a commercial version of the game "invented" in the 1970s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_and_cows

I happen to know that the game was built into a few embedded systems in the 70s and early 80s - including an oil pipeline control system and the first commercial digital recording desk ;-)