Infer a hidden four-symbol order using exact-position and wrong-position feedback.
One codemaker writes four different letters selected from A, B, C, D, E and F, in an ordered row. No letter repeats in the secret or in a guess. Hide the secret behind folded paper. The other player or team has up to eight guesses to discover the same four letters in the same order. The codemaker checks legality before taking the first guess and never changes the secret during a game.
For every legal guess, report how many letters are in their exact positions and how many additional letters appear in the secret but in different positions. These categories do not overlap. Do not tell which individual letters earned the feedback. Because letters do not repeat, the total number of shared letters minus the exact matches is the misplaced count. A guess earns no extra information from the codemaker’s gestures.
Let the secret be A–B–C–D. Guess A–C–F–E has one exact match, A, and one misplaced match, C: record 1 exact and 1 misplaced. Guess B–C–D–A contains all four secret letters, but none is in the correct position, so record 0 exact and 4 misplaced. Guess A–B–C–D receives 4 exact and 0 misplaced and ends the game successfully.
Write each complete guess in its own row before feedback. The codemaker privately checks against the same secret, then says both counts clearly. If a guess repeats a letter or contains a letter outside A–F, ask for a corrected guess without consuming a row. If feedback was calculated incorrectly, correct it visibly and allow one replacement guess for any later row that relied on the mistaken information; do not silently rewrite history.
At four exact matches, reveal and check the secret. After eight legal guesses without success, reveal it and replay the feedback to learn from the pattern. Swap codemaker and solver so both roles get a turn. For groups up to eight, have one codemaker and a small discussion team, or use separate pairs; everyone can propose a reasoned guess. A gentle version uses only A–D, still four distinct letters, reducing the task to ordering. Announce that variant before choosing the secret. The printable sheet is a manual host tool, not an automated code checker.
Preview before printing at 100% scale; turn off browser headers and footers. Keep host answers separate. This is a manual tabletop kit, not computer opposition or an automatic judge.
Use four different letters from A–F. Eight legal guesses. Exact and misplaced counts do not overlap.
| Guess | Four letters | Exact | Misplaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 2 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 3 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 4 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 5 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 6 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 7 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
| 8 | __ __ __ __ | ____ | ____ |
A
B
C
D
E
F
Secret (four distinct letters A–F): __ __ __ __
Shared letters minus exact matches = misplaced matches. Illegal repeated/out-of-range guesses do not consume a row.
| Example secret | Guess | Exact | Misplaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABCD | ACFE | 1 | 1 |
| ABCD | BCDA | 0 | 4 |
| ABCD | ABCD | 4 | 0 |