Pressman Mastermind for Kids - Codebreaking Game With Three Levels of Play Multicolor, 5"

Huge with my son! I have had to simplify the rules a little for him to grasp the basics, but now he wants to play ALL the time!

Each time we play, we add one more layer of complexity or strategy. It was a little frustrating at first for my kid, but it is now a favorite game. It's great to see the concepts clicking over time. It's a great game to practice problem-solving. The pretty colors help make it enticing.

But this for my blind Student, she does this in seconds she loves this game so much and she can do it all on her own. I divide the red pieces and the white pieces and I kind of make a difference between them. That’s the only aspect that she can’t do on her own, it’s amazing little kids every process that makes you feel smart.

I bought this game to play with my granddaughter, who loves to play games and solve puzzles. It is the perfect level of difficulty for her without being frustrating. It is also well made with fun pieces.

Okay, who designs and tests these games?? I don't get it. I also loved Mastermind as a child and bought this one for my 6 year old, figuring it would be easier to learn and play than the 4 peg version. Also it looks really neat in a picture. We opened it up yesterday and she loves it, but it is driving me crazy already. Granted, it is cute, all the pieces are bright colors and of animals, but they are small and they have shallow holes to fit into on the board, so they fall over a lot. A lot! Especially when you have a kid that can't refrain from squirming around for more than 20 seconds. Then, after one falls over, when you try to put it back in its spot, your big fingers knock over their neighbors. Any bump to the board and they all go toppling. Same thing with the red and white pegs. I feel like I am a giant trying to play a little kiddie game. Plus, I really expected it to be harder, more challenging. It took a few rounds for my daughter to get the hang of it, but now the 'secret codes' seem pretty easy to break. There are two different ways they say you can play, and we skipped right over the easy one because it was way too easy. Another minor pet peeve is the little 'cave-like' space you put the hidden color code in. You have to lift that part on and off the board each time you play a game, and in doing so you spill the red and white pegs out of their holder. My daughter always has me lift it off for her as she can't do it gently. AND (I know I am picky, but why don't the designers see these things?) the 'cave-like' space for the secret code gets dark because it is covered, so it is hard to differentiate between colors when you put the pegs in there, the pink, purple and red start to look the same in the cave.So, if I could go back and do it again, I would just go for the regular Mastermind. In all, my daughter thinks it is great and I like the way it makes her think (flawed logic and all), I just wish it wasn't so clumsy to play though. My rating is high as it is fun (for her), educational and durable because the plastic will last a long time. I just think someone should have seen how unstable the pieces are on the board, and just made it a little more user friendly.

We love playing this logic game with our 5 and 6 year olds. I highly recommend it. It's easy to learn, quick, and fun.

This is Mastermind with fewer colors and fewer slots and cute animals as pegs. The pegs fall over a bit more than in the base game, but are easier to clean up. You can switch between difficulty levels easily, so different people can play at different levels to equalize the game. It was a big hit with my kids, and a less intimidating introduction to full Mastermind. I recommend it for ages 5-9. For older kids, you probably want to dive right into the full game.

The game idea is cool but it's too easy. I didn't like that the animals don't stick to the board and they keep falling off. The material is good but the code being max 3 makes it too easy.