Code Break

How to play Code Break

Touch controls: Tap any of the five symbol buttons to fill the next slot; every button is at least 52 pixels high and sits in a five column row that fits a 320 pixel wide screen without sideways scrolling, and the visible slots always show what has been placed so far.

Keyboard controls: Keys 1 to 5 drop a symbol into the next slot, Backspace removes the last one, Enter submits a full guess or starts a run from the title or the end screen, P or Escape pauses and resumes, R restarts, M toggles sound.

Screen: This game works best in any orientation.

About Code Break

Code Break is a test of what a player can work out from very little information. The lock holds four symbols drawn from a set of five, repeats are allowed, and the only information about the code arrives after a guess is committed: solid pegs count symbols that are right and in the right slot, and hollow pegs count symbols that are in the code somewhere else.

The discipline is in the guesses. A player who commits the same symbol four times learns almost nothing, while a player who spreads the five symbols across two early guesses learns which symbols exist before spending guesses on their order. Six guesses are allowed per lock and five locks make a run, so one wasted guess is survivable and three are not.