A printable Mastermind guess log lives or dies on a guess nobody can reconstruct from the solved code at the end of the game, because the solved code at the end of a Mastermind game is the least honest witness in the room. The feedback pegs that decided the game have already been swept off the board, and the guess that mattered three rows ago is no longer a guess at all. It cannot say whether a white peg meant a color was misplaced or merely miscounted, because a row of colored pegs with no feedback column shows four colors and calls that an explanation. It cannot say whether a black peg was earned by position or by luck, because a guess written without its black-and-white split leaves no record of which pegs were exact and which were only present. And it cannot say whether a color was eliminated by evidence or by feeling, because a guess list with no eliminated-colors column cannot show that a color was ruled out on a zero-peg row rather than abandoned on a hunch. Nothing was miscounted on purpose. The log just never recorded the one thing that mattered: every guess with its exact feedback, because a finished game cannot say whether its winner won on clean deductions, a white peg counted twice, or a color that was never actually eliminated.
That is the product. Not a prettier blank guess pad. A record that survives the three arguments every Mastermind game has: the feedback dismissed because nobody wrote down the black-and-white split, the feedback struck because a color was counted in two rows at once, and the game that should never have counted because a duplicate color was scored as if it appeared once. A log that stores only the solved code loses all three. A log that stores the guess, the feedback split, and the eliminations beside every row settles all three in thirty seconds, and that is what a buyer reorders.
What a printable Mastermind guess log actually contains (and why the feedback column is the product)
A Mastermind guess log that sells is four pages, and every page earns its place by answering one question the table will ask at the final row. The first page is the guess record: one row per guess, with the four colors in order, the black pegs, and the white pegs, because a win claimed from memory after three more games will quietly become a clean result or no result at all, and every scoring error in the game starts there. The second page is the elimination ledger: one row per color ruled out, with the color, the guess row that ruled it out, and the feedback that did it, because an elimination that cannot be pointed to on an exact zero-peg row cannot be checked, and a log that records only who solved the code has hidden the only evidence that proves which colors were dead when. The third page is the position log: one row per guess showing which positions are confirmed, which are ruled out for each color, and which remain open, because a black peg is the one moment a game narrows in a single row, and a log with no position column cannot prove a color was locked to its slot on the guess that earned it. The fourth page is the finish tally: one row per game, with the guesses used, the feedback totals, and the solver, because a game result without its per-guess components cannot be audited, and a game result that cannot be audited will be trusted right up until the white peg it decides is over.
The rules every buyer assumes (and the checks that enforce them)
The first rule every buyer assumes is the code, and it is not negotiable: four pegs, each one of six colors — red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple — with duplicates allowed, because a code that does not have exactly four pegs was never set at all. The second rule is the guess: the codebreaker places four colored pegs in order, one per position, because a guess with an empty hole has invented a missing color, and a guess with five pegs has invented a position. The third rule is the feedback: the codemaker answers with black pegs for colors that are correct in both color and position, and white pegs for colors that are present in the code but in the wrong position, because feedback that mixes the two has invented information. The fourth rule is the counting rule: each code peg is counted at most once, blacks first, then whites from the pegs that remain, because a color counted twice has invented a peg, and a duplicate guess color matched against a single code color has invented a second copy. The fifth rule is the row limit: the game allows ten guess rows, because a game with no row limit cannot say whether its winner won by deduction or by exhaustion. The sixth rule is the win: the game ends the moment a guess earns four black pegs, because a game that continues past a solved code has invented extra rows. The seventh rule is the loss: if ten rows pass with no four-black guess, the codemaker wins and reveals the code, because a game with no loss condition cannot say whether its solver solved it or merely ran out of board. Note the scope: this log is built for the classic four-peg, six-color game with duplicates allowed and ten guess rows; a variant with eight colors, five pegs, or no duplicates needs its own columns, not this log with the color names relabelled.
A worked game, and the arithmetic, checked the hard way
Four guesses, one solved code, and every peg, feedback, and elimination accounted for. The secret code is red, blue, green, yellow, in that order. Guess one is red, red, blue, orange: one black peg, for the red in position one, and one white peg, for the blue that is in the code but in the wrong position, and the orange is ruled out by the count, because only two of the four guess pegs earned feedback. Guess two is blue, green, yellow, purple: zero black pegs and three white pegs, because blue, green, and yellow are all in the code and all in the wrong positions, and the purple earns nothing, so purple joins orange on the eliminated list. Guess three is green, yellow, red, blue: zero black pegs and four white pegs, because every color in the guess is in the code and every one of them sits in the wrong position, which proves the code is a rotation of these four colors and no other color can appear. Guess four is red, blue, green, yellow: four black pegs, and the game is solved in four guesses, because every color now sits exactly where the code holds it.
The count closes exactly. Four pegs in the secret code, revealed at the end: red, blue, green, yellow. Thirteen feedback pegs across the four guesses: two on guess one, three on guess two, four on guess three, and four on guess four, and no guess ever earns more than four, because four pegs can earn at most four pegs of feedback. Two colors eliminated on evidence: orange on guess one, purple on guess two, and neither appears in the solved code, because an eliminated color that shows up in the code has broken the counting rule. Six guess rows remain unused out of ten, because the game ended on the fourth row and the win rule stops the game at four black pegs. Four guesses, one solved code, thirteen feedback pegs, two eliminations, and one disputed finish caught by the log: the final guess earns four black pegs in writing, so the solve is on the record instead of argued from memory.
The change-one-line box writes the counterfactual the buyer needs. Change one line and the result moves: if the guess-one feedback is recorded as two white pegs instead of one black and one white, because the log shows no black-and-white split column to check against, the red in position one reads as merely present instead of exact, the solver never locks position one, the game continues on a position that was already solved, and the win goes to a later guess than the one that earned it, because a log with no split column looks complete right up until the next dispute it cannot settle. If the guess-two feedback is recorded as three black pegs instead of three white pegs, because the log shows no position column to check against, blue, green, and yellow read as locked into positions they never held, the solver builds every later guess on three false locks, and the whole game breaks on a single row of pegs swapped, because a log with no position column cannot say whether a peg was exact or only present. If the guess-three feedback is recorded as four black pegs instead of four white pegs, because the log shows no rotation check to check against, the game ends a full guess early on a code that is merely a rotation of the true code, the solver is declared the winner on a guess that earned nothing exact, and the real code stays unsolved, because a log with no rotation column cannot say whether a guess matched the code or merely its colors. A log that cannot show those three sentences cannot explain why a game was won by deduction or lost by a peg, and a buyer who cannot explain a game does not reorder.
The endings your guess log must also handle
There are three ways for a Mastermind game to produce a log that looks wrong, and the log must handle all three without a footnote. First, a duplicate miscounted: a guess holds two reds against a code with one red, and the log writes two white pegs, so a tracker that records feedback without its once-per-peg column has invented a second red out of a single code peg, and a log that counts blacks first and then whites from the remaining pegs catches it. Second, a locked position abandoned: a guess earns a black peg on a color in a position, and the next guess moves that color elsewhere, and the log writes the new guess without flagging the broken lock, so a log that accepts the move without its position column has invented a deduction the evidence forbids, and a log that marks every confirmed position catches it. Third, a board-exhaustion finish: ten rows pass with no four-black guess, and the log writes the last guess's solver as the winner, so a tracker that records the finish without its row-count column has invented a solve out of a loss, and a log that counts rows to ten and names the codemaker as winner catches it. And when a match runs long, the guess record must keep working across every game to a settled match score, because a guess log that restarts every game has hidden the games that decide who won first.
If you sell printable guess logs, this is the log your Mastermind buyer actually needs: a guess record with every color and its black-and-white split, an elimination ledger that shows every color and the row that ruled it out, a position log that marks every confirmed slot and every ruled-out color, and a finish tally that shows all three components beside every result. Sell the record, not the pad. The pad is already in every box. The record is what settles the argument.
This guide describes a printable record-keeping sheet for a classic board game. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the game's publisher, and it does not reproduce any copyrighted game materials.
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