By Noyon Rahman · Updated September 2026 · Reviewed for accuracy against the live game

About Code Breaker

Code Breaker is a pure logic-deduction game in the tradition of the classic code-guessing board games of the 1970s, where one player hides a code and the other narrows it down clue by clue. There is no luck in the deduction itself and no reflexes required — only the discipline to turn each set of clues into a smaller candidate list. It is the kind of game that looks trivial for the first two guesses and then quietly becomes absorbing, because the clues are deliberately ambiguous: two pegs can mean something is definitively in position, or it can mean two colours are simply present somewhere. Reading the difference is the entire skill.

How to Play Code Breaker

A hidden code of four pegs is chosen from six colours, and colours may repeat — the code could even be four of the same colour. Each turn you build a guess of four pegs by tapping colours in the palette (or pressing keys one to six), then submit it. You receive two kinds of clue. A glowing peg marks a guess peg that matches the hidden code in both colour and position. A white peg marks a guess peg whose colour appears somewhere in the code, but not in the position you placed it. Importantly, the white pegs do not tell you which of your pegs they refer to, and a colour that is over-represented in your guess only counts once towards each clue. You have ten guesses to find the exact code.

Tips & Strategies

Open with repeated colours. A guess like two reds and two blues resolves which colours are present far faster than four different colours.
Keep a list. Cross off colours that produced no yellow clue at all — they are definitely not in the code.
When a glowing peg appears, freeze it in place and never move it again in later guesses.
Count the yellow clues carefully: if you guessed three reds and got one yellow, then the code contains exactly one red.
Use the final guesses to test position, not colour — by then you usually know which colours are in the code and only need to order them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the secret code repeat a colour?

Yes. Colours may repeat, including all four being the same. That is exactly why an opening guess that repeats colours pays off in information.

What do the two clue colours mean, exactly?

A glowing peg means one of your pegs is the right colour in the right position. A white peg means one of your pegs is the right colour but in the wrong position. Exact matches are counted first, and leftover pegs are then checked for colour-only matches.

Is it always solvable in ten guesses?

With careful deduction, yes — ten guesses is comfortable for a four-peg code from six colours. Hasty guessing wastes turns, so slow down and use each clue.

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Code Breaker

Code Breaker

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