The cache is not at the listed coordinates, solve the puzzles below and enter the answers into Certitude to receive the coordinates.
The background image is a 30 year reunion of the characters on the original MasterMind box.
Part 1: Super MasterMind
The board has five positions for colored pegs of 8 possible colors. Guess the hidden pattern by placing guesses on the rows of the board. The coder will give you a response to each guess by using smaller colored pegs to the side. Each black peg means there is a correct color in the correct position, a white peg means there is a peg with a correct color but it is not in the correct position.
After these four guesses and responses, there are exactly two possible codes left. What are they? Enter the two codes into the checker using the key below (along with part 2). For example, the first row would be: BYKGW. To determine which of the two codes to enter first, use alphabetical order.
Part 2: Grand MasterMind
The board has four positions of a shape and color pair. A black peg in response to a guess means a pair of shape and color is in the correct position. A white peg means a guessed pair matches a pair of the hidden code but is not in the correct position. A blue peg means, for a position which is not used for a black or white peg match, that either the shape or the color is correct for that position.
Example, if the secret code is in the green box, the third shape-color pair is correct and in the correct position for a black peg. The fourth shape-color pair matches the first pair of code for a white peg. In the second position, the shapes match for a blue peg.
What is the solution? Enter your answer using the key below:
For instance, the example solution would be RBBEKCYB. Enter the solution to part 1 and the solution to part 2 without any spaces into the checker
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
Beware of Wavyleaf Basketgrass (WLBG) in the area:
Wavyleaf basketgrass was first discovered in Maryland in 1996 in Patapsco Valley State Park, near Baltimore MD. It has since spread through Maryland and Virginia, showing many of the qualities of a successful and damaging invasive species. In some areas this shade-tolerant grass completely carpets the forest floor, leaving little room for native species. Its perennial life style enables it to emerge, year after year, through thick leaf litter; allowing it to colonize vast areas of forest inaccessible to annual invasive grasses like stilt-grass. Its insidious dispersal method of offering dozens of goo-covered seeds atop a spiky inflorescence ensures it hitches a ride on nearly anything mobile that brushes past: people, dogs and deer, definitely; small mammals and birds, probably. Also, nothing appears to eat it. Imagine the ecological consequences of large swaths of forest monopolized by an inedible under-story. Please do your best to stop the spread of this very invasive species. Do not walk through it if you see it and take care not to get the seeds on your clothing or on your pets.
Maryland Geocaching Society
Congrats to EntropyEndeavor for both FTS and FTF!