My dad has this box. I remember playing it with him constantly.

Loved playing this game with my gpa.

Every now and again I play something like this or Wordle.

Ive got it but a lot of the pieces are now missing unfortunately

That's probably inspired by the mastermind box 😅

Not just cigarette smoke, the smell of cigarette smoke permeating everything in the room for years.

There was a UK quiz show called Mastermind (it may even still be going, I'm not sure), so it may have been trying to ape the aesthetic of that.

Unlike more quiz shows, Mastermind was presented in a fairly serious tone, contestants sat alone on a black leather chair answering 2 minutes of quick fire questions on their chosen specialist subject, under intense spotlights, somewhat similar to the trope of interrogation techniques with the light being shone directly in the face.

Although this board game really had no similarities in content to the show, they could well have been trying to gain some of the show's mystique (for want of a better term) by making it look quite serious.

As far as I recall they weren't anyone special, just some models.

Omagad I had this version at my dad's with the plastic board!! Many hours spent on this thing preparing for Wordle without knowing

I've always seen it as a "take turns at being the guesser, and whoever does best wins" kind of game. If you take six goes and your opponent takes seven, then taste that sweet victory.

A digression, but the "viking chess" game Hnefatfl basically guarantees a win for white as written. So you need to mix it up - play two games, see who wins fastest; or constrain it like backgammon, roll dice and that's the moves you must make.