Abstract—Humans solve the Word Mastermind game inefficiently. This study developed an efficient helper system that reduces the average number of attempts and the amount of time needed to solve the game. The system used a Directed Acyclic Word Graph (DAWG) to manage words lists, Regular Expression (Regex) pattern matching for searching and retrieving words based on a specific pattern on the DAWG, and relative letter frequencies for scoring words based on the results of the pattern matching. The system nominates a list of candidate words suitable for quickly finding the game’s mystery word. The system helped humans reduce their average number of attempts to four (4) or five (5) and with an average time of fifty (50) seconds.
Index Terms—Directed acyclic word graph, pattern matching, puzzle solving, regular expression.
The authors are with the Department of Information and Computer Studies, Faculty of Engineering, University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila 1008 Philippines (e-mail: tinbahinting@yahoo.com, jg.bonos@gmail.com, cecild99@hotmail.com, ignacio_louis@yahoo.com, llflachica@yahoo.com)
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Cite: J. L. Bahinting, J. D. G. Bonos, C. J. A. Delfinado, M. M. Ignacio, and L. F. Lachica, "Computer-Aided Word Mastermind Solving Using Regular Expression Pattern Matching in a Directed Acyclic Word Graph," International Journal of Future Computer and Communication vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 481-484, 2013.