Bulls & Cows
BGG rank
BGG #28,643
BGG rating
5.0

Bulls & Cows

Rules assistance for Bulls & Cows

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2 players
  • 20 min
  • 8+
  • Complexity 1.7/5

Rules assistant for Bulls & Cows

For 2 players

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Bulls & Cows is a board game for 2 players, 20 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. Its main mechanics are Deduction, Paper-and-Pencil, and Communication Limits.

Similar games

About the game

Bulls and Cows is an old code-breaking mind or paper and pencil game for two or more players, predating the similar commercially marketed board game Mastermind. It is a game with numbers or words that may date back a century or more. It is played by two opponents. The goal is to be the first player to successfully decode your opponent's secret number or word. Each player secretly writes a four-digit number or four-letter word. The digits or letters must all be different. Players take turns trying to guess their opponent's number/word. The opponent tells them the number of matches. Right number, wrong place is a "cow." Right number, right place is a "bull." If the person who took the first turn is also the first to decode the secret number or word, the other person gets one more turn to see if they can tie.

Publishers

  • (Public Domain)
  • Front Porch Classics
  • Sprea

Questions and answers

Bulls & Cows supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.