Definition
Plain language
A guessing game where each wrong guess tells you how close you were.
As stated in the literature
Used as an analogy for informative failure feedback: partial-match scoring lets search converge, unlike a binary pass/fail signal.
Why it matters: It captures why graded feedback beats pass/fail: a signal that says how close you were turns hopeless guessing into a search that actually converges.
For example, a guess told "two colors right, one in the right spot" narrows the possibilities enormously, while a bare "wrong" would leave you starting over.
Heard on the show
“It’s Mastermind versus a padlock.”Episode 258 — The Same Weights Scored 291, Then 468 — What Changed Was the Loop