MSTERMND

Alexandra Yagliowich

Loosely based on the 1970s board game, MSTRMND is an interactive logic and ear-training game that combines auditory and visual memory with spatial perception to create a multi-sensory cognitive challenge. The original game, Mastermind, is a code-breaking game for two players, where a codemaker creates a secret code made up of different colored pegs and the codebreaker tries to match the code using logic and deduction.

MSTRMND consists of eight different-coloured light beams that have accompanying synesthetic sounds. The object of the game is to correctly repeat the computer’s randomly generated sequence of sound and light signals, increasing in complexity as the player progresses. MSTRMND is a single or multi-player logic game that tests complex skills and strategies in trials of experimentation and evaluation. Each colour, encoded to a corresponding synesthetic sound, creates a cross-sensory associations within the mind/brain. Through this new embodied method, the player’s entire body becomes the controller of the game. This approach to more embodied sound and colour associations is intended to enhance memory by incorporating visual-spatial associations with multi-sensory processing.

The installation is a synesthetic ear training device that brings musical training to a wider audience, through the creation of a learning system that is intuitively understood. Through mapping multiple sensory modalities, MSTRMND supports a more natural approach to incorporated cognition, perception and the development of multi-sensory integration.

Image: MSTERMND, by Alexandra Yagliowich