A yellow 2 is useful only if it changes your next guess. NumVault gives two kinds of information at once: which digits belong in the code and where those digits can go. Keeping those questions separate makes the board easier to read. This walkthrough follows one constructed four-digit code and explains each decision, including the point where the answer becomes forced.
Choose the rules before choosing the digits
Daily uses Medium: four different digits and six attempts. Free Play also offers Easy, with three different digits and eight attempts; Hard, with four digits that may repeat and six attempts; and Expert, with five digits that may repeat and eight attempts. Zero is a valid digit, including at the beginning. Do not silently remove it from your candidate list.
Read green as “this digit belongs here,” yellow as “this copy belongs somewhere else,” and gray as “this copy did not match.” In a round without repeated digits, a gray digit can normally be removed from consideration. In a round allowing repeats, the number of matching copies matters; the last section shows the difference.
A four-guess example
| Guess | Feedback |
|---|---|
1234 | × ~ × × |
2056 | ~ ✓ ~ × |
7082 | ~ ✓ × ✓ |
5072 | ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ |
- 1234 → × ~ × ×. Keep 2, but not in position 2. Remove 1, 3 and 4. This does not tell you the other three digits, so simply rearranging 1234 would waste an opportunity to learn.
- 2056 → ~ ✓ ~ ×. Zero is fixed in position 2. The 2 is not in position 1 either. Five belongs in the code but not position 3; six is absent. In this round, 2 must therefore be in position 3 or 4.
- 7082 → ~ ✓ × ✓. Position 4 is now 2, and 7 belongs elsewhere than position 1. Eight is absent. You already know 5 belongs in the code. With positions 2 and 4 fixed, the remaining digits are 5 and 7.
- 5072 → ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓. Seven cannot occupy position 1, so it goes in position 3. Five takes the remaining position. This final answer follows from all three earlier rows together.
The first two guesses do not magically reveal the answer. The third deliberately tests 7 and 8 while checking one remaining location for 2. Other informative choices are possible. This is a worked explanation, not a claim that this opening is the best choice for every code.
Separate facts from experiments
After each submission, make three short mental lists: fixed positions, included digits with forbidden positions, and excluded digits. Before pressing Enter, ask what each changed position tests. A guess such as 2075 after the second row above keeps 2 in a position already ruled out. It may contain promising digits, but part of that attempt is spent repeating an answered question.
Keeping greens is a useful beginner habit. Sometimes an experienced player deliberately moves a known digit to test several alternatives, but that should be a conscious information tradeoff. Near the attempt limit, focus on codes consistent with every previous clue rather than trying unrelated combinations.
Why a gray repeated digit can be misleading
Use the separate constructed code 5002. Guessing 5500 produces ✓ × ✓ ~. The first 5 and the third-position 0 receive exact matches first. There is no second 5 available, so the other 5 is gray; the final 0 matches the remaining zero elsewhere. “One 5 is gray” therefore does not mean “there are no fives.” Read each row before relying on the digit tracker.
A useful practice goal
Start a Medium Free Play round and, before every submission, say one new fact you expect to learn. After a loss, compare the revealed code with the earliest clue you overlooked. Do not rush only for a bonus: a four-attempt Medium win after 30 seconds with no hints scores 3,600 points; the same four-attempt win under 30 seconds scores 5,400. Those numbers assume no hints and the current scoring rules, not a promised result.