Random number in guessing game

Question

I am trying to write a Number Guessing Game program, so the program generates a random number, and the program gives prompts as too high, too low, until the user gets its write. However, the Random generator either generates the same random number each time, or it says "too high" for one user input and then "too low" for the user input directly after/before

I have moved the random generator inside my while loop, and in that case, it says the input is "too high", and the number following it is "too low". When I move the Random Generator outside the loop, it just generates the same number for each irritation of the game.

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Random;

public class NumberGuessingGame {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int randomNumber, userNumber = 0, guesses = 0;
        final int MAX = 100;
        char playGame = 'y';

        Random generator = new Random();

        // ask user if they wish to play
        System.out.println("Would you like to play the Number Guessing y / n");
        Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);

        playGame = scan.next().charAt(0);

        // while loop to continue to execute game as long as the user enters 'y'
        while (playGame == 'y') {
            if (playGame != 'y')
                break;

            randomNumber = generator.nextInt(MAX) + 1;

            System.out.println("Please pick a number between 1 and 100.");
            userNumber = scan.nextInt();

            // high and low sugguestion
            if (userNumber > randomNumber)
                System.out.println("Number is too high, try something lower.");
            if (userNumber < randomNumber)
                System.out.println("Number is too low, try something higher.");
            if (userNumber == randomNumber) {
                System.out.println("That number is correct!");
                System.out.println("Would you like to play again? y/n");
                playGame = scan.next().charAt(0);
            }
            // counter to keep running total of times guessed
            guesses++;
            System.out.println("You have guessed " + guesses + " times!");

        }

        // break statement skips here when 'n' is entered in
        // the game prompting question
        System.out.println("Thanks for playing, have a nice day!");
    }
}

The program should be generating a new random number for each iteration of the game, which will be prompted after each correct guess of the randomNumber.

Answer 1

Hope this helps clarify things for you!

Currently your Random Number Generation is apart of the same loop as the rest of the game, the reason it is generating a new number every time you get a new hint. One solution to this would be to create two loops. One loop to control if the game will continue and inside of that another loop to manage that round.

//The loop controlling the game   
while (playGame == 'y') {
        if (playGame != 'y')
            break;

        randomNumber = generator.nextInt(MAX) + 1;
        //Creating a flag to control the inner loop
        int correct = 0;

        //The loop to control the round.
        while (correct == 0){
            System.out.println("Please pick a number between 1 and 100.");
            userNumber = scan.nextInt();

            // high and low sugguestion
            if (userNumber > randomNumber)
                System.out.println("Number is too high, try something lower.");
            if (userNumber < randomNumber)
                System.out.println("Number is too low, try something higher.");
            if (userNumber == randomNumber) {
                System.out.println("That number is correct!");
                correct = 1;
                System.out.println("Would you like to play again? y/n");
                playGame = scan.next().charAt(0);
            }            

            // counter to keep running total of times guessed
            guesses++;
            System.out.println("You have guessed " + guesses + " times!");
        }

    }    

Cheers!