Minesweeper
- Category
- Puzzle
- Players
- 1
- Controls
- Click / Tap
- Skill
- Pure logic
About this game
Minesweeper hands you a grid of covered squares, a fixed number of hidden mines, and nothing else. Uncover a safe square and it tells you how many mines touch it. That number is the entire game: from a scattering of digits you deduce, square by square, exactly where the mines must be.
The reputation for being a game of luck is mostly undeserved. The opening click is a guess, and a small number of late positions are genuinely ambiguous, but the vast middle of every game is solvable by pure deduction. Players who lose repeatedly are usually clicking on instinct rather than reading the numbers they already have.
Controls
| Left click / tap | Uncover a square. |
| Right click / long press | Place or remove a flag on a suspected mine. |
| Start | Generate a fresh minefield. |
Tips & strategy
Learn to read the simplest pattern first. A revealed 1 that already touches exactly one flagged mine is finished: every other square around it is safe and can be cleared immediately. Sweeping the board for satisfied numbers like this clears large areas quickly and costs no risk at all.
The complementary rule matters just as much. If a number equals the count of covered squares around it, every one of those squares is a mine. Flag them all. Most of the board falls to these two rules applied in alternation, and only the leftovers need harder thinking.
When you are stuck, work along the boundary between cleared and covered ground rather than staring at a single number. The classic 1-2-1 pattern along a wall always resolves the same way, and once you recognise it you will spot it in almost every game.
Flag deliberately, not decoratively. Flags are a memory aid, and a wrong flag is worse than no flag because every subsequent deduction you build on it is corrupted. If you are guessing, leave the square blank and come back once nearby numbers have given you more information.
Questions
Is the first click ever a mine?
No. The board is arranged so your opening click is always safe, which is why the standard opening is to click and see what opens up.
What do the numbers mean?
A number counts the mines in the eight squares touching it, including diagonals. A blank square touches none, which is why blanks cascade open automatically.
Do I have to flag every mine to win?
No. You win by uncovering every square that is not a mine. Flags are only there to help you keep track.
Is it always solvable without guessing?
Usually, but not always. Occasionally a position comes down to a genuine coin flip between two squares. That is a known property of the game rather than a bug.