Minesweeper

How to Play Minesweeper

Minesweeper is the ultimate classic logic puzzle. The board is covered with hidden mines. Your goal is to clear the safe areas without detonating any mines!

Basic Rules

1. Uncovering Cells: Left-click (or tap) on a hidden cell to reveal it. If it's a mine, you lose instantly!
2. Reading the Numbers: If a revealed cell is safe, it might show a number (from 1 to 8). This number tells you exactly how many mines are hidden in the 8 squares immediately surrounding that cell.
3. Flagging Mines: If you deduce that a specific covered cell MUST contain a mine, right-click (or long press) it to place a Flag (🚩). This prevents you from accidentally clicking it later.
4. Winning Condition: The game is won when every single safe cell has been uncovered. (You do not technically need to place all the flags to win).

Pro Strategies

• The 1-2-1 Pattern: If you see a straight line of numbers reading 1-2-1 against a flat wall of covered cells, the mines are ALWAYS directly next to the two 1s, and the cell next to the 2 is safe.
• The 1-2-2-1 Pattern: In a 1-2-2-1 sequence, the mines are ALWAYS next to the two 2s.
• Chording (Advanced Fast Play): If a numbered cell already has the correct number of flags around it, you can click on the number itself (or middle-click / double-click depending on settings) to instantly uncover all remaining adjacent cells. This is how speedrunners play!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Is it possible to hit a mine on the very first click? A: No! Our game engine guarantees that your very first click will ALWAYS be a safe cell. In fact, it forces the first click to open up a large empty area to give you a strong starting point.

Q: Do I have to guess sometimes? A: Ideally no, but in some rare extremely tight board configurations, you might be forced into a 50/50 guess. However, applying advanced pattern recognition drastically reduces the need to guess.