Minesweeper
Nine by nine, ten mines, no guessing required. Usually.
The classic, sized for a thumb. Nine by nine with ten mines hidden in it, and a number on every cell you open telling you how many of its eight neighbours are mined.
The first tap is always safe — the board is laid out after you commit, so you can never lose on move one. Everything after that is deduction, and almost every board can be finished without a single guess if you read the numbers properly.
The clock runs from your first tap. Your best time can go on the Board of Fame, shared with everyone else who plays.
How it works
- Tap a cell to open it. The number is how many mines touch it.
- Switch to flag mode to mark a cell you are sure about — flags stop you tapping it by accident.
- Open every safe cell to win. Open a mine and the run ends there.
- A number with exactly that many unopened neighbours means all of them are mines. That single rule solves most of the board.
Common questions
- Can the first tap be a mine?
- No. The mines are placed after your first tap, and they avoid that cell and everything around it. So you always get an opening, and you can never lose on move one — which is the single most annoying way to lose a game of Minesweeper.
- How do I place a flag on a phone?
- Use the Flag button to switch modes, then tap the cell. It is a toggle rather than a long-press because long-press fights with the browser text-selection menu on most phones, and losing a board to a popup menu is not a fair loss.
- Do I ever have to guess?
- Occasionally, and it is not your fault when you do. Some board layouts end in a genuine fifty-fifty where two cells are indistinguishable from the information available. It is uncommon, but it is a real property of the game rather than something we could fix without changing the rules.
- Is my time compared to other players?
- Only if you choose to save it. The Board of Fame shows the best times anyone has saved, yours included if you add it — it is a highlight reel, not a full ranking, since most people who play never save a time at all.
This is the standard beginner board: nine by nine with ten mines. Your time depends as much on the board you happen to get as on how well you read it, so treat a good time as a good run rather than a measurement of anything about you. The Board of Fame shows the best times anyone has chosen to save, shared with everyone who plays.
Okay, now pick another
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