Minesweeper

about this tool

How to play

Open a cell by clicking or tapping it. If it is a mine, the game is over. If not, it shows a number: how many of the eight cells around it hold a mine. A cell with no mines around it shows nothing and opens all its neighbours, so one click can clear a whole area. Work out from the numbers where the mines must be, flag them, and open everything else. You win when every cell that is not a mine is open; you do not have to flag the mines, and when you win they are flagged for you.

The clock starts when you open your first cell (on a board that opens already open, such as a shared one, at your first move), stops when the game ends, and tops out at 999 seconds, as the classic counter does. The mine counter is the number of mines less the number of flags, so it goes below zero if you place too many.

The three boards

The levels are the classic Windows ones (Beginner has been 9 × 9 since Windows 2000; it was 8 × 8 before):

| Level | Board | Mines | | ------------ | ------- | ----- | | Beginner | 9 × 9 | 10 | | Intermediate | 16 × 16 | 40 | | Expert | 30 × 16 | 99 |

The bigger boards are wider than a phone screen; the minefield scrolls sideways within its frame rather than shrinking the cells too small to tap.

Flags and chords

Right-click a cell to flag it, or long-press it on a touch screen. Switch Tap to flag and a tap places a flag instead, with a long-press to open or chord — easier for a long run of flags. Flags can go down before the first cell is open, as in Windows. A flag also protects a cell: opening a flagged cell does nothing until the flag is taken off.

Pressing an open number with as many flags around it as its number opens every other cell around it at once. This is called chording, and it trusts your flags: if one is wrong, it opens a mine. When the game is lost every mine is shown, and a flag that was not on a mine is crossed out.

A safe first click

Your first cell is never a mine, and nor are the eight around it: the mines are laid only once you open it, around it. So every game starts with an open area to reason from, rather than a guess.

The same board, again

The mines come from a short code and your first cell, so the same code and the same first cell always give the same board. Copy link sends it on: before your first click, the link gives someone the same code, and their mines are laid around their own first cell; after it, the link opens your first cell for them, so the whole board is exactly yours — a fair way to race a friend. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere, and your best time for each level lasts as long as the page is open. It counts only a board dealt fresh with New game (or a new level) and played straight through: Clear, which starts the same board again with its mines already known, a game brought back under Last game, a shared board and the sample do not count. For a game of a different sort, 2048 works the same way: no saved scores, and a link that deals a friend your board.

Starting again, and going back

New game deals a fresh board; Clear starts this one again, with the same mines and, once you have opened it, the same first cell; Sample loads a beginner board under way. A game you had opened or flagged — the sample once you have played on — is kept one step back, with its clock stopped, and Last game brings it back, swapping it with the one on the board. Only one game is kept: moving on again replaces it, and the page says so.

Keyboard and screen readers

The minefield is a grid: Tab into it, move with the arrow keys (Home and End jump to the ends of a row), press Enter or Space to open a cell or chord a number, and F to flag. A screen reader hears each cell as hidden, flagged, clear or the number of mines around it, and what each press did, including what a single opened cell shows. Nothing on the board moves, so there is no animation to turn off.

questions

How do you play Minesweeper?

Open cells one at a time. A cell that is not a mine shows how many of the eight cells around it are mines, and a cell with none around it opens its neighbours for you. Use the numbers to work out where the mines are, flag them, and open everything else. Open every cell that is not a mine to win; open a mine and the game is over.

How do I flag a mine on a phone?

Long-press the cell, or switch Tap to flag so that a tap places a flag; a long-press then opens instead. On a computer, right-click to flag, or move with the arrow keys and press F. Opening a flagged cell does nothing until the flag is off, so a flag also protects a cell you are sure about from a slip of the finger.

What is chording?

When an open number has as many flags around it as its number, pressing it opens every other cell around it at once (with Tap set to flag, long-press it). It saves a lot of clicks on the harder boards. It trusts your flags: if one is wrong, the chord opens a mine.

Is the first click always safe?

Yes. The mines are laid only once you open your first cell, and never on it or the eight cells around it, so the game always starts with an open area to work from. On the classic boards there is always room for that.

Does it save my best time?

No. Nothing is stored or sent: your best time for each level lasts until you leave the page, and counts only boards dealt fresh and played straight through. Copy result puts how your game went (your time, once it is over) and a link to the board on the clipboard; once you have opened your first cell, the link opens that cell for whoever follows it, so their mines are exactly where yours were.