How to play Minesweeper
A grid of covered squares hides a number of mines. Beginner is a 9 by 9 grid with 10 mines and Intermediate is 16 by 16 with 40 mines. Your goal is to uncover every square that does not contain a mine.
Your first dig is always safe: the mines are placed only after that click, and never on or next to the square you chose, so the game opens a clear area for you to start from.
- A revealed number tells you how many mines touch that square, including diagonals.
- A blank square has no neighbouring mines, and the game automatically opens all of the squares around it, spreading until numbers form a border.
- Place a flag on a square you believe hides a mine. Flagged squares cannot be dug by accident. The Mines counter shows the total mines minus the flags you have placed.
- Clicking a number that already has the matching number of flags around it opens all of its other neighbours in one go. If one of your flags is wrong, this can set off a mine.
Uncover a mine and the round is lost; all mines are then shown, and any wrongly placed flags are marked. Clear every safe square to win. The timer starts on your first dig, and your fastest win on each level is saved.
Controls
| Desktop | Left-click to dig a square and right-click to place or remove a flag. Click a revealed number whose flags are all placed to open its neighbours. Press F to switch modes. |
|---|---|
| Mobile | Tap to dig. Tap the Mode button to switch to Flag mode, then tap squares to flag them. Tap a revealed number to open its remaining neighbours once its flags are placed. |
Tips and strategy
Read the numbers in pairs
Single numbers rarely tell you much, but two numbers side by side often do. The classic example is a 1 and a 2 next to each other along an edge of covered squares: the 2 needs one more mine than the 1 can see, so the extra covered square touching only the 2 must be a mine.
Learn the common patterns
- 1-1 from a wall: when a 1 sits against the edge of the board and the next number along is also a 1, the square beyond the second 1 is safe.
- 1-2-1: along a straight edge, the mines sit under the two 1s and the square under the 2 is safe.
- 1-2-2-1: the mines are under the two 2s, and the squares under the 1s are safe.
- Satisfied numbers: once a number has all its mines flagged, every other neighbour is safe to open.
Flag only what helps
Flags are a memory aid, not a requirement. On Beginner you can often win without placing any. On Intermediate, flagging lets you use the quick-open trick on satisfied numbers, which saves many clicks. Make sure each flag is certain, because a wrong flag followed by a quick-open will end the game.
Work the edges of what you know
Focus on the border between opened and covered squares. Solve everything you can there before moving on, and go back to any area that changed after a new reveal.
When you must guess
Occasionally the board offers no safe deduction. In that case pick the square with the lowest risk. Corners and squares far from any numbers are often a good gamble on a sparse board, while squares touching high numbers are the most dangerous. Make the guess early rather than late, so a loss costs you less time.
About Minesweeper
Minesweeper is a single-player logic game in which you uncover a hidden grid using numeric clues. Games of this kind appeared on home computers in the 1980s, and the format became familiar to millions when a version was included with a widely used desktop operating system in the early 1990s.
Although luck plays a part, most of the game is pure deduction. Experienced players read the board in patterns and can clear a Beginner field in seconds. The skill lies in spotting which squares are certain and saving guesses for the rare moments when nothing else is possible.
This is our own browser version, built from scratch. It guarantees a safe opening move, supports right-click flagging and quick-open on desktop, and adds a Dig and Flag mode switch so it plays comfortably on phones and tablets.
Frequently asked questions
Can I lose on my first click?
No. Mines are placed only after your first dig, and never on that square or any square touching it, so you always get a safe opening area.
How do I place flags on a phone?
Tap the Mode button below the board to switch to Flag mode, then tap the squares you want to flag. Tap the button again to return to Dig mode.
What does clicking on a number do?
If the number of flags around a revealed number matches the number itself, clicking it opens all of its remaining covered neighbours at once. If any of those flags is wrong, a mine will be revealed.
Why can the mine counter go below zero?
The counter simply shows the total number of mines minus the flags you have placed. If it goes negative, you have placed more flags than there are mines, so at least one flag is wrong.
