Minesweeper

Experience the classic Minesweeper game online! This web version faithfully recreates the iconic Windows XP Minesweeper, with an added auto-flag feature (which can be disabled). Step on a mine, and it's game over! Get ready for an addictive challenge!

If you didn't know the rules of Minesweeper when you were young, thinking it was purely a game of chance... Check out the gameplay introduction below. It's highly recommended - it can unlock a whole new world of strategy!

How to Play Minesweeper

On mobile devices, you can zoom in and drag the canvas to play. Enabling the auto-flag mode makes it easier to play on your phone. iOS users can add this page to their home screen in Safari for quick access.

Use the "Game" menu to change the difficulty level.

• Left-click: When in "Dig" mode (default), uncover a square. When in "Flag" mode, place or remove a red flag. When in "Mark" mode, add or remove a temporary colored mark on a square (the mark will be removed automatically when the square is uncovered).
• Right-click: Place a red flag to mark a potential mine, click again to remove the flag.
• Click on numbers: Left-click on an uncovered number to reveal all surrounding squares, as long as you have marked enough mines around that number.
• New game: Click the smiley face or the sad face to start a new game.
• Auto-Flag: You can turn the auto-flag feature on or off in the "Game" menu.

Minesweeper Rules

Minesweeper is a game of chance, but not entirely! There are patterns and strategies you can use to improve your chances of winning.

• The board: The Minesweeper board contains two types of squares: safe squares and squares containing mines.
• Goal: Find all the mines! More precisely, explore all the squares while avoiding the mines. The winning condition is to uncover all the safe squares, not just mark all the mine-containing squares.
• Avoiding mines: By using the information provided by the safe squares, you can deduce whether a surrounding square contains a mine or not.
• Types of safe squares:
  • Numbers: Indicate the number of mines in the eight surrounding squares. In the image below, the red square with the number 2 means that there are 2 mines in the eight squares around it, which are marked with red flags.
  
  • Blank: Indicates that there are no mines in the surrounding squares. When you click on a blank square, it will automatically uncover the adjacent squares.

Minesweeper Tips and Strategies

For beginners: Start by using the number information to find some mines (it's recommended to turn off the "Auto-Flag" mode to practice finding mines yourself).

Next step: Combine information from 2-3 numbers to find mines that are not as obvious (if you have the "Auto-Flag" mode on, the obvious mines will be automatically marked, so you'll need to use your reasoning and analysis skills for the remaining squares).

Third step: Start recognizing and summarizing common patterns to improve your speed.

While many patterns have already been documented, discovering and summarizing them yourself is part of the fun of Minesweeper. Enjoy the process!