Minesweeper

How to play Minesweeper

The board is a grid of covered squares. Some of them hide mines. Click a square to uncover it. If it is a mine, the game ends. If it is safe, it shows a number from 1 to 8 telling you how many of the eight surrounding squares contain mines. A square with no neighbouring mines is blank, and the game automatically opens all of its neighbours for you.

Your first click is always safe. Win by uncovering every square that does not contain a mine. Flags are optional, but they help you keep track of mines you have found.

Controls

Difficulty levels

Logic patterns to learn

• Count the corners. A 1 in the corner of an opened area that touches only one covered square means that square is a mine.
• The 1-2-1 pattern. Along a straight wall, a 1-2-1 means the squares next to both 1s are mines and the square next to the 2 is safe.
• The 1-2-2-1 pattern. Along a wall, the mines sit beside the two 2s.
• Satisfied numbers. Once a number has that many flags around it, every other neighbour is safe. Click the number to open them all at once.

About this version

Minesweeper became one of the most played computer games ever after it was bundled with desktop operating systems in the 1990s. Our version is built from scratch in JavaScript, sized for phones as well as desktops, and stores your best time for each level in your browser.