Minesweeper

Rules

Pick Easy (8×8, 10 mines), Medium (10×10, 15 mines) or Hard (12×12, 25 mines). Reveal a cell to see its number: it counts the mines among its eight neighbours. Opening an empty cell clears the whole connected area automatically. You win when every safe cell is open; flags are optional. Your first click is always safe, because mines are placed only after it and never next to it.

Controls

• Left click or tap reveals a cell.
• Right click places or removes a flag.
• Flag mode button: on touch screens, turn it on and tap cells to flag them.
• Difficulty buttons switch the board size; New Game deals a fresh board.

Solving tips

• Start with certain moves: a 1 touching exactly one hidden cell means that cell is a mine.
• When a number already has all of its mines flagged, every other neighbour is safe to open.
• Learn the wall patterns: in a row of clues reading 1-2-1, the mines sit next to the two 1s; in 1-2-2-1, they sit next to the two 2s.
• Corners and edges have fewer neighbours, so their clues are often the easiest to solve.
• Watch the counter: it shows mines minus flags, which settles many endgame decisions.

History

Games built around hidden mines and number clues date back to the 1960s and 1970s, but Minesweeper became famous through Microsoft Windows, where it shipped with Windows 3.1 in 1992. For many people it was also practice for using the right mouse button.

FAQ

• Is the first click always safe? Yes. Mines are placed after your first click and kept away from that cell, so it always opens an area.
• How do I flag a mine on my phone? Turn on Flag mode under the board, tap the cells you want to mark, then turn it off to keep revealing.
• Is every board solvable without guessing? Not always. Random boards can create true 50/50 situations where no clue decides between two cells.

Build it yourself

Curious how this game works? Our step-by-step tutorial How to Make Minesweeper in JavaScript rebuilds it from this page's code, with examples you can copy.