How to play minesweeper online
Minesweeper online works like the classic game: the board hides a set number of mines, and your job is to open every square that does not hide one. Open a square and it shows a number: how many of the eight squares around it hold a mine. A square with no mines around it opens its neighbors for you, which is why one click can clear a large area. Open every safe square and you win; open a mine and the game is over.
Your first click is always safe, and it always opens an area: the mines are placed only after that click, away from the square you chose and its neighbors. The clock starts with that click and stops when you win. The counter on the left shows the mines left, which is the total minus the flags you have placed.
Controls
- Mouse: left click opens a square, right click places or removes a flag. Click an opened number, or press both buttons on it, to chord: when the number of flags around it matches the number, every other square around it opens at once.
- Touch: tap to open, press and hold to flag. If you prefer, switch the Dig and Flag toggle under the board so a tap places flags. Tap an opened number to chord.
- Keyboard: arrow keys move between squares, Enter or Space opens, F flags, H asks for a hint and N starts a new game.
Levels
The three standard sizes are here: beginner (9 x 9, 10 mines), intermediate (16 x 16, 40 mines) and expert (30 x 16, 99 mines). Custom lets you choose up to 40 columns, 30 rows and any number of mines that leaves room to start. On a narrow phone screen the expert board is turned on its side, 16 squares wide and 30 tall, so the squares stay big enough to tap.
Strategy that works
Almost every move in minesweeper comes from two simple checks. If a number already touches as many flags as its value, every other hidden square around it is safe. If a number has exactly as many hidden squares around it as its value, all of them are mines. Most of the rest comes from comparing two neighboring numbers: a 1 next to a 2 along a wall, for example, often proves which square holds the extra mine.
Late in the game, use the mine counter: when only a few mines are left, the total can prove squares safe that the numbers alone cannot. And sometimes the numbers really do not decide, for example two squares with one mine between them and nothing else to go on. Then you have to guess, and the best guess is the square with the lowest chance of a mine, which is exactly what the hint computes.
How the hint works
The Hint button sends the numbers you have opened to the same engine that runs our minesweeper solver. It ignores your flags, because a flag can be wrong, and it never looks at where the mines really are. It lists every way the remaining mines could be placed that fits all the numbers and the total, then rings one square that is safe in every one of those layouts and says why. If no square is certainly safe, it rings the square with the lowest chance of a mine and shows that chance. It also tells you when one of your flags sits on a square the numbers prove safe. Games where you used a hint still count as won, but not for best times.
No-guess mode
Switch on No-guess board before your first click and the board is built so that it can be cleared from that click by logic alone. After you click, the page deals random layouts with a safe opening and plays each one through with the solver, using only squares it can prove safe or mined. The first layout that can be cleared to the end is the one you get. In our tests this took 1.1 tries on average at beginner, 1.4 at intermediate and 5.8 at expert, a fraction of a second on a laptop. Every one of the 450 no-guess boards in the test was then replayed by a separate check and cleared without a single guess. For crowded custom boards a no-guess layout may not exist; if none turns up within five seconds the page tells you and gives you a normal board.
Statistics, classic look and challenges
Under the board, Your statistics shows for each level your games, wins, win rate, current and best winning streak, best time and five best times, and for your wins the average 3BV, average 3BV/s and best 3BV/s. 3BV is the smallest number of clicks that clears the board without flags: one click for each opening (a group of squares with no mine around them, which opens with its edge in one click) plus one for every other safe square. 3BV/s divides it by your time, so a fast win on a hard board shows up even when the clock says otherwise. Everything is kept in this browser only: nothing is uploaded and there is no account, so there is no global leaderboard. Times and 3BV leave out games with hints, replayed boards, challenge boards and custom sizes.
Tick Classic look for gray beveled squares and red LED counters, like the old desktop game. After a game, Challenge a friend makes a link that holds the exact board, the square you opened first and your time. Your friend opens it, starts on the same square and sees how their time compares with yours.
Solver tested . Found a problem? Tell us.
Questions
Is the first click always safe in this minesweeper?
Yes. The mines are placed after your first click, never on that square and, when the board has room, never on the squares around it. So the first click always opens an area.
What is chording in minesweeper?
Chording opens all the hidden squares around a number in one action. It works when you have already flagged as many squares around the number as its value. Click or tap the opened number, or press both mouse buttons on it. If one of those flags is wrong, chording opens a mine, so flag carefully.
Why do I sometimes have to guess?
Because some layouts look the same from every number you can see. A common case is two squares with one mine between them at the edge of the board. No logic can tell them apart, so the classic game sometimes forces a guess. No-guess mode only deals boards where this never happens.
How does the no-guess mode know a board can be solved?
Before you see it, the board is played through by our solver engine, which only opens squares it can prove are safe and only marks squares it can prove are mines, using the numbers and the total mine count. If it can clear the whole board that way, so can you.
Does the hint cheat by looking at the mines?
No. The hint only sees the numbers you have opened and the total mine count. It works out what those numbers prove, exactly as you could on paper, which is why it sometimes has to say that no square is certainly safe.
Are my best times saved?
Yes, in your browser's local storage on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere. Clearing your browser data, or the Clear my times button, removes them.