By Noyon Rahman · Updated August 2026 · Reviewed for accuracy against the live game

About Minesweeper

Minesweeper is the logic game that shipped with Windows for thirty years and quietly turned a generation into probability thinkers. A grid hides a field of mines, and every square you open reveals how many mines sit in the eight cells around it. Use those numbers to deduce where the mines are, flag them, and clear every safe square without detonating a single one. This version keeps the classic formula with three difficulty presets, from a gentle 9x9 board to a sprawling 30x16 expert field, plus a custom option for grids of your own design.

How to Play Minesweeper

Left-click a square to open it. If it hides a mine, the game ends instantly. If it is safe, it shows a number from 1 to 8 telling you how many mines touch that square, and an empty square floods open all the safe ground around it automatically. Right-click a square you suspect to place a flag. Work from the numbers: a square marked 3 means exactly three of its eight neighbours are mines, so once three flags surround it, every other neighbour is safe to open. The first click is always safe, so every game starts from knowledge rather than a coin toss. Clear every square that does not hide a mine to win, and race the clock on the higher presets for bragging rights.

Tips & Strategies

Open a central square first: it is always safe here and usually floods open a large patch of free ground.
Treat a 1 that touches one unopened square as a flag, because that hidden cell must be a mine.
Learn the classic patterns such as the 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1 walls, which resolve whole edges in seconds.
Count flags against the mine total for the board before guessing, because a lucky-looking corner may already be solved.
Flag only when you are sure: an incorrect flag wastes a click and confuses your later reading of the numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Minesweeper pure logic or do I have to guess?

Some board positions are genuinely ambiguous and force a guess, even for experts. Strong players learn to spot which patterns are solvable and which are not, then pick the guess that risks the fewest squares. That is where the real skill lives.

What are the difficulty presets?

Easy is a 9x9 board with 10 mines, Medium is a 16x16 board with 40 mines, and Hard is a 30x16 field with 99 mines. A custom option also lets you set your own width, height, and mine count, so the challenge scales from a warm-up to a serious slog.

What does the flag do?

A flag marks a square you believe hides a mine. It protects that square from being opened and helps you track your deductions while you solve the rest of the board. The counter at the top shows how many mines are still unaccounted for, which guides your later judgement.

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