How to Play Minesweeper

The goal

A minesweeper board is a grid of hidden tiles. Some hide mines. Your job is to open every tile that isn't a mine. Open a mine and the game is over. The first click is always safe.

What the numbers mean

When you open a safe tile it shows a number: how many mines touch it, counting all eight neighbours (sides and corners). An empty tile means zero mines around it, and the game opens all its neighbours for you automatically. That's the big cascade you often see on the first click.

Step 1: find the certain mines

Look for a number that has exactly as many hidden neighbours as its value. Those hidden tiles must all be mines.

Step 2: find the certain safe tiles

Once a number already "sees" all its mines, every other hidden tile around it is safe.

Flagging

Right-click (or long-press on a phone) to plant a flag on a tile you know is a mine. Flags are reminders for you and they enable chording. Some fast players don't flag at all and just avoid known mines; either way is fine.

Chording: open several tiles in one click

When a number has as many flags around it as its value, click the number itself and all its other hidden neighbours open at once. This is the single biggest speed trick in minesweeper. In MineOnline you can also press Space or F over a tile to flag or chord.

When you have to guess

Sometimes the numbers really don't decide it, often in a 50/50 at the edge. Before guessing, make sure you've used every number on the board. If you must guess, pick the tile that opens the most information, or a tile far from the frontier where the odds are often better.

Board sizes

Next steps

Learn the handful of patterns that cover most situations, then try the Daily board or race other people in multiplayer minesweeper.