MineOnline
Play
Most "versus" minesweeper gives each player their own board and compares the clocks. A 1v1 duel in MineOnline puts you both on the same board at the same time. Every tile you open becomes your territory, and every tile your opponent opens is one you can no longer have. It is minesweeper pvp in the literal sense: you are fighting over the same numbers.
How a duel works
- One board: 26×18 tiles with 80 mines. You each start in your own opening on opposite sides.
- Rounds of 2 minutes. A round ends when the clock runs out or the last safe tile is opened.
- Fog of war: you only see three tiles around your own territory, so you have to dig toward your opponent to find out what they are doing.
- A mine does not end your game. It stuns you for 2.5 seconds and costs two points.
- First to 20 points wins the match, usually in three rounds (9 at most).
Scoring a round
| For | Points |
|---|---|
| Territory: your share of the safe tiles | up to 12 |
| Clutch: opening the last safe tile on the board | +3 |
| Flawless: a round without hitting a mine | +2 |
| Each opponent caught by your tripwire | +2 |
| Each mine you hit | −2 |
With 388 safe tiles on the board, one point of territory is about 32 tiles. That number decides most of the tactics: see when a guess is worth it.
Sabotage in a duel
Before each round you both draft one card, and whoever is behind picks first. Smoke hides your opponent's view, Freeze stops them digging for three seconds, a Tripwire turns a tile into a snare, a Shield absorbs your next mine. You hold at most two cards, so playing one at the right moment matters more than collecting them.
You cannot be walled in
If your opponent takes every safe tile you can see, you are not out of the round. Three seconds later you get sight of a marked safe tile in the largest open stretch of the board and carry on from there. Boxing someone in costs them tempo, not the round.
Rating and ranks
Everyone starts at 1000. Your rating moves after every duel by the Elo formula: beat someone rated above you and you gain a lot, lose to someone below you and you lose a lot. Your first ten duels move it faster, so you reach your level quickly. Leaving a duel counts as a loss.
| Rank | Rating from |
|---|---|
| Sweeper III | 900 |
| Sweeper II | 966 |
| Sweeper I | 1033 |
| Surveyor | 1100 |
| Demolitionist | 1300 |
| Bomb Whisperer | 1500 |
| Octet | 1700 |
Top of the ladder right now
| # | Player | Rank | Rating | Duels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JeffDestroyer88 | Sweeper I | 1045 | 2 |
| 2 | Jeff | Sweeper III | 955 | 2 |
How to get a match
Ranked needs a saved account (a name and a password, no email), so a rating belongs to one person. Press Ranked and you are matched with someone near your rating; the longer you wait, the wider the search gets. If you would rather pick your opponent, open a private lobby with two seats and send them the link: same game, no rating at stake.