How to play Minesweeper
- Click (or tap) a square to dig. Your first dig is always safe and opens up a starting area.
- A number shows how many of the eight neighbouring squares hold mines. Use those counts to deduce where mines are.
- Right-click, long-press, or switch on flag mode to mark squares you are sure are mines. The mine counter shows how many are left to find.
- Clear every safe square to win. Digging a mine ends the game and reveals the rest.
Scoring
- Your time in seconds is the score; lower is better.
- The best time for each difficulty is saved in your browser.
Tips
- Start with the numbers on the edge of an opened area. A 1 touching only one hidden square identifies a mine immediately.
- When a number already has its mines flagged, every other hidden neighbour is safe to dig.
- The 1-2-1 pattern along a straight edge means mines sit under both 1s; the 1-2-2-1 pattern puts them under the 2s.
- Guess only when logic runs out, and prefer squares next to the fewest numbers, where the mine density is lowest.
About Minesweeper
Minesweeper's ancestors date to the 1960s, but the version most people know shipped with Windows 3.1 in 1992 and quietly taught a generation to use a mouse. It is a pure deduction game: with the exception of the occasional forced guess, every board can be reasoned through.
This implementation guarantees that the first click and its neighbours are mine-free, supports flagging on touch screens with a long press or a flag mode, and allows full keyboard play with the arrow keys, Enter and F.
Scores and preferences for this game are stored only in your browser's local storage. Nothing is sent to a server and no account is needed. Browse all games.