How to Play Minesweeper
Minesweeper is a single-player logic puzzle. The goal is to reveal every safe square on a grid without triggering a hidden mine. Here is everything you need to know to play.
The basics
The board is a grid of covered squares. A fixed number of mines are hidden underneath -- you can see the mine count displayed above the board. Your job is to uncover every square that does not contain a mine.
Left-click any square to reveal it. Your first click is always safe -- mines are placed after your first move, guaranteeing you never explode on the opening move.
Reading the numbers
When you reveal a square, one of three things appears:
- A blank square -- no mines touch it at all. The game automatically reveals all adjacent blank squares in a flood-fill, giving you a big open area to work from.
- A number (1--8) -- exactly that many mines are hidden in the eight squares surrounding it. Use this to deduce where mines are.
- A mine -- game over. The board resets and you can try again.
Flagging mines
Right-click (or long-press on mobile) a covered square to place a flag. A flag marks a square you believe contains a mine -- it also prevents you from accidentally clicking it. The mine counter at the top decreases with each flag placed.
Right-click a flagged square again to remove the flag.
Chording (advanced)
Once you have revealed a number and placed exactly the right number of flags around it, you can left-click the number itself to automatically reveal all remaining unflagged neighbors. This technique is called chording and is the key to playing quickly.
Be careful -- if any of your flags are wrong, chording will detonate a mine.
Keyboard shortcuts
Winning
You win when every safe square has been revealed. You do not need to flag all the mines -- just uncover everything that is not a mine. A win animation plays and your time is recorded.
Difficulty levels
Strategy tips
- Start in the middle of the board -- your first click opens a larger safe area.
- Look for corners and edges where a number equals the count of remaining covered neighbors -- those are all mines.
- Use the 1-2 pattern: if a 1 and 2 share uncovered neighbors, the mine must be in the spot the 2 sees but the 1 does not.
- When completely stuck, guess near already-revealed areas where probability is lowest.
- Use chording aggressively once you are confident in your flags -- it saves seconds.
Related terms
Minesweeper is also known as mine sweeper, mines, or campo minado. It is a deduction puzzle similar in spirit to nonograms, Sudoku, and other logic grid games. The classic version ships with older versions of Windows.