The Complete Beginner's Guide to Minesweeper

1. What minesweeper is (and the one rule)

A minesweeper board is a grid of covered squares. Hidden somewhere underneath is a fixed number of mines— you can always see how many are left in the counter above the board. Your job is to reveal every square that is not a mine. Reveal them all and you win; click a single mine and the game is over.

Here is the entire rule, the only one you ever need to remember: the number on a revealed square tells you exactly how many mines are hidden in the eight squares that touch it. That's it. Everything else in this guide is just clever ways of using that one rule.

One detail that changes everything for beginners: your first click is always safe. The mines are placed only after you make your opening move, so you can never lose on the first click. That first reveal usually opens up a large area to start reasoning from.

2. How to read the numbers

When you reveal a square, one of three things happens. You see a number from 1 to 8, a blank square, or — if you were unlucky — a mine. A number like 3 means “exactly 3 of my 8 neighbors are mines.” A blank square means none of its neighbors are mines — so the game safely reveals all of them for you automatically, often cascading open a big empty region.

Let's make that concrete with a tiny corner of a board. Below, a covered square is shown as █, a revealed number speaks for itself, and a square you have proven to be a mine is marked with a flag F. Here is a small situation to read:

  1  1  1
  1  █  █
  1  █  █

Now reason it out one square at a time:

• ✓The 1 in the top-left corner touches three covered squares (right, below, and diagonally below-right). Exactly one of those three is a mine — but you can't yet tell which.
• ✓Look instead at how the numbers overlap. Every revealed 1 along the top and left edge sees some of the same covered squares. The single mine they all share must be the one square every 1 can see.
• ✓That shared square is the covered cell diagonally inside the corner. Flag it — and now every surrounding 1 is satisfied, which means the other covered squares are all safe to reveal.

That is the heart of minesweeper: a number is a constraint, and when two numbers constrain the same covered squares, you can often pin a mine down exactly. The key insight: compare neighbouring numbers, don't read each one in isolation.

3. The first moves to make on any board

When a fresh board appears, don't try to read it all at once. Run through these moves in order and you'll almost always crack it open:

1. 1
   Click the middle first

   Your first click is safe, and clicking near the center tends to open the largest cascade of blank squares. A big opening gives you many edge numbers to start reasoning from — far more useful than a lonely click in a corner.

2. 2
   Find the easy mines

   Scan for any number whose count of remaining covered neighbors equals the number itself. A 3 touching exactly three covered squares means all three are mines — flag them immediately. This is the fastest way to lock down certain mines.

3. 3
   Find the easy safes

   Now look for any number that already has all its mines flagged. Every other covered square it touches is guaranteed safe — reveal them all. Satisfied numbers are a goldmine of free, risk-free clicks.

4. 4
   Work the edges and compare numbers

   Most deductions live along the frontier where revealed numbers meet covered squares. Whenever two numbers share covered neighbors, compare what each one needs. That overlap is where the 1-2-1 and counting patterns in the techniques guide do their work.

That loop — flag the certain mines, reveal the certain safes, then compare the numbers along the edge — is most of the game. When you want sharper tools (the 1-2-1 pattern, counting, chording), the advanced solving techniques page goes deeper.

4. Flagging is how you keep track

A flag marks a square you have proven contains a mine. Right-click (or long-press on mobile) a covered square to plant one; right-click again to remove it. Flags do two jobs: they stop you accidentally clicking a known mine, and they make the surrounding numbers far easier to read at a glance.

Be honest with your flags. A flag should mean “I have proven this is a mine,” not “I have a hunch.” A wrong flag is worse than no flag at all, because it makes every neighbouring number lie to you — and if you later chord on that number (more on that in the techniques guide), a bad flag will detonate a real mine.

You do not actually have to flag every mine to win — you only need to reveal every safe square. But flagging the mines you are sure of keeps the board readable and unlocks chording, which is the key to fast play. If a term ever trips you up — chord, flood fill, frontier — the glossary defines them all.

5. Closing out a board (and the dreaded 50/50)

As the board fills in, keep cycling: satisfied numbers hand you free safe squares, and squares forced to be mines tighten the remaining numbers. You win the instant the last safe square is revealed — you do not have to flag every mine first.

Occasionally you will reach a spot where pure logic runs out and two covered squares are equally likely to be the last mine — a genuine 50/50. This is rare on the easier boards and is the one moment minesweeper can ask you to guess. Before you do, double-check: most apparent 50/50s dissolve once you recount a nearby number or use the total mine counter. The techniques guide covers how to dodge most of them.

Closing lines out as you go is also how you catch mistakes early. If a number ends up surrounded by more flags than its value allows, you know a flag is wrong — and you can fix it before it costs you the game. Validate as you go, trust the numbers, and the board will clear, one safe square at a time.