Minesweeper

Boards that never come down to a coin flip

Minesweeper can reach a point where two squares are equally likely and the only move left is a guess. Before a board is handed to you here it is solved with the same rules you get, and a board that logic cannot finish is thrown away and drawn again. What you play can be cleared from the first click to the last square without guessing once.

The hint names the two numbers it used

Hint does not open a square for you. It lights the numbers the move rests on and calls the move by them — a 1-2, a 1-1 — and then shows what follows from it. Read the reason, close the card, and play the move yourself. Longer shapes such as 1-2-1 are two of these in a row, and the patterns page takes them apart.

Questions people ask

Is the first click always safe?

Yes. The mines are placed after that click, and none of them lands on the square you opened or on the eight around it. That is why a first click usually opens a whole region.

Can a board still end in a 50/50?

Not one dealt here. The board is solved before you see it, and if logic cannot finish it, it is discarded and another is drawn.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in the browser. You can add it to a home screen if you would rather it opened like an app.

Do flags do anything?

They mark what you have worked out. You can clear a board without placing one — but once a number has all its mines flagged, clicking that number opens the rest of its neighbours at once.

Is the daily board the same for everyone?

For everyone playing on the same date, yes. The board comes from the date itself, so it does not change while the day lasts.

If you want the details

• Rules — What a number counts, what flags do, and what chording is
• How to play — The order to work a board, from the first click
• Daily — One board a day, the same one for everyone
• No-Guessing Minesweeper — How every board is checked, and what the check throws away
• 3BV and 3BV/s — What 3BV and 3BV/s measure, and the 3BV range of the boards here
• 50/50s in Minesweeper — The shapes that force a guess, with the exact odds on each
• Beginner 9×9 · Intermediate 16×16 · Expert 30×16