Beginner is the 9×9 board with 10 mines — one square in eight. The first click nearly always opens a large part of it, and what is left is mostly 1s sitting next to a single mine. It is the board for learning what a number is telling you, and later the board for practising speed, because a whole game fits in a few seconds.
This size in numbers
| Board | 9 × 9, 10 mines |
|---|---|
| Share of squares that are mines | 12.3% |
| Clicks to clear it (3BV), median | 15 |
| Random boards that would need a guess | 18% |
| First click opens (share of safe squares, median) | 66% |
| Time for the speed badge | 0:15 |
Measured on 300 boards from the same generator that deals yours. 3BV is the fewest clicks that clear a board. A board needs a guess when the three rules the hint uses — counting one number, comparing two numbers, and the total mine count — cannot finish it.
Once you can clear it
Beginner turns into a speed board. A median board here needs 15 clicks with perfect play, so the Quick beginner badge at 0:15 is about one click a second. Getting under it is less about thinking faster than about never clicking twice: open the obvious squares in one sweep along an edge, and flag only the mines you are about to chord around.
Questions about this size
- How many mines are in beginner Minesweeper?
- Ten, on a 9×9 board — one square in eight. The first Windows versions put the same ten mines on 8×8; Windows XP made it 9×9. Record lists still rank beginner on 8×8.
- Why does the first click open so much?
- Nothing is placed until you click, and the square you click and the eight around it are kept clear, so the first click always lands on an empty square. On beginner that one click opens a median 66% of the safe squares.
- Can a beginner board still come down to a guess?
- Drawn at random, 18% would — fewer than on the bigger boards, but not none. The boards here are checked first, so none of yours will.
Board sizes and the sizes record lists use come from the record keepers' ranking rules: minesweepergame.com/ranking-rules.php