Once you know the rules, what is left is the order. Boards here are built to be solvable without guessing, so alternating the two moves below will take you to the last square.
Start anywhere
The board is built after you click. Any square is safe and opens a region, so there is nothing to weigh up about where to begin. You will hear that you should start at an edge — on a board with a safe first click there is nothing behind that advice.
The two moves that do the work
Both are mines. When a number can see exactly as many unopened squares as it counts, there is nothing left to work out. The mirror image is just as useful: once a number has found all its mines, everything else it sees is safe. These two open most of a board.
The left 1 sees two squares, and the 1 beside it sees both of them too. Both numbers are pointing at the same single mine, so the square only the right 1 can see holds nothing. Counting alone settles nothing here. Chaining this comparison is what makes 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1.
The two 1s see exactly the same squares, so nothing tells them apart. That is a coin flip, not skill. Scattered at random, twenty-four out of twenty-five expert boards end up with a spot like this somewhere — which is why every board is checked before you get it.
When you are stuck
The hint does not lead with the answer. It says where to look, why it follows, and what to do, one card at a time, and only touches the board on the last one. Opening a hint and closing it again costs nothing.
Getting faster
| Use chording | Click a number you have fully flagged and the rest opens at once. It cuts far more clicks than opening one square at a time |
|---|---|
| Flag less | Flags are not needed to win. Fast players place only the ones chording needs |
| Watch your 3BV | Two boards cleared in the same time can need very different numbers of clicks. Time on its own mixes in luck |