How to play Minesweeper
Minesweeper takes a minute to learn: every number tells you how many mines are next to it, and your job is to open every cell that isn't a mine.
The goal
The board is a grid of covered cells. Some of them hide mines; the counter above the board shows how many. Open every cell that doesn't hide a mine and you win. Open one that does and the game is over: every mine is shown, and any flags you placed in the wrong spot are crossed out.
Your first click is always safe. The mines aren't placed until you make it, and the cell you click and its neighbours are kept clear, so the game always starts by opening an area rather than a lone number.
The numbers
An open cell shows how many mines are in the eight cells around it: above, below, to each side and on the four diagonals. A cell on the edge of the board has fewer neighbours, five, or three in a corner. An open cell with no mines around it is shown empty, and the game opens all of its neighbours for you, which is why a single click can clear a large area.
That's the whole game: compare each number with the covered cells around it and work out which ones are mines. Once you know, you can open the others safely. The strategy guide and the patterns page show how to do this quickly.
Flags
When you're sure a cell hides a mine, flag it: right-click it, long-press it on a touch screen, or turn on Flag mode so that every tap flags. Do the same again to take a flag off. A flagged cell can't be opened by accident, and the mine counter goes down by one for each flag.
Flags are just notes for yourself. The game doesn't check them while you play, so a wrong flag will mislead you until you notice it. You don't have to flag at all: you win by opening every safe cell, and any mines left unflagged are flagged for you when you do.
Opening around a number
Click an open number once all of its mines are flagged and the game opens every other covered cell around it in one go. Players call this chording. It saves a lot of clicks, but it trusts your flags: if one is wrong, chording opens a mine.
Levels
| Level | Size | Mines | Cells that are mines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 9 × 9 | 10 | 12.3% |
| Intermediate | 16 × 16 | 40 | 15.6% |
| Expert | 30 × 16 | 99 | 20.6% |
The levels get harder faster than their size suggests, because the mines get denser. On Beginner most clicks open big empty areas; on Expert there are far fewer, the numbers run higher, and you'll meet more places where the numbers alone can't decide.
Controls
Mouse
- Click a covered cell to open it.
- Right-click a covered cell to flag it, or to remove its flag.
- Click or middle-click an open number to open around it.
Touch
- Tap to open a cell, and long-press to flag it.
- Or turn on Flag mode beside the board: taps then flag instead of opening.
- On a small screen, the Expert board scrolls sideways.
Keyboard
- Tab into the board, then move with the arrow keys, Home and End.
- Enter or Space opens the cell, or opens around a number.
- F flags or unflags the cell.
The clock, hints and your record
The clock starts with your first click and stops when the game ends. Your record keeps the games played and won, your current and longest winning streaks, and your best time on each level. Hint finds a cell that can be worked out from what's showing, or tells you that a guess is needed. Hinted games still count as wins, but don't set a best time, and neither does Try this board again after a loss.
Ready? Start a game.