Rules · 1 player

How to play Minesweeper

Open every square that does not hide a mine, using the numbers to work out where the mines are.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   Tap or click any square to open it. The first square you open is always safe.

2. 2

   A number tells you how many mines touch that square, counting all eight neighbours including the diagonals.

3. 3

   An empty square has no mines touching it at all, so the board opens up around it automatically.

4. 4

   Long-press on a phone, or right-click on a computer, to plant a flag where you believe a mine is.

5. 5

   Open every safe square to win. Tap a mine and the game is over.

Three tips that change how you play

• A one touching exactly one unopened square means that square is a mine. This single rule solves most of the board.
• Flags are for you, not the game — use them to keep track, but do not waste time flagging what you already know.
• When the numbers genuinely run out, guess in a corner. Corners touch fewer squares, so they are the cheapest place to be wrong.

Reading two numbers against each other

Picture a one and a two side by side along the edge of the opened area, each touching the same run of three unopened squares. The one tells you exactly one of its neighbours is a mine; the two tells you exactly two of its neighbours are. The two touches all three squares, the one touches only the leftmost pair. If the mine that the one can see is in the leftmost pair, then the two still needs another mine, and the only square it can be is the third one on the right. So the rightmost square is a mine regardless of how the pair resolves, and you can flag it immediately. Playing two numbers off each other like this is what separates a cleared board from a coin flip.

Three mistakes that cost beginners the game

Counting only the four squares up, down, left and right.

A number counts all eight neighbours, diagonals included. Almost every early misread comes from forgetting the corners of the little square around the digit.

Flagging every square that might be a mine.

Flags do nothing except help you think. Flagging uncertain squares clutters the board and makes the counting harder — flag only what you have proved.

Clicking somewhere random when progress stalls.

Before guessing, walk the border between opened and unopened squares and re-count each number against its neighbours. A forced move is usually hiding one number away from where you were looking.

Common questions about Minesweeper