How to play Minesweeper

Minesweeper is the classic deduction puzzle. Every number tells you how many mines touch that square — read the numbers, mark the mines with flags, and open every safe square.

Steps

1. Tap any square to start. The first tap is always safe.
2. A number shows how many mines touch that square, counting all eight neighbours.
3. Long-press or right-click to plant a flag where you are sure a mine is.
4. Open every square that is not a mine to clear the board.

Tips that actually help

• Start in a corner: fewer neighbours means less to work out.
• When a number already has that many flags around it, every remaining neighbour is safe — tap them all.
• Use the flag button to switch your tap into a flag, which is easier than long-pressing on a phone.

What is Minesweeper?

Minesweeper hides a fixed number of mines in a grid of squares. Opening a square either reveals a number — the count of mines in the eight squares around it — or a mine, which ends the round. The game gives you no luck-based choices after the first tap: every square can be worked out from the numbers already on the board.

Reading the numbers

The number 1 next to a corner square is the easiest place to start, because it has only three hidden neighbours. Get in the habit of asking, for each number, which of its neighbours *must* be a mine and which *cannot* be. Those two questions solve almost every board.

Chording, the one advanced move

Once a number has exactly as many flags around it as its value, you do not need to flag anything else around it. Tapping the number again opens every remaining neighbour at once. On a large board this is what turns a slow scan into a quick clear.