How to play Minesweeper

The rules: what you are trying to do

A Minesweeper board begins with covered squares. Some hide mines; the rest are safe. Reveal a safe square and you see either a number or an empty space. Reveal a mine and a classic game ends. You win by revealing all the safe squares. You do not have to flag every mine to win.

Flags are notes you place on squares you believe contain mines. They help you keep track of deductions and avoid opening those squares accidentally. A flag does not verify a mine: the game lets you place an incorrect flag. Treat a flag as a conclusion you can explain, rather than a way to test a suspicion.

In Minesweeper Now, your first reveal is safe. That protection applies to the opening, not every later move. The generator does not guarantee that the entire board can be solved without guessing. Other Minesweeper games may use different opening rules, so check the rules of the version you are playing.

How to read numbers and empty squares

A clue counts the mines in the eight positions around it: above, below, left, right, and the four diagonals. A 1 means exactly one touching mine; a 2 means exactly two. It does not tell you the direction. A mine can touch several numbered squares, so those clues may all be describing the same mine.

At the edge, a square has fewer neighbors. A non-corner edge square has five; a corner has three. Count only squares that actually exist on the board. Board edges are useful because they can reduce the number of possible mine positions.

An empty square is a zero: none of its neighbors contain mines. Opening an empty region automatically reveals connected empty squares and their bordering clues. This often produces your first useful area of information. An opening can be large without making the rest of the board safe.

Work with the covered neighbors of a clue. Already revealed squares cannot contain mines. If a 1 touches five revealed squares and one covered square, the covered square is a mine. You do not need to know where every mine on the board is to make that local deduction.

Two rules that solve most beginner moves

All remaining neighbors are mines: subtract the number of proven neighboring mines from the clue. If that remainder equals the number of unflagged covered neighbors, every one of those neighbors is a mine. For example, a 3 touching one proven mine and two covered squares requires a mine in both squares.

All remaining neighbors are safe: if the clue already touches its required number of proven mines, every other covered neighbor is safe. A 2 with two correct neighboring flags has no room for another mine.

The word “proven” matters. If a flag was only a guess, using it as evidence can turn a seemingly safe move into a mine hit. When a deduction feels inconsistent, revisit uncertain flags before opening more squares.

Reveal, flag, and chord: the controls

Chording is a shortcut that opens the remaining unflagged neighbors of a satisfied clue. It checks the number of flags, not whether they are correct. If the flags are misplaced, a chord can reveal a mine. Establish the mines first; use the shortcut second.

The lesson below starts with two flags that are known to be correct. Its 2 is satisfied, so the remaining neighbor is safe. In the full game, a clue with too few or too many flags will not perform this reveal.

For larger boards on a touch screen, use pinch-to-zoom and swipe to move around. The game’s Help & controls also lists keyboard controls. Take a moment to check whether Flag mode is on before tapping: a flagging action is different from a reveal.

Choose a board you can learn from

Beginner is a good starting point because there are fewer squares to scan and fewer mines per square. Intermediate gives you a larger frontier and more overlapping clues. Expert has both more squares and a higher mine density, which makes tracking constraints harder.

Start by finishing a Beginner board without rushing. Say the reason for each flag or reveal in a short sentence: “This 1 has only one covered neighbor,” or “Both mines for this 2 are already found.” Move up when you can distinguish a deduction from a guess, rather than after a single lucky win.

You can also create custom boards in the standard game. A larger board at a low mine density can give you more space to practice scanning, but difficulty depends on the actual arrangement as well as density. No difficulty setting guarantees a guess-free game here.

A complete routine for your first game

1. Open a square. In this version the first reveal is safe.
2. Look along the boundary between revealed and covered squares. Focus on clues with few covered neighbors.
3. Flag only the mines that the clues force.
4. Return to nearby clues. New flags may prove that their remaining neighbors are safe.
5. Reveal those safe neighbors, then scan the new boundary.
6. If progress stops, compare overlapping clues. If no deduction exists, recognize that the next move may be a guess.

Do not click randomly just because you have been looking for a while. A slower scan may find a satisfied clue you missed. Conversely, do not interpret every loss as a failure of logic: some classic boards contain unavoidable ambiguity.

After a loss, separate the kind of error. Did you miss a diagonal neighbor, trust a speculative flag, misapply a pattern, or take a genuine guess? Your recent-game replays can help you inspect the position. Fixing one recurring mistake is more useful than immediately starting another game at a higher difficulty.

Common beginner questions

Do flags make a square safe?

No. A flag records your belief that a square contains a mine and prevents an ordinary reveal there. It does not change the mine arrangement or confirm that your belief is correct.

Does a 1 mean the square above it is a mine?

No. The mine can be in any touching position, including diagonally. The square above is a mine only when other clues or revealed squares rule out every alternative.

Do I have to flag the last mine?

No. The classic win condition is revealing every safe square. You may use flags to organize the solution, but flags alone do not clear the board.

Can I always solve a board logically?

No. A safe first click is not the same as a no-guess board. When multiple arrangements satisfy every visible clue, you may need to choose a square without certainty.