Minesweeper

About Minesweeper

Minesweeper is the enduring logic puzzle game included with Windows since 1990 and familiar to generations of computer users. The premise is simple: a grid contains hidden mines, and adjacent squares display numbers indicating how many mines are touching them. Using the number clues, you systematically flag all mine locations and uncover all safe squares without detonating a mine.

The game is a perfect information logic puzzle in almost all circumstances — aside from some unavoidable guessing situations at the start or in isolated ambiguous regions, every correct cell can be deduced through logical reasoning from the number clues available. Advanced players rarely click randomly after the opening move.

Core Solving Techniques

The basic rule: if a number equals the count of its adjacent unrevealed squares, all of them are mines — flag them all. If a number equals the count of its adjacent flagged mines, all remaining adjacent unrevealed squares are safe — click them all. The most powerful advanced technique is constraint subtraction: if two overlapping numbered regions differ in their mine count by exactly the number of non-overlapping squares in the higher-count region, those squares must all be mines. This single technique resolves the majority of situations that appear stuck to beginners. Expert mode on the standard grid is the recognised skill benchmark.