How to Play Minesweeper

THE PLAYBOOK · XH0411

How to play Minesweeper

The XH0411 guide to Minesweeper starts with one decision at a time. Your task is to open all 71 safe cells. Opening a mine ends the round. Flags help you mark suspected mines but do not replace opening safe cells. The controls and example below describe this exact implementation.

One decision at a time

Focus on the next valid action. After taking it, check how the position or game state changed before making another choice.

Your goal

Open all 71 safe cells. Opening a mine ends the round. Flags help you mark suspected mines but do not replace opening safe cells.

Step by step

1. Open a covered square to reveal it.
2. A number counts mines in the surrounding eight positions.
3. Right-click to flag on a computer, or enable Flag mode on a phone.
4. Use safe deductions to open the remaining cells.

Controls

Click/tap to open. Right-click to flag, or use the Flag mode toggle for touch devices.

A useful example

A revealed 1 with only one covered neighbour means that neighbour contains a mine.

Watch out for this

A flag is your own note, not a confirmation from the game. Remove a mistaken flag before opening that square.

Common questions