How to Play Minesweeper: Rules, Numbers, Flags (Free)

Minesweeper is a logic puzzle on a grid of covered squares, some hiding mines. Click a square to open it. If it's a mine, you lose. If not, it shows a number: how many of the eight squares touching it hide mines. Use those numbers to work out where the mines are, flag them, and open every safe square to win. You can play it right now in the free Minesweeper game, and your first click is always safe.

What the numbers mean

Every opened square that isn't a mine shows how many mines are among its neighbours: the squares directly above, below, left, right and on the four diagonals. That's up to eight squares (fewer at the edges and corners).

You see	It means
Blank (no number)	None of the 8 neighbours is a mine. The game opens them all for you.
1	Exactly one neighbour is a mine.
2	Exactly two neighbours are mines.
... up to 8	All eight neighbours are mines (rare).

A blank square opens its neighbours automatically, and any of those that are blank open theirs, so one click can clear a large area. That's what happens on your first click.

The basic logic

Two simple rules solve most of the board:

1. If a number has exactly as many covered neighbours as its value, they're all mines. A 1 with only one covered square beside it: that square is a mine. Flag it.
2. If a number already has all its mines flagged, its other covered neighbours are safe. A 2 touching two flags: open everything else around it.

Go back and forth between these two rules and the board keeps opening up. When they stop working, look at pairs of numbers together, which is where patterns like 1-2-1 come in. Minesweeper patterns shows the common ones.

Flagging mines

A flag marks a square you're sure hides a mine. It stops you from opening it by accident, and the Mines left counter goes down by one. Flags are optional; you win by opening every safe square, whether you've flagged the mines or not. When you win, the game flags all the mines for you.

The Mines left counter is simply the number of mines minus the flags you've placed. If you put a flag in the wrong place, the counter can't tell you; it only counts.

Chording: opening around a number in one go

Once a number has the right number of flags around it, click the number itself. Every other covered square around it opens at once. This is called chording, and it's the biggest time-saver in the game.

It works with a left-click or a right-click on the number. Be careful: if one of those flags is wrong, chording opens a mine and the game is over, just as in the classic Windows game.

How to play the free Minesweeper game

1. Open the free Minesweeper game and choose a Level:

Level	Grid	Mines	Share of squares with a mine
Beginner	9 × 9	10	about 12%
Intermediate	16 × 16	40	about 16%
Expert	30 × 16	99	about 21%

2. Click any square to start. Mines are placed after your first click, away from the square you clicked and its eight neighbours, so the first click always opens an area.
3. Click to open a square. Right-click to place or remove a flag.
4. Click a number whose mines are all flagged to open the rest around it.
5. Open every safe square to win. Your time is shown as you play, and your Best time for each level is saved in your browser.

New game starts again on the same level. Changing the level starts a new board too.

Playing on a phone or tablet

There's no right-click on a touchscreen, so you have two options:

• Press and hold a square for about half a second to flag it. The phone gives a short buzz if it supports vibration.
• Turn on Flag mode above the board. While it's on, every tap places or removes a flag; turn it off to go back to opening squares.

On a narrow screen, the Expert board turns on its side (16 wide and 30 tall) so you can scroll down instead of sideways.

Your first games

• Start on Beginner. It's quick, and most games can be solved with the two basic rules.
• Start from the open area. After your first click, work outwards along the edge of the cleared region.
• Flag as you go at first. Once you're comfortable, you can play faster by only flagging where it helps you chord.
• Don't guess while there's logic left. Look at every number on the edge of the open area before you take a chance.

Sometimes, though, the numbers really don't decide it, and you must guess. That's part of classic Minesweeper. Is Minesweeper luck? explains when guessing is forced and how to make the safest guess.

If you enjoy number logic, the free Sudoku game is a calmer puzzle with no luck at all.

Play a game now

Pick Beginner and make your first click: it's always safe. The free Minesweeper game runs in your browser with no sign-up and nothing to download.