Learn Minesweeper: A Beginner's Guide
Minesweeper is a solo logic puzzle on a grid of hidden squares, a few of which hide mines. Every number you uncover counts the mines touching that square — all eight neighbours, diagonals included. Reading those counts is the game. The boards here are no-guess: each one is generated so it can be finished by deduction alone, so when you are stuck there is always a square you can prove, and never a coin flip.
▶ Play Minesweeper free — learn by doing
How a game works, step by step
- Setup. Pick a size: Easy is 9×9 with 10 mines, Medium 13×13 with 28, Hard 16×16 with 45. Mines are only placed after your first click, so your opening square is always safe.
- Reading a number. A square showing 3 touches exactly three mines among its eight neighbours. A blank square touches none, so the board opens up around it automatically.
- The first deduction. If a number has exactly as many hidden neighbours as its own count, every one of them is a mine. A 1 with a single hidden neighbour has just told you where a mine is.
- The second deduction. If a number already has all of its mines accounted for, every other neighbour is safe to open. These two rules alone finish most of a board.
- Flags and winning. Flag squares you have proved are mines — flags are bookkeeping for you, not points. You win by revealing every square that is not a mine; the mines themselves never need to be flagged.
A worked example
Two numbers next to each other are worth more than either alone. Say a 1 and a 2 sit side by side and share two hidden squares, but the 2 touches one extra hidden square the 1 does not. The 1 says exactly one mine sits in the shared pair. So of the 2’s mines, one is in that pair — which means its extra square must hold the other. You have proved a mine without ever seeing it. Comparing neighbouring clues like this, rather than staring at one at a time, is the single habit that turns guessing into solving.
Five mistakes every beginner makes
- Guessing. On a no-guess board a provable square always exists — if you cannot find it, you have not compared two clues yet.
- Reading one number in isolation instead of looking at what a neighbouring clue rules out.
- Flagging every mine out of habit. Flags cost time and win nothing; open the safe squares instead.
- Forgetting the mine counter — near the end, "how many are left" often settles an ambiguous corner outright.
- Opening squares in fresh empty space when the frontier — the border between opened and hidden — still has provable squares on it.
Glossary
- Clue
- A revealed number: how many mines touch that square, diagonals included.
- Frontier
- The boundary between revealed and hidden squares. Every deduction happens here.
- Flag
- A marker you place on a square you have proved holds a mine. Optional.
- No-guess
- A board generated so it is solvable start to finish by logic, never by luck.
- Blank
- A revealed square touching zero mines; its neighbours open automatically.
Learning FAQ
- Do I ever have to guess in Minesweeper?
- Not here. Every board is generated and checked so it can be solved by deduction alone, so if you are stuck there is a provable square somewhere on the frontier — the coach will name it and explain why.
- What do the numbers in Minesweeper mean?
- A number counts the mines in the eight squares touching it, diagonals included. A 3 means exactly three of its neighbours are mines.
- Do I need to flag every mine to win?
- No. You win by revealing every square that is not a mine. Flags are just bookkeeping to help you keep track.
Ready to try?
The fastest way to learn Minesweeper is a board that cannot cheat you: play Minesweeper free at TimeWellLost — every board is solvable by logic, and the coach explains the deduction in plain words whenever you want one.