Minesweeper
The classic. Clear the board without hitting a mine.
Playing
Numbers count the mines among their eight neighbours. Left-click reveals, right-click (or long-press on a phone) flags, and clicking a satisfied number โ one whose flags match its value โ reveals its remaining neighbours at once. That move, chording, is where all the speed lives. The first click is always safe and opens an area, as the modern versions do; best times per board stay on this device.
A little logic, a little luck
The patterns carry you: a 1-2-1 along a wall puts mines under the 1s; a 1-2-2-1 puts them under the 2s; any 1 touching exactly one hidden square has found its mine. Expert boards genuinely require occasional guesses โ Minesweeper's underlying decision problem is NP-complete, and some positions are provably 50/50 โ so a lost guess is the game, not your logic.
Minesweeper shipped with Windows 3.1 in 1992 ostensibly to teach right-clicking, and accidentally became one of the most-played games in history. World-class beginner boards fall in under 10 seconds, expert in under 40. When it stops being relaxing, the 2048 board is the other classic time-vanisher, and the randomness guide covers why the mine layout owes you nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Can the first click hit a mine?
Not here โ mines are placed after your first click, excluding it and its neighbours, so the opening always reveals an area. The original 1992 version was crueller.
What is chording?
Clicking a revealed number whose flags equal its value to open all its other neighbours at once. It is the core speed technique.
How do I flag on a phone?
Long-press a square. Tap reveals, long-press flags โ the standard mobile convention.
Is Minesweeper pure logic?
Mostly, but not entirely: some positions are provably guesses, and the game's general problem is NP-complete. Even perfect players lose some expert boards.