How to Play MineSweeper

The player is initially presented with a grid of undifferentiated cells (blue squares). Some randomly selected cells, unknown to the player, are designated to contain mines. For predefined game board sizes in MineSweeper, 20% of all cells will contain a mine. For custom sizes the number of mines is defined by the player (see Game Sizes). The game is played by revealing cells of the grid (left-click) or marking them as hiding a mine (right-click). The objective is simple: you must reveal every cell that does not contain a mine as quickly as possible. If a cell containing a mine is revealed, the player loses the game. If a mine-free cell is revealed, a digit ("1" to "8") is displayed in the cell indicating how many adjacent squares contain mines (see screenshot below). The player uses the information to deduce the contents of other squares, and may either safely reveal each cell or mark the cell as containing a mine. If no mines are adjacent, the square is blank. In this case MineSweeper reveals the surrounding squares as well. In MineSweeper a question mark may be placed in an unrevealed cell. This has no meaning in the rules of the game, but can serve as an aid to logical deduction. This feature can be switched on or off in the preference dialog (see Preferences). The game is won when all mine-free squares are revealed and all mines have been marked.

The timer starts with your first mouse click on a cell and stops when you hit a mine or win the game. High scores are tracked by the game, and you may be asked to enter your name to be kept in the high scores list (see High Scores). When a mine is hit, MineSweeper reveals the whole board indicating the position of all mines. Incorrectly flagged mines are indicated by a red cross.

For beginners, the best way to get started is using the small board size and ignoring the clock at first. As you become more experienced, larger boards become more interesting and the race against the clock becomes more entertaining. To start a game you might want to use the "Easy start" option (see Preferences) that reveals an initial field of cells as a starting point.