Each year there are one or two international tournaments, where the best players meet and compete. A similar site exists at for Russian players. The center of the Chinese sweeping community is with extensive rankings and forums. Another popular hangout is the IRC minesweeper chat group, or you can join the Minesweeper Facebook Page. You can post scores in the Guestbook, chat in the Forum or compete in the Active Ranking. The most popular place to meet is at Authoritative Minesweeper, which hosts the world rankings. There are many ways to get involved in the Minesweeper community. The community has been growing ever since and is more addicted than ever! Then Microsoft decided to include the game in their operating system, just in time for the explosion of the World Wide Web. In the beginning, Minesweeper was an innocent past-time enjoyed by a silent but dedicated following. Sometimes one solution prevents another guess or creates an easier arrangement of mines. If two solutions are equally likely, choose the one that helps most if correct. For example, Expert has a higher percentage of mines than Intermediate, so the solution with more mines is more likely on Expert than Intermediate.Īnother thing to remember when guessing is usefulness. Someone who prefers guessing immediately can still improve their chances. If these solutions require different quantities of mines, you can solve it by flagging the rest of the board and seeing how many mines are left. For example, an arrangement of numbers can have more than one equally possible solution. However, there are other times when you can improve your chance of guessing correctly. A typical case is a 50/50 guess when one mine is hidden in two squares. Sometimes in Minesweeper you have to guess.
Chording on a 7 requires seven flags, but a NF player would click just once on the empty square. For example, chording on a 1 only requires one flag and clears up to seven empty squares. It is generally agreed that NF is more efficient near high numbers (5,6,7,8) and low 3BV boards, while Flagging is more efficient near low numbers (1,2,3,4) and high 3BV boards. The best players use both styles in the same game to maximise efficiency. Flaggers argue that flags allow you to chord and clear multiple squares at the same time. Some players never flag because time used placing flags could be better used opening more squares. This flag is useful, but a flag in the corner is not The most basic pattern is when a number touches the same number of closed squares. It is also possible to create Custom levels.įor a detailed discussion of strategy and tips, visit the Minesweeper Strategy page.Įach pattern has only one solution and can be memorised to save time. There are three levels of difficulty: Beginner has 10 mines, Intermediate has 40 mines, and Expert has 99 mines. A mine counter tells you how many mines are still hidden and a time counter keeps track of your score. You win by clearing all the safe squares and lose if you click on a mine. If all the mines touching a number are flagged, you can press both buttons on that number to clear the remaining adjacent squares. You can mark a mine by putting a flag on it with the right mouse button. Each number tells you how many mines touch the square. The first click is always safe and reveals a number or an opening surrounded by numbers. You can use your mouse to play this game.Minesweeper starts when a player clicks on a square with the left mouse button. If you want to play more puzzle games be sure to check Microsoft Sudoku, too. But you can always click on the question mark if you are uncertain about a square. Be careful! And use this information to deduce which adjacent squares are safe to uncover. You can figure out how many mines touch the square by the numbers. If all of the mines touching a number are flagged, you can double click that number, press both buttons, or press the mouse wheel on it to uncover. The mine counter tells you how many mines are still hidden, and the timer keeps track of how seconds it takes you to clear the board. You win if you uncover all the safe squares, and you lose if you trigger a mine. Your goal is to uncover empty squares while avoiding the mines as fast as possible.
Microsoft minesweeper game windows#
In Microsoft Minesweeper, we will play a puzzle game that has been a part of Windows for more than 20 years! You probably know the rules, so let's jump into the game and play the game you know and love, now with updated graphics and sound! Have fun!ĭo you know that minesweeper has its origins in the earliest mainframe games of the 1960s and 1970s? Yes, it's really that old game! Let's start with an easy puzzle and work your way up to expert! You only need your mouse to play this game.