#MINE SWEEP HOW TO#

Your first square will never be a mine, but there’s no way to know whether that square will turn up blank or numbered. When you start playing Minesweeper, you’ll have to pick a square at random.

How fast can you clear the entire board? MINESWEEPER TIPS AND STRATEGY Start at random Once you've figured out where a mine is, right-click to place a flag there. Use the numbers you find to figure out where the mines are: each number tells you how many of the surrounding 8 tiles (up/down, left/right or diagonal) are mines. Left-click your mouse to reveal hidden squares. Your goal is to clear all of the squares on the board that don’t have mines, and flag all of the mines.

#MINE SWEEP HOW TO#

Minesweeper is great for pattern recognition, meaning you’ll learn how to look at a series of numbers and figure out what the numbers mean when they’re in a specific order. There are many more patterns than these to discover as you play! WHAT DOES MINESWEEPER TEACH YOU Similarly, if you have a row of numbers that similarly goes 1-2-2-1 and is clear above or below, no matter what is on the other side of the 1s from the 2s, the mines must be next to the 2s. This is because there can’t be a mine next to the 2, since then there would be no other place to put the second mine. For example, if you have a row of numbers that go 1-2-1 and the squares on the top or bottom of this row are cleared, you know you should flag the two squares next to the two 1s, regardless of what numbers are next to the 1s on either side (even if there is an unchecked square there!).

The more you play Minesweeper the more you’ll pick up on different patterns. Of course this sounds obvious, but when you are stuck, look around the board for instances of this you may have missed! It’s very easy to work in one direction after opening up a new area of the board and forget to look in other directions. When a 1 is only touching one uncleared square, that square must be a mine. Look for numbers that touch the same number of squares You can make better-educated choices after tapping on your first square. With that said, since you’re being timed, it’s best to just pick a square and get started. However, it’s best to start in the center of the board, since if you pick a tile close to a corner it’s easier to find yourself stuck with no good moves early in the game. Once you've figured out where a mine is, tap the flag in that top left then the tile you want to mark to place a flag there. Your goal is to clear all of the sea tiles on the board, and flag all of the mines.

Mine sweep