Minesweeper for Beginners

What you’re trying to do

The board hides mines under some of its tiles. You win by opening every tile that is not a mine.

You don’t have to flag the mines. The game is won the moment the last safe tile opens. Open a mine and the game is over.

Every tile you open is either a number or blank. The number tells you how many mines are in the eight tiles around it.

Everything else in Minesweeper comes from reading those numbers. The numbers guide covers them in detail.

Step 1: Make your first click

In Classic mode on RetroSweep, your first click can’t hit a mine. The mines are placed after you click, and they’re kept off the tile you clicked and the eight around it.

So the first click always opens a patch of the board. Usually more than that, because the empty area keeps spreading until it reaches numbers.

Click somewhere away from the edges. A tile in the middle clears at least nine tiles. A corner tile only guarantees four.

On a daily board, the layout is fixed for everyone. So the game marks a safe tile with a green × and START HERE. Click that one first. We promise it’s not a trick.

Step 2: Find a mine you can be sure of

Look along the edge of the area you opened. You’re looking for a number that touches exactly as many unopened tiles as its value.

If a 1 touches only one unopened tile, that tile is the mine. If a 2 touches exactly two unopened tiles, both are mines. Congratulations, you’ve found your first mine on purpose.

Right-click the tile to flag it. On a phone, switch to FLAG or long-press the tile.

Flags are optional. While you’re learning, though, they stop you from clicking a tile you’ve already worked out is a mine.

Step 3: Open the tiles that are now safe

Once a number has all its mines found, every other tile around it is safe.

Here, the 1 to the right of the flag already touches the flagged mine, so the tile beside the flag is safe. The same goes for the 1 below it.

That’s the whole loop. Find a mine you’re certain of, then open everything it makes safe.

Each tile you open shows a new number, and you start again from there. Repeat until you win, or until the mines have something to say about it.

Step 4: Speed it up with chording

When a number has the right count of flags around it, click the number itself. RetroSweep opens all its other unopened neighbors at once.

This is called chording, and it saves a lot of clicks. The how-to-play guide has a diagram.

Only chord when you’re sure of your flags. If one is wrong, the chord opens a mine.

When nothing looks certain

• Read numbers in pairs. Two numbers side by side can tell you where a mine is when neither can alone. Shapes like 1-2-1 come up constantly. The patterns guide covers them.
• Subtract your flags. A 2 that already has one flagged neighbor only has one mine left among its other tiles. Read it as a 1.
• Check the mine counter. The counter in the top-left shows how many mines are still unflagged. In the last few tiles it can settle what the numbers can’t.
• Guess only when you have to. Random boards sometimes leave no safe move. The guessing guide explains how to pick the least risky tile.

Common beginner mistakes

• Forgetting the diagonals. A number counts all eight tiles around it, including the four corners.
• Flagging on a hunch. An unsure flag is worse than no flag, because you’ll start trusting it. Only flag what the numbers prove.
• Chording on a wrong flag. Chording believes your flags completely. One wrong flag and it opens a mine.
• Clicking before reading. Most Beginner losses come from a fast click, not bad luck. The board is small, so an extra second per move costs almost nothing. Take the second. The timer forgives you.

What to play next

When you can clear Beginner most of the time, move up to Intermediate (16×16, 40 mines). The mines are packed tighter there, so reading pairs of numbers matters more.

The daily challenge is good practice too. Daily boards are no-guess, so every one can be finished with logic alone.

Welcome to the habit. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Keep reading

• What the Numbers MeanHow each number counts its eight neighbors, plus blank tiles, colors, and satisfied numbers.
• Minesweeper Patterns1-1, 1-2, 1-2-1, 1-2-2-1 and reduction: the shapes that solve most of a board.
• Strategy and TipsThe order to solve in, when to flag, using the mine counter, and the mistakes that cost games.

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