How Safe Pick works
Safe Pick is a fast Minesweeper puzzle on a 5×5 board. One hidden tile can be proven safe from the numbers. Dig it before the fuse runs out and the next board slides in.
The boards keep coming until one goes off. Each board gets its own fuse, and every fuse is a little shorter than the last.
The first three boards are a warm-up: every hidden tile is a mine except one, so counting is enough. From board 4, some boards leave a few safe tiles covered as well, and only one of those can be proven. That takes two or more numbers read together. From board 8, every board is like that, and later ones need three numbers, then four.
Every board is checked when it’s made. The tile you need always follows from the numbers on show, so you never have to guess.
How to find the safe tile
- Find a number that is full. If a number touches exactly as many hidden tiles as its value, every one of them is a mine.
- Then find a number that is satisfied. Once a number’s mines are all accounted for, any other hidden tile it touches is safe.
- On pattern boards, compare two numbers. If every hidden tile one number touches is also touched by a second number, the difference between their values is how many mines sit in the second number’s other tiles. A difference of 0 means those tiles are all safe.
- Start at the edges. Numbers along a wall or in a corner touch fewer tiles, so they settle faster.
- Read before you tap. A mine ends the run, and even a lucky guess costs fuse.
The fuse and the run
- The fuse: 10 seconds on the first board, a quarter second less on each board after it, down to 3 seconds from board 29 on.
- The last 3 seconds of each fuse beep, a little higher each time.
- Guessing has a price. Dig a covered tile the numbers don’t prove and one of two things happens. It’s a mine, and the run ends. Or it’s safe, it opens, and the fuse loses a full second. Lucky, but not free.
- A mine or an empty fuse ends the run. The board catches fire. It’s a small fire. It’s still the end. Then it outlines the numbers that proved the safe tile.
- Ranking: boards cleared first. Ties go to the faster total time on those boards.
- Between boards the finished board stays up for a moment so you can see the answer. The fuse isn’t lit while it does. We’re fair like that.
Play the same boards as a friend
Every run has a code. Challenge a friend on the results screen shares how far you got and how fast, with a link to your exact run: same boards, same fuse.
Replay this run lets you have another go yourself. Friendships have been tested for less.
Common questions
Is Safe Pick free?
Yes. No download and no account. It runs in your browser, and once you’ve visited, it plays offline too.
Do I need to know Minesweeper?
No. The first time you open Safe Pick, a short walkthrough shows how to read one board. Then it gives you a practice board with no fuse. You can open it again any time from How to play under the game.
Do I ever have to guess?
No. Every board is checked when it’s made, and the tile you need always follows from the numbers on show. Some covered tiles are safe but can’t be proven. Dig one and it opens, for a full second off your fuse. Dig a mine and the run is over.
Where is my best run kept?
In this browser, with no account. There’s no Safe Pick leaderboard yet. To compare, challenge a friend to the same run.
More on the rules in How to play.