About Minesweeper
Behind every tile is either a mine or a number, and that number counts the mines in the eight tiles around it. From nothing but those numbers you can prove which tiles are safe. Your first click is always safe, so no board is lost before it starts. Everything after that is deduction you either did or skipped.
Two patterns get you through most boards. If a numbered tile already has as many flags around it as its number, everything else touching it is safe, so open all of it. If a numbered tile has exactly as many closed neighbours as its number, they are all mines, so flag them. Alternate those two around the edge of what you have cleared and boards fall apart faster than you would expect.
When neither one applies you are at a real frontier, and that is the interesting part: comparing two nearby numbers to work out what their shared tiles must be. There are three sizes. A 9x9 with ten mines to learn on, a 16x16 with forty, and a 30x16 expert board with ninety-nine. The clock starts on your first click, and your best time for each size is saved.
Getting better at Minesweeper
- Work outwards from the big open areas, never from a corner on its own.
- Flag what you can prove before you open anything else.
- Compare two numbers next to each other to work out the tiles they share.