Minesweeper
Reveal every safe cell without setting off a mine.
Tap a cell to reveal it, long-press to flag a suspected mine (right-click on desktop). Numbers count the mines in the 8 neighbouring cells. Start from the marked safe cell.
About Minesweeper
Minesweeper is the classic logic game that early versions of Windows made world-famous — its best-known version dates to 1989 — and it has been a public-domain favourite ever since. The grid hides a fixed number of mines; every revealed number tells you how many of its 8 neighbouring cells contain one. Using pure deduction you reveal every safe cell — one wrong tap and the board blows up.
Ludingo’s version comes in three sizes — easy 9×9 with 10 mines, medium 12×12 with 26, hard 14×14 with 40 — and 1000 numbered puzzles per difficulty. Every puzzle is a fixed, shared board: the same number opens the same board for everyone, with a marked, guaranteed-safe starting cell, so you can race friends on identical minefields via a share link. Free, unlimited, no account needed.
How to play
- Tap (or click) a cell to reveal it. Start from the marked cell — it is guaranteed safe.
- A revealed number shows how many of the 8 neighbouring cells hold a mine.
- Long-press (or right-click) a cell to flag it as a suspected mine; do the same to unflag.
- Reveal every mine-free cell to win. Reveal a mine and the board explodes — but you can retry the same board instantly.
How to solve Minesweeper — strategy and techniques
Open from the marked safe cell and let the zeros work for you. A cell with no adjacent mines auto-reveals its whole neighbourhood, so the first tap usually cascades into a large open region whose border numbers hand you the first deductions for free.
Counting solves most of the board. When a number’s remaining hidden neighbours exactly equal its value, all of them are mines — flag them. Conversely, when a number already touches as many flags as its value, every other hidden neighbour is safe and can be revealed in one sweep (the logic behind chording).
Learn the border patterns. Along a flat row of revealed numbers, 1-2-1 puts the mines under the two 1s and leaves the cell under the 2 safe; 1-2-2-1 puts the mines under the two 2s and leaves the cells under the 1s safe. Spotting these patterns instantly saves long chains of counting.
Finish with mine counting. The flags-remaining counter tells you how many mines are still unflagged; in the endgame, compare it with the number of hidden cells. If they match, everything hidden is a mine — flag it all; if the counter hits zero, every remaining cell is safe. When you are truly stuck, the hint (30-second cooldown) reveals one guaranteed-safe cell.
Tips for faster solves
- Always open the marked cell first — it is safe and usually cascades into a big region.
- Flag only when a number proves a mine; a wrong flag poisons every later deduction.
- Satisfied numbers are gold: once a number’s flags match its value, open all its other neighbours.
- Keep an eye on the flags-remaining counter — endgame mine counting turns guesses into certainties.
Questions about Minesweeper
What are the rules of Minesweeper?
Reveal every cell that does not hide a mine. Each revealed number tells you how many of its 8 neighbouring cells contain mines; use those counts to deduce where the mines are and flag them. Reveal all safe cells and you win — reveal a mine and the board explodes.
Are the boards random or shared?
Shared. Each difficulty has 1000 fixed, numbered boards — puzzle #217 is exactly the same minefield for everyone. Share the URL and your friends race you on the identical board.
What does the marked starting cell mean?
Every board marks one cell that is guaranteed safe to reveal — it often opens a whole zero region. That removes first-click luck and makes racing on identical boards fair.
Can I play Minesweeper on my phone?
Yes — the board works in any mobile browser: tap to reveal a cell, long-press to place or remove a flag. On desktop, left-click reveals and right-click flags.
Is it free? Is there a daily limit?
Completely free and unlimited — 1000 puzzles per difficulty, no account, no sign-up and no daily cap. Just pick a difficulty and play.
Do I lose my progress if I hit a mine?
No lasting harm — hitting a mine offers an instant retry of the exact same board, so you can apply what you learned. Only wins are recorded; losses are not.