How to play Minesweeper
Minesweeper asks you to clear every safe cell on a grid without revealing a mine. Each revealed number tells you how many mines touch that cell, and from those numbers you can deduce exactly where the mines are. Your first reveal is always safe. Play the shared Daily board, the same for everyone, or Classic in Beginner, Intermediate, or Expert. From October 15, 2026, every Daily board is generated so that logic alone can clear it, with no guessing needed; Classic boards make no such promise and can still need a guess.
How to play
- Reveal a cell to open it. Your first reveal is always safe — the mines are placed around it.
- A revealed number counts how many mines touch that cell, including diagonally. A blank cell touches none and opens its neighbours for you.
- Flag a cell you believe hides a mine. Flags are your own notes and are never required to win.
- Chording: once you have flagged exactly as many neighbours as a revealed number, activate that number to open its remaining neighbours at once — a wrong flag here will set off a mine.
- You win when every safe cell is revealed, and lose the moment you reveal a mine.
- Desktop: left click to reveal, right click to flag. Touch: tap to reveal, long-press to flag, or turn on Flag mode. Keyboard: arrow keys to move, Enter or Space for the primary action, F to flag, C to chord.
Tips & strategy
- Work the edges of opened regions. The numbers bordering blank space carry the most information.
- Learn the 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 patterns along a wall — they resolve immediately every time you see them.
- Compare neighbouring numbers rather than reading each alone. Two adjacent clues often pin a mine that neither settles by itself.
- Chording is where the speed comes from, but only chord when you are certain of your flags.
- From October 15, 2026, every Daily board can be cleared by logic alone. A Classic board can still need a guess: when you truly must guess, pick the cell with the lowest local mine density rather than the first one you see.
Accessibility
Numbers, flags, and mines are all conveyed as text and marks rather than colour alone, and every action — reveal, flag, and chord — has a keyboard shortcut.