How to play Minesweeper
Read the numbers, prove where the mines are and find safe cells. Start with a worked example, then practise eight techniques with step-by-step boards.
Your first deduction
Open the marked safe start in a game. Then work along the numbers around the opening. The framed area below shows how one certain flag leads to safe cells.
Step 1 of 3
Read the lower-left 1. Its only covered neighbour is directly above it.
The lower-left 1 has only one covered neighbour. That cell must be a mine.
Once it is flagged, the upper 1 has its mine accounted for. Its other covered neighbours are safe. The ticks mark the conclusion; their numbers would appear when opened in a game.
Work inside the solid frame. Every possible mine neighbour of these clues is inside it. Cells beyond the frame are background, not revealed zeros or extra clues.
Flags are proved mines. A tick marks a cell proved safe; its number is not shown.
Blue-ringed numbers are the clues to compare. Shading marks the cells being discussed.
Rules of the game
Numbers include diagonals
A revealed number counts mines in its neighbouring cells: above, below, beside and diagonally. It does not tell you which neighbours contain them.
Blank cells touch no mines
A blank cell is a zero. Its neighbouring cells are safe, so opening it automatically reveals the connected blank region and the numbered cells around it.
Flags record your deductions
Place a flag when the clues prove a mine. A flag is your mark, not the game's confirmation. Wrong flags can make later deductions and chords unsafe.
Compare overlapping clues
Nearby numbers count some of the same cells. Comparing the shared cells and the extra ones can prove a safe move without locating every mine.
Chord a satisfied number
With the correct flags around a number, tap it to open the other neighbours together. Matching the count is not enough if a flag is on the wrong cell.
Open the safe cells and flag the mines
On Puzzled, both are required to finish. Every safe cell must be open and every mine correctly flagged. The mine counter alone does not certify a completed field.
Minesweeper techniques
Start with certain mines and safe cells, then compare groups and recognise patterns. These pages teach useful deductions, not a promise that every field falls to this short list.
- Technique 1 · Start here
Finding certain mines
Learn when the covered neighbours of a number must all be mines, then practise flagging them on a worked board.
- Technique 2 · Start here
Finding safe cells
Use already proved mines to find safe neighbours, and distinguish a proven flag from a guess.
- Technique 3 · Core technique
Flagging and chording
Practise placing proved flags and chording a number without treating a matching flag count as proof.
- Technique 4 · Shared cells
Comparing neighbouring numbers
Find safe cells and mines by comparing overlapping groups, including the reasoning behind 1–1 and 1–2.
- Technique 5 · Simplifying clues
Subtracting known mines
Subtract proved neighbouring mines before comparing clues, so larger numbers become smaller, familiar deductions.
- Technique 6 · Recognising patterns
The 1–2–1 pattern
Derive the familiar mine–safe–mine arrangement and learn why the surrounding covered cells matter.
- Technique 7 · Recognising patterns
The 1–2–2–1 pattern
Compare overlapping groups to prove the middle mines and outer safe cells in the standard 1–2–2–1 arrangement.
- Technique 8 · Finishing a board
Using the remaining mine count
Combine a known total with local clue groups to find safe endgame cells, without trusting unproved flags.
Need controls, hints or the difference between solo and room retries? Read Playing on Puzzled.
Difficulty and mine counts
A level chooses the field size and mine count together. These are size and density settings; they do not certify that a particular named technique will be required.
- easy
- 8×8 · 10 mines
- medium
- 10×10 · 15 mines
- hard
- 13×13 · 26 mines
- expert
- 16×16 · 44 mines
Frequently asked
Ready to play?
No Minesweeper rooms are going right now — yours would be the first. Pick the board and the length, or take the defaults.