How to play Minesweeper
Controls
Single-tap or left-click a tile to reveal it. To plant a flag where you suspect a mine, either long-press the tile, right-click with a mouse, or toggle Flag mode on so that subsequent taps drop flags. Flag-mode is the friendliest option for touch users who can't comfortably long-press, like on stiff phone cases. The clock starts on your very first reveal and stops when you win or lose.
The objective
Reveal every non-mine tile on the 9×9 board (10 mines hidden). Score is the number of seconds it took — lower is better. Hitting a mine ends the round; you don't lose your high scores, just this attempt. The first click is guaranteed safe: mines are placed only after you reveal a starting tile.
Tips
- Read the numbers. A "1" touching exactly one unrevealed neighbor means that neighbor is the mine — flag it.
- Flag freely, even when you're only mostly sure. A flagged tile can't be revealed by accident.
- Look for chord patterns. If a numbered tile already has the right number of flags around it, you can safely click its other neighbors.
A little history
Minesweeper as we know it dates to 1989 (Microsoft's Entertainment Pack 1), but the underlying puzzle is older — it grew out of the 1970s mainframe games Mined-Out and Cube. Bundled with Windows 3.1 in 1992, it taught a generation of office workers to right-click.
Accessibility
Flag-mode replaces long-press for users who can't hold steady, and the status banner announces wins, losses, and time via an ARIA live region. Tiles are 32 px minimum with clear color + numeric labels.