Chording in Minesweeper: Open Cells With a Double-Click
Opening cells one at a time is slow. A chord opens all of a number's remaining cells at once, and it is how fast players clear a board. It is also the quickest way to lose one, if a flag is wrong.
Step 1 of 5
One double-click
This is the board from the rules lesson. The 1 in row 2, column 7 already has its flag. Double-click it (double-tap it on a phone), and the game opens every other hidden cell around it: the three cells you opened one by one before. Opening a number's cells this way is called a chord.
Chord a number
Two mines in the bottom row are already flagged. The 1 in row 5, column 7 touches the flag in row 6, column 6, so its other four hidden cells, starred, are safe.
Your move
Double-click (or double-tap) the 1 in row 5, column 7 to open the four starred cells.
Flag first, then chord
A chord only works once a number has all its flags. The 1 in row 1, column 4 touches a single hidden cell, the star in row 1, column 3: that is its mine. Flag it, and the 1 just under the flag, in row 2, column 3, has its mine too. A double-click on that 1 opens its last hidden cell, the other star.
Your move
Flag the mine in row 1, column 3, then double-click the 1 in row 2, column 3.
Not enough flags
The 2 in row 2, column 2 touches one flag and four hidden cells, starred. What happens if you double-click the 2?
When a flag is wrong
A chord trusts your flags; it doesn't check them. Suppose a 1 has a flag on a cell that isn't really a mine, and you double-click the 1. What happens?
What you learned
- Double-click a number whose flags are all placed to open every other cell around it. That is a chord.
- With too few flags, a chord does nothing.
- A chord trusts your flags. Around a wrong flag it opens a mine, so flag only what a number proves.
- With a keyboard, open the cells one at a time instead.
In this course
Unit 1The rules
- Minesweeper Rules: Reveal, Numbers and Flags
- Chording in Minesweeper: Open Cells With a Double-Click
Take it to the table.
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