Minesweeper Strategy: Two Rules for Mines and Safe Cells
Most cells in a game of Minesweeper are solved by two simple rules, used one after the other. Each one looks at a single number and its hidden neighbours. Learn to see both at a glance and you'll rarely need to guess.
Step 1 of 6
Flag them
Three hidden cells, three mines: there is nothing left to work out.
Your move
Flag the three mines around the 3.
A satisfied number
Now the other way round. Once a number touches as many flags as its value, it is satisfied: every other hidden cell around it is safe. The 1 in row 4, column 6 touches the flag in row 3, column 6. Its three hidden cells, starred, are safe.
Open the rest
The flag is the 1's only mine, so nothing else around it can be one.
Your move
Open the three cells the satisfied 1 proves safe.
Both rules together
Look at the 2 in row 5, column 2. It touches three hidden cells, starred, so on its own it can't say which two are its mines. But the 1 in row 4, column 1 touches only one hidden cell, and so does the 1 in row 6, column 3. Each of them gives the 2 a mine.
Your move
Flag the 2's two mines, then open its last hidden cell.
Count what is left
A number minus the flags around it is how many mines it still touches. The 2 in row 2, column 5 has one flag next to it, and its two hidden cells are starred. How many of those two are mines?
What you learned
- If a number touches exactly as many hidden cells as its value, they are all mines.
- If a number already touches as many flags as its value, its other hidden cells are all safe.
- A number minus its flags is how many mines it still needs.
- Flag what the first rule proves, then open what the second proves, and repeat.
In this course
Unit 1The rules
Unit 2Patterns
- Minesweeper Strategy: Two Rules for Mines and Safe Cells
- The 1-1 Pattern in Minesweeper
- The 1-2 Pattern in Minesweeper
- The 1-2-1 Pattern in Minesweeper
- The 1-2-2-1 Pattern in Minesweeper
Take it to the table.
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