The quickest wins in Minesweeper come from habits, not harder logic: start in the middle, look next to the move you just made, and learn the two patterns that cover nearly every comparison between numbers. We measured these tips on 200 of the game’s Classic (random) boards at each size, and the numbers below come from those tests.
These build on how to solve Minesweeper. If you haven’t played before, start with the rules.
Solving tips
1. Tap the middle first
The first tap is never a mine, and neither are the eight squares around it. That guarantees the first tap opens some ground, and in the middle of the board, that ground has room to spread. In a corner, three of those safe neighbours are all there is.
| Field | Squares opened: middle | Edge | Corner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 46 | 34 | 25 |
| Intermediate | 65 | 41 | 26 |
| Expert | 43 | 25 | 15 |
On Classic boards, a bigger start also means fewer guesses later. Logic alone cleared 173 of 200 Beginner boards from a middle start, and 160 from a corner; on Expert, 26 against 14. (The game’s default boards never need a guess, wherever you start.)
You may have read that corners are best. That comes from versions of the game where only the first square itself was safe. Here, the middle wins.
2. Look next to your last move
Every square you open or flag changes the numbers around it, and that’s where the next move usually is. Two times in three (69% of moves on Beginner, 66% on Intermediate, 67% on Expert), the next move uses a number on or next to a square the last move changed. Check there first, and go round the whole edge only when that runs dry.
3. Take the flags off the number
A number tells you how many mines it touches, but the ones already flagged are done. Subtract them, and what’s left is what the number still needs. A 4 with three flags around it is really a 1, and it behaves exactly like one.
4. Learn the 1-1 and the 1-2
When the simple checks run out, the next move almost always comes from comparing two numbers side by side. Once flags are taken off (tip 3), those two numbers are nearly always a 1 and a 1, or a 1 and a 2:
| Field | Comparisons that are a 1-1 or a 1-2 |
|---|---|
| Beginner | 106 of 106 |
| Intermediate | 342 of 347 |
| Expert | 1,410 of 1,464 |
So it pays to know both by sight. In a 1-1, the first 1’s mine is in the squares both share, so the second 1’s extra square is safe. In a 1-2, the 2 needs one more mine than the shared squares can give it, so its extra square is a mine. How to solve has both, step by step.
5. Check the counter near the end
The mine counter shows how many mines haven’t been flagged. With only a few hidden squares left, it can settle them all: if the count is 0, everything hidden is safe, and if it matches the hidden squares, they’re all mines. It’s rarely the move that makes the difference (on 1 or 2 boards in 200 at each size), but when it is, nothing else will do.
6. If you have to guess, check the odds
The game’s default boards never need a guess, but Classic boards, dealt at random, often reach a point where nothing is certain. When that happened on our Classic boards, we worked out the exact chance that each hidden square was a mine:
| Field | A square next to a number | A square away from the numbers | The safest square |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 42% | 22% | 23% |
| Intermediate | 42% | 15% | 21% |
| Expert | 40% | 19% | 13% |
These are averages over the boards that needed a guess. Two things follow. Don’t guess at random along the edge: a typical square next to a number is a mine about two times in five. And a square away from all the numbers is a sensible default, but not always the best: the safest square was one of those on 17 of 27 Beginner boards, but only 32 of 174 Expert boards. On the rest, a square next to a number had better odds: think of a 1 with seven hidden squares around it, where each is a mine only about one time in seven.
Tips for playing on PeerPuzzles
7. Flag without switching modes
Press and hold a square to flag it, or right-click it with a mouse. To place a lot of flags, switch to Flag (or press F): then a tap flags, and switching back to Dig goes back to opening squares.
8. Tap a number to chord
When a number has all its mines flagged, tap it to open every other square around it at once. This works in either mode. If a flag is wrong, a mine goes off, so only chord numbers you’re sure of.
9. Flags are optional
A board is won when every safe square is open, whether the mines are flagged or not. Flagging every mine and chording isn’t fewer taps, either: playing the same deductions, it took 22 taps on average to clear a Beginner board with flags and chords, against 17 opening safe squares one at a time (92 against 79 on Intermediate). Flag where it helps you see the simple checks, and skip it where it doesn’t.
10. Ask when you’re stuck
Stuck? (or H) outlines the numbers to look at and names the deduction, without opening anything for you. It also tells you if a flag is on a safe square, and when no square is certain anywhere, it says the board needs a guess, so you don’t search for a move that isn’t there.