Porchlight › How to play › Minesweeper
How to play Minesweeper
A logic puzzle on a grid of hidden mines. Use the numbers to work out where the mines are, and open every other cell.
The aim
Open every cell that isn't a mine.
Setting up
| Size | Board | Mines |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 9 × 9 | 10 |
| Intermediate | 16 × 16 | 40 |
| Expert | 30 across, 16 down | 99 |
No guessing. Every board starts with an opening already cleared, and every board is checked before it's dealt to make sure it can be cleared from that opening by logic alone. If you hit a mine, there was a way to know.
Playing
- Open a hidden cell. If it's a mine, you lose. Otherwise it shows a number: how many of its eight neighbors, diagonals included, are mines.
- A cell with no mines around it opens all of its neighbors, and the clearing spreads until it reaches numbered cells. Flagged cells are never opened this way.
- Flag a cell you think is a mine. Flag it again to remove the flag. Flags are notes to yourself, and a flagged cell can't be opened until you remove the flag.
- Chord. If an opened number has exactly that many flags around it, open it again to open all its remaining hidden neighbors at once. If one of your flags is wrong, this opens a mine.
There is no undo.
Winning
You win when every cell that isn't a mine is open. You don't have to flag the mines.
You lose if you open a mine, including through a chord. Giving up also counts as unsolved. At the end, the whole board is shown: the mine that went off, the other mines, and any flags that were in the wrong place.
Today's deal and the clock
New game deals a free board, open to everyone. Today's deal gives every player the same board and opening, and changes at midnight UTC. It's for members only, and you get one attempt per size, which counts from the moment it's dealt. Only a game cut short on our side can be dealt again.
The clock runs from the deal to your winning move and can't be paused. Making no move for 15 minutes, or leaving or losing your connection for about a minute, ends the game as unsolved. Today's best ranks the day's winners by time, then by fewest moves. Members also see their own record: boards played and solved, best time, and their daily run (the number of days in a row they've solved the daily board).
On Porchlight
| To | Mouse | Touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open a cell | Click | Tap | Enter or Space |
| Flag or unflag | Right-click | Long-press | F |
| Chord on a number | Click or middle-click | Tap | Enter or Space |
| Move around | Arrow keys |
- The Flag button switches clicks and taps to placing flags, for one-handed play on a phone. Press it again to switch back.
- The counter on the left shows the number of mines minus the flags you've placed. The counter on the right is the clock.
- Choose a Day or Night look. Your device remembers your choice.
- On narrow screens, the Expert board turns on its side so the cells stay big enough to tap.
- The move count includes every open, flag, unflag and chord.
Tips
- Start at the edge of the opening. A 1 with only one hidden neighbor means that neighbor is a mine.
- Once a number has all its mines flagged, chord on it to clear the rest quickly.
- Compare neighboring numbers. If all of one number's hidden cells lie inside another's, the difference between them often shows which extra cells are safe.