Minesweeper

Medium Minesweeper boards

Medium boards are 10×10 with 16 mines, and a few spots need two numbers read together: when a 2 shares all but one of its hidden cells with a 1, that last cell holds the 2's second mine.

Practice gives you boards you haven't played yet, as many as you like, and keeps your best time without hints. Every board is made and checked by a computer: from its marked start cell, logic alone clears it, with no guessing.

How to play Minesweeper

1. Mines are hidden in some of the cells. Open every cell that doesn't hold one.
2. An open cell shows how many of the up to eight cells around it hold mines. A cell with no mines around it opens all of them for you.
3. Plant flags on the cells you know hold mines, to keep track. Flags are just for you.
4. Opening a mine ends the game. On the daily puzzle, that's your one try for the day.

Every game starts on the marked cell, which has no mines around it. From there, logic alone clears the whole board: you never have to guess.

Tap a cell to open it. To plant a flag, switch the button under the board to Flag, or press and hold the cell (on a computer, right-click it). A flagged cell won't open by accident, so take the flag off first if it was wrong. Once a number has all its mines flagged, tap it to open the rest of the cells around it. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move, Space to open and F to flag.

Solving tips

• One number at a time. A 1 with a flag beside it is done: its other hidden cells are safe. A 3 with just three hidden cells left around it has a mine in each.
• Compare neighbors. If a 2's hidden cells are a 1's hidden cells plus one more, that extra cell holds the 2's second mine. If a 1's hidden cells include every hidden cell of another 1, its extra cells are safe.
• Count at the end. When only a few hidden cells are left, the number of mines left can settle the last of them.