How to play Minesweeper: what the numbers mean and 4 patterns
Minesweeper looks like luck, but most of it is simple logic. Once you can read the numbers and spot a few common patterns, you can clear whole boards without guessing.
The rules
The board hides a set number of mines. Tap a square to dig it. If it’s a mine, the game ends. If not, it shows a number: how many mines touch that square, counting all eight neighbours, including diagonals. A blank square means zero, and the game opens all its neighbours for you. Flag a square (long-press on a phone) when you are sure it hides a mine. You win when every safe square is dug.
Reading a number
Count the hidden squares around a number. If that count equals the number, all of them are mines: flag them. If the number already has that many flags around it, every other hidden neighbour is safe: dig them. Those two moves solve most of a beginner board.
Pattern 1: the 1-1 at a wall
Two 1s side by side along an edge or a wall of dug squares, starting at a corner: the mine for the first 1 is in one of its two squares, which the second 1 also touches. So the square beyond them on the second 1’s side is safe.
Pattern 2: 1-2-1
Along a straight wall, a 1, 2, 1 in a row means the two squares opposite the 1s are mines and the square opposite the 2 is safe.
Pattern 3: 1-2-2-1
Along a wall, the two squares opposite the 2s are mines and the squares opposite the 1s are safe.
Pattern 4: subtracting
When two numbers share most of their hidden neighbours, compare them. If a 2 touches the same hidden squares as a 1, plus one extra, that extra square must be a mine. This “difference” trick is behind most expert moves.
Play faster: chording
When a number already has the right number of flags around it, tap the number itself to dig all its other neighbours at once.
More logic puzzles: Nonogram (see our nonogram guide) and the daily sudoku.