Minesweeper
Three difficulty levels, a first click that is always safe, and a flag mode, because a right-click is not available on a touchscreen.
Your first click is always safe: the mines are placed after it, and the square you clicked and its eight neighbours are excluded. A first click that ends the game is not difficulty, it is a coin toss.
What this tool does
Minesweeper with the ordinary rules and two concessions to being a web page. The first is that your first click is always safe — the mines are placed after you click, and the square you clicked plus its eight neighbours are excluded from the placement. A first click that ends the game is not difficulty, it is a coin toss, and every version of this game that has ever been frustrating has been frustrating for that reason. The numbers are the usual ones: a square tells you how many mines touch it, and clearing every non-mine square wins.
The second is a flag mode toggle, because a right-click does not exist on a touchscreen and a long-press is claimed by the browser’s own context menu on most of them. Turn flag mode on and a tap places a flag instead of opening a square; turn it off to clear again. Right-click still works with a mouse, in either mode. Three levels, a mine counter that counts down as you flag, and a clock that starts on your first click. The game over screen keeps your correct flags standing and marks the ones that were wrong, because a flag that was right is information even when the game is lost.
How to use it
- Pick a level: Easy is nine by nine with ten mines, Medium is twelve by twelve with twenty-two, and Hard is sixteen by sixteen with forty.
- Click any square to start. That first click is always safe, and the clock starts with it.
- Read the numbers — each one is the count of mines touching that square — and work out where the mines must be. Opening an empty square clears its neighbours automatically.
- Flag the squares you are sure about, using right-click or Flag mode. Clear every square that is not a mine to win.
Common use cases
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A long break
Hard is a genuine few minutes of thinking rather than reflex, which is what separates this from the other games in this category.
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On a phone
Flag mode exists precisely for this. Without it there is no way to flag on a touchscreen at all.
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Learning the game
Easy is small enough that an early mistake is survivable, and the safe first click means the opening is never a lottery.
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Testing your patience
Medium is where most people settle. Hard punishes guessing more than it punishes slowness.
Frequently asked questions
Is the first click really always safe?
Yes. The mines are not placed until after your first click, and the square you clicked and its eight neighbours are excluded when they are. That means your first click also opens a decent area rather than a single square.
How do I flag on a phone?
Turn on **Flag mode**. A tap then places or removes a flag instead of opening a square. Right-click still works if you have a mouse, in either mode.
What happens if I flag the wrong square?
Nothing until you lose. A wrong flag is only revealed at the end, along with the mines — and if you flag a square that turns out to be a mine, that flag is left standing in the final board, because a flag that was right is worth seeing.
Do I have to guess?
Not on easy, usually. On the larger boards there are positions where the information genuinely runs out and a guess is required — that is a property of the game rather than of this version, and the safe first click removes the one guess that was never fair.