Minesweeper is an online puzzle video game where the player’s aim is to clear a rectangular grid that contains hidden mines without detonating any of them. Although the game originated in the 1960s, and it has been written for many computing platforms that are actively being used today.
The main rule of the game is simple: the number on a block shows the number of mines adjacent to it, and you have to flag all the mines.
Some important terms and symbols that are related to this game are:
- Flag: Place a flag where you confirmed the presence of a mine.
- Question mark: Place a question mark where you suspect the presence of a mine.
- Smile emoticon: Click on it if you wish to restart the game. Alternatively, you can press F2 from your keyboard.
Each Minesweeper game begins with a grid consisting of unmarked squares. After clicking on one of these squares, some of the squares will disappear, some will have numbers on them, and some will remain blank. Now, it is your job to use the numbers to figure out which of the blank squares have mines and which do not. The ones that do not contain mines are safe to click on.
When starting out, you will have to choose a difficulty level. Your options are among the following difficulty settings:
- Easy: A nine-by-nine grid with 10 mines
- Medium: A sixteen-by-sixteen grid with 40 mines.
- Expert: A thirty-by-sixteen grid with 99 mines.
- Custom: Build your own parameters, including the grid size, the number of mines, etc.
If this is your first game in Microsoft Minesweeper, you will be prompted to start a tutorial that will help you practice the basics of the game. After the tutorial, click on any square of the grid. This will start the Minesweeper game.
Review the numbers presented to you. Any number on the board refers to the number of mines currently touching the square that the number is written on.
Right-click on any squares that you think might contain mines. This will place a flag on those squares. It is probably best to begin with squares that have to contain mines. These will be solitary squares next to a “1” on the board. By doing this, you can help yourself with the process of elimination later.
Double-right-click on any squares that you are uncertain about. This will put a question mark over those squares, indicating that you want to leave the square alone until you have effectively ruled out other squares.
Click on any squares that you are sure do not contain mines, which will clear those squares. After this, clear the board. In order to win a round of Minesweeper, you must click on every square that does not have a mine under it. Once you have done this, the game will be over. However, if you accidentally click a square that contains a mine under it, you will lose and the game will be over.
