Minesweeper rules

Open every cell that has no mine. Opening a mine ends the board. You win when all safe cells are open; placing flags on every mine is optional.

Count all touching cells

A number counts mines in up to eight neighboring cells: above, below, left, right and the four diagonals. A corner has three neighbors and an edge has five. A blank has no touching mines and opens its safe neighbors automatically.

Read a one

Each 1 touches exactly one mine. If you have correctly identified that mine, the other cells touching the number are safe.

Reveal or flag

Tap to reveal opens a covered cell. Change the tap mode to Tap to flag to place or remove flags on a phone. On a computer, right-click a covered cell to flag it. A flagged cell cannot be revealed until its flag is removed.

Expand a number

Click an open number or choose Expand number. When its nearby flag count equals that number, all its remaining covered, unflagged neighbors open. The game checks the count of flags, not whether those flags are correct. An incorrect flag can leave a mine unmarked and cause a loss.

A safe opening

This version generates mines on your first reveal. That first cell and all its neighbors contain no mines. Its starting blank opens a safe area. Later moves follow the numbers; a randomly generated board can still contain a situation that requires a guess.

Board sizes

Beginner is 8 × 8 with ten mines, Standard is 10 × 10 with eighteen mines, and Expert is 12 × 12 with twenty-eight mines. These are Meadowmarks’ board sizes. Changing difficulty preserves the board at the previous size.

Keyboard and saved play

Arrow keys move between cells. Enter or Space acts in the current tap mode. R reveals a selected covered cell, F toggles its flag and C expands a selected open number. Home and End go to the first or last cell in the current row. Larger boards scroll within the board area.

Undo move takes back one reveal, flag or expansion. New board replaces this difficulty’s board after confirmation. Other difficulty boards remain saved.

Minesweeper Online’s gameplay rules were used to verify adjacent clues, winning conditions and chording. Meadowmarks has its own generator, artwork, interface and safe-opening option.