Minesweeper Puzzles
Every number is on the board from the moment it loads. Work out which blank squares hold mines — and unlike the game you remember, you will never be asked to guess, because every board here is proved solvable by reasoning before you see it.
Sixty boards from 6×6 to 12×12, each one explained move by move.
Related Practice
The Game You Remember, Without The Gamble
Minesweeper shipped with Windows for twenty years, and almost everyone who played it hit the same wall: a board where two squares are equally likely and the only way on is to pick one. That is not a flaw in your reasoning. In the video game the grid is hidden, you reveal it as you go, and positions genuinely arise where no deduction exists.
This is the other version, and it is the one puzzle setters use. Every number is printed from the start. Nothing is concealed, nothing is revealed as you play, and the board you are given is one that a program has already solved by reasoning alone before showing it to you. If you are stuck here, there is a move — and the board will name it.
A Number Counts Eight Squares, Not Four
This is the rule people most often carry wrongly. A number counts the mines in every square touching it, diagonals included. How many that is depends on where the number sits, and that is what makes some numbers far more useful than others.
| Where the number is | Squares it counts | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| A corner | 3 | A 3 in a corner flags every neighbour at once |
| An edge | 5 | Still tightly constrained; edges settle early |
| The middle | 8 | The loosest, and why the centre resists longest |
A zero is the most valuable number on any board: it says none of its neighbours is a mine, and clears a whole region in one move.
The Two Moves That Solve Every Board Here
You do not need advanced patterns. Every board on this page was checked to be solvable using only these two, which is why the hint can always give you a real move.
| When you see | You know |
|---|---|
| A number that already touches all the mines it needs | Every other square touching it is safe |
| A number with exactly as many blank squares left as mines still to find | Every one of those squares is a mine |
The mine total above the board is the third thing worth watching. It is a real deduction, not decoration: once your flags reach it, everything still blank is safe, and on a sparse board that is often what closes the final region.
Fewer Mines Makes A Board Harder
This reads backwards and it is measured rather than asserted. Only a safe square can carry a number, and the generator strips away every number a board can do without. So the fewer mines there are, the fewer numbers survive:
| Mines on the board | Squares printing a number | Moves that flag a mine |
|---|---|---|
| About 14% | 23–26% | 15–19% |
| About 20% | 28–31% | about 27% |
| About 26% | 30–34% | 36–38% |
A crowded board tells you more about itself. That is why the Fewer mines, fewer clues family is rated hard while the densest boards are the gentle ones — the same inversion that makes a densely filled nonogram easier than a sparse one.
Why Marking Safe Squares Is Not Optional
The board cycles through three states rather than two: blank, flagged as a mine, marked safe. The third one looks like bookkeeping and is really a deduction.
Flag-only works on a small board because you can hold it in your head. On a ten by ten with seventy blank squares you cannot, and without safe marks you will keep re-deriving the same squares and losing your place. Recording what you have proved is what lets the next deduction build on it.
How Every Board Is Checked Before You See It
Two separate tests run on each board, and they answer different questions. One solver, restricted to the two deductions above, has to finish unaided — that is what makes the no-guessing promise a checked property rather than a slogan. A second, exhaustive search confirms there is exactly one arrangement of mines consistent with the numbers, because a board with two answers marks correct reasoning wrong.
The test suite then refuses to take the generator's word for it, and deliberately asks a different question: for every blank square, forcing it to the wrong state must make the board impossible. Across 120 boards it proved 2,600 squares admit exactly one value, and re-derived every printed number from the mines behind it.
Minesweeper Puzzles Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as the Windows minesweeper game?
It is the same rules and a different thing to do. In the video game the grid is hidden, you click to reveal it, and a position can arise where no amount of reasoning helps and you simply have to guess. Here every number is printed from the start and you work out where the mines are. Nothing is concealed and nothing is timed, so the board is a puzzle rather than a gamble.
How do you solve minesweeper without guessing?
Two deductions cover every board on this page. If a number can already see all the mines it needs, every other square touching it is safe. If a number has exactly as many blank squares beside it as mines it still needs, every one of those squares is a mine. Work between overlapping numbers, and use the mine total at the top: when you have flagged them all, everything still blank is safe.
Does a number count diagonals?
Yes, and this is the rule people most often misremember. A number counts the mines in all eight surrounding squares, diagonals included. A square in the middle of the board has eight neighbours, one on an edge has five, and one in a corner has only three — which is why corners are the easiest place to start.
Why do boards with fewer mines feel harder?
Because fewer mines means fewer printed numbers. Only safe squares can carry a number, and the generator strips away every number the board can do without, so a sparse board ends up with about a quarter of its squares numbered against a third on a dense one. Less to read means a longer hunt for the first move. It is the same inversion nonograms have, where a densely filled picture is easier than a sparse one.
Can I really never be forced to guess?
Not on this page. Before a board is shown it is solved by a program limited to the two deductions above, and separately checked to have exactly one answer. A board that fails either test is thrown away. That is why "Show me the next move" can always name a real move and the reason for it.
What does marking a square safe do?
It records a deduction you have already made. Flagging mines alone will get you through a small board, but on anything bigger you will keep re-checking squares you already proved. Marking them safe is what stops that, which is why the board cycles through three states rather than two.
Is it free, and do I need an account?
Free, with no account and nothing to install. Every board is generated in your browser as the page loads, so nothing you do is sent anywhere.