Minesweeper — play the classic logic puzzle online
Flag the mines, clear every safe square. Free, no download, with first-click safety, chording, and Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert boards.
- First click is always safe
- Beginner, Intermediate & Expert
- Best times saved on your device
9 × 9 grid, 10 mines · first click is always safe
Deduce the mines from the numbers and clear every safe square
What is Minesweeper
A pure deduction puzzle with no luck required — until the very end
Minesweeper hides a fixed number of mines in a grid. Every safe square you open tells you how many mines touch it, and from those numbers you can prove which squares are safe and which are deadly. Clear every safe square to win. The rules take seconds to learn; reading a dense Expert board quickly is the skill that keeps players coming back.
- Three classic sizes
- Beginner 9×9, Intermediate 16×16, and Expert 16×30 — the standard boards, switchable in one tap above the grid.
- Plays in your browser
- No download, no install, no plugins. Minesweeper Classic loads instantly on desktop and mobile.
- First-click safety & chording
- Your opening click never hits a mine, and clicking a satisfied number opens its neighbours at once.
- Best times saved locally
- Fastest win, win rate, and streaks for each size are stored on your device — never on a server.
How to play
How to play Minesweeper
Minesweeper is a logic puzzle, not a reflex game. Open a square, read the number, and use it to prove where the mines are. Every board is solvable by deduction far more often than most players assume.
- 1
Open your first square
Click any covered square to start. The first click is always safe and always opens a space — mines are only placed after you commit, and never under or next to that opening move.
- 2
Read the numbers
Every opened square shows a number from 1 to 8: exactly how many mines touch it, counting all eight neighbours. A blank square touches zero mines, so its neighbours open automatically in a cascade.
- 3
Flag the mines
When a number proves a hidden square must be a mine, right-click (or use flag mode on touch) to mark it. Flags do not open squares; they record a deduction and stop an accidental click.
- 4
Clear every safe square
Keep chaining deductions from the numbers. You win the moment every square without a mine is open — you never have to open the mines themselves. Hit one and the game ends.
Tips to clear boards faster
- Start in the middle, not a corner — a central first click opens a bigger area and gives you more numbers to work from.
- Work the edges of the opened area where numbers border the fewest covered squares — those are where a forced deduction is most likely.
- When a number already touches its full count of flags, click the number itself to open every other neighbour at once (chording).
- Learn the 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 edge patterns; they resolve instantly without any counting.
- Count subsets: if a "2" and a "1" share squares, the extra square the "2" sees but the "1" does not is often a guaranteed mine.
- Flag only what you have proven. Guessed flags corrupt every count that touches them and turn a solvable board into a lost one.
- Track the mine counter. When flags left equals covered squares in a region, the whole region is mines; when it hits zero, everything still covered is safe.
FAQ
Minesweeper, answered
Authoritative answers about Minesweeper — the free logic puzzle you can play online in your browser, with no download.
What is Minesweeper?
Minesweeper is a single-player logic puzzle played on a grid of covered squares. A set number of squares hide mines. Every safe square you open shows how many mines touch it, and you use those numbers to work out where the mines are. You win by opening every square that is not a mine. The puzzle was popularised by the version bundled with Microsoft Windows from 1990 onward; Minesweeper Classic is a free, modern implementation of the same rules.
How do you play Minesweeper?
Click a covered square to open it. A number tells you how many mines are in the eight squares around it; a blank square touches no mines and opens its neighbours automatically. When the numbers prove a square is a mine, flag it with a right click or long-press. Keep making deductions until every safe square is open. You never have to open a mine to win — opening one ends the game.
Is Minesweeper free to play online?
Yes. Minesweeper Classic is completely free and runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to buy, download, or install, and there is no account, no paywall, and no video ad interrupting a board. Open the page and the grid is ready.
Do I need to download or install anything?
No. Minesweeper Classic is a 100% browser-based game built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It loads in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and other modern browsers on desktop and mobile with no plugin, app store listing, or installer.
Can the first click hit a mine?
No. Minesweeper Classic places its mines only after your first click, and it keeps that square and all of its neighbours mine-free, so the opening move always reveals an area to work from. This first-click safety is the modern standard and applies on Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert alike.
What do the numbers mean in Minesweeper?
A number on an opened square is the exact count of mines in the up-to-eight squares surrounding it. A 1 touches one mine, a 3 touches three, and so on. An opened square with no number is touching zero mines, which is why the board cascades open around it until it reaches numbered squares.
What is chording in Minesweeper?
Chording is opening every remaining neighbour of a number in a single click, allowed only when the number already has that many flags around it. On Minesweeper Classic you chord with a normal left click on the satisfied number. It is the fastest way to clear open ground — but if any of those flags is wrong, chording opens a mine.
Do I have to flag every mine to win?
No. The win condition is simply that every non-mine square is open. Flags are a tool for your own bookkeeping and for enabling chording; you can win a board with no flags placed at all. On a win, Minesweeper Classic flags the remaining mines for you so the finished board looks tidy.
How do you get better at Minesweeper?
Stop guessing when a deduction exists. Most losses are solvable boards where a resolving number was a few squares away from where the player was looking. Learn the common edge patterns (1-1, 1-2-1, 1-2-2-1) so they resolve on sight, practise subset counting between overlapping numbers, and use the mine counter in the endgame. Speed comes from chording satisfied numbers rather than opening squares one at a time.
Is Minesweeper always solvable without guessing?
Not always. A standard random board can produce a position where two or more squares are equally likely to be a mine and no number resolves them — a forced 50/50. Minesweeper Classic uses classic random boards, so a small number of games will come down to one guess. Good play is about removing every avoidable guess first.
What board sizes does Minesweeper Classic have?
Three: Beginner (9×9 grid, 10 mines), Intermediate (16×16 grid, 40 mines), and Expert (16×30 grid, 99 mines). These are the standard sizes used by desktop and online Minesweeper for decades. Beginner is selected by default and fits a phone screen; you can switch size from the control above the board.
Does Minesweeper Classic save my best times?
Yes. Your fastest win for each board size, along with games played, games won, and your current and best win streaks, are saved locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and there is no login. Because the record lives on the device, a different phone, a new browser profile, or cleared site data will look like a fresh start.
Can I play Minesweeper on mobile?
Yes. Tap a square to open it and long-press to flag, or switch on flag mode below the board so every tap places a flag. Beginner fits a phone screen without scrolling; Intermediate and Expert pan within their frame so the cells stay large enough to tap accurately.