Play Minesweeper Online: How to Read the Numbers and Win
Minesweeper shipped with Windows for decades and quietly taught a generation of people logic, probability and right-clicking. It's still one of the best five-minute games there is. Minesweeper brings back the classic boards with a few modern comforts: the first click is always safe, flagging works on phones, and best times are remembered.
Steps
- Choose a board size, or Custom, and press New game.
- Open a cell. The first click clears a safe area.
- Flag mines with Flag mode, a long press, a right-click, or F.
- Open every safe cell. The timer stops when the board is clear.
Board sizes
- Beginner: 9×9, 10 mines.
- Intermediate: 16×16, 40 mines.
- Expert: 30×16, 99 mines.
- Custom: from 5×5 up to 50×30, with your own mine count.
On a narrow phone screen, a wide board rotates to fit.
Why the first click is safe
Mines are placed after your first click, away from that cell and its neighbours, so you always start with an open area. No more losing in the first second on pure luck.
Reading numbers
A number tells you how many mines touch that cell, including diagonals. The core logic:
- A 1 with only one unopened neighbour: that neighbour is a mine.
- A 1 that already has a flagged neighbour: all its other neighbours are safe.
- The 1-2-1 pattern along a wall: mines are under the two 1s, not under the 2.
- The 1-2-2-1 pattern: mines are under the two 2s.
Learning those patterns is most of what separates beginners from fast players.
Chording: the speed trick
When the flags around a number match the number, click the number itself to open all its remaining neighbours in one go. Experienced players chord constantly; it's the difference between a 3-minute and a 1-minute expert game. Just make sure your flags are right, because a wrong flag means chording opens a mine.
Controls
- Phone: turn on Flag mode and tap, or press and hold a cell.
- Mouse: left-click to open, right-click to flag.
- Keyboard: arrow keys to move, Space or Enter to open, F to flag.
The timer
It starts on the first click and stops when you clear the board or hit a mine. It pauses while the tab is in the background, so a phone call doesn't ruin your time. Best times per board size are kept in this browser.
When you have to guess
Sometimes the logic genuinely runs out, often at the very end, with a 50/50 between two cells. Before guessing, count: do the remaining mines and unopened cells tell you anything? If not, guess where it opens the most information, usually a corner or edge cell far from the numbers.
Getting faster
Once the patterns are second nature, speed comes from fewer wasted clicks. Flag only the mines you need for chording, open cells in an order that follows the edge of the cleared area, and avoid moving the pointer back and forth across the board. Track your best times per size and aim to beat them by a few seconds at a time. Beginner under 10 seconds and expert under two minutes are good milestones for regular players.
Privacy
According to the page, everything runs on your device; best times stay in this browser and the current board stays in the tab. Google ads appear on the page, as on the rest of the site.
FAQ
Which board sizes can I play? Beginner, intermediate, expert and custom.
Why is the first click always safe? Mines are placed after it, away from that cell.
How do I flag on a phone? Use Flag mode, or press and hold.
What does the timer measure? From the first click to clearing the board, paused when the tab is hidden.
Five minutes free? Clear a board on Minesweeper.
— Alok Kumar Singh