Minesweeper Rules: Everything You Need to Know

Minesweeper is a single-player logic puzzle game played on a rectangular grid. The rules are simple: reveal every safe cell without clicking a mine. The numbers are your only clues.

This page covers the complete rules of Minesweeper — objective, controls, win/loss conditions, and standard difficulty settings. For a step-by-step tutorial that teaches you how to think through a game, see How to Play Minesweeper.

Objective

Reveal every cell on the grid that does not contain a mine. That is the entire goal. You do not need to flag every mine — you win as soon as every safe cell is uncovered.

The Grid

The playing field is a rectangular grid of cells. At the start of the game, every cell is covered (hidden). Underneath each cell is one of three things:

The number on a revealed cell always counts all eight neighbors — horizontal, vertical, and diagonal.

Controls

Desktop (Mouse)

Mobile (Touch)

Core Rules

Rule 1: The First Click Is Always Safe

The board is generated so that your first click never lands on a mine. On most modern implementations (including Minesweeper Blast), the first click also generates an opening — a cascade of revealed cells that gives you a starting area with useful information.

Rule 2: Numbers Count Adjacent Mines

Every revealed number tells you the exact count of mines in the eight cells immediately surrounding it (up, down, left, right, and four diagonals).

• A “1” means exactly one of its eight neighbors is a mine
• A “2” means exactly two neighbors are mines
• This goes up to “8” (all neighbors are mines — extremely rare)

Rule 3: Blank Cells Cascade

When you reveal a cell with zero adjacent mines (a blank cell), the game automatically reveals all its neighbors. If any of those neighbors are also blank, the cascade continues recursively. This can open large portions of the board in a single click.

Rule 4: Flagging Is Optional

Right-clicking (or long-pressing) a covered cell places a flag on it. Flags are a visual marker indicating “I believe this cell is a mine.” Flags are purely a memory aid — they are not required to win. Many competitive players never flag at all (no-flag play).

A flagged cell cannot be accidentally revealed by clicking. You must remove the flag (right-click again) before you can reveal it.

Rule 5: Chording Reveals Neighbors of Satisfied Numbers

When a numbered cell has exactly the right number of flags around it, clicking that number reveals all its remaining unflagged neighbors at once. This is called chording (also known as “double-clicking” or “middle-clicking” in some implementations).

Chording is the primary speed technique in Minesweeper. For a detailed guide, see Minesweeper Chording.

Warning: If you chord a number with incorrectly placed flags, you will reveal a mine and lose. Chording trusts your flags are correct.

Rule 6: Clicking a Mine Ends the Game

If you reveal a cell containing a mine, the game ends immediately. The board then shows:

• All mine locations (revealed)
• Correctly placed flags (confirmed)
• Incorrectly placed flags (marked with an X or similar indicator)
• The mine you clicked (highlighted)

Win Condition

You win when every non-mine cell has been revealed. The game typically:

• Stops the timer
• Automatically flags any remaining unflagged mines
• Displays your completion time

You do not need to flag every mine to win. Revealing all safe cells is sufficient.

Loss Condition

You lose when you reveal a cell containing a mine (either by clicking it directly or by chording with incorrect flags). The game ends instantly — there is no undo.

Standard Difficulty Levels

Minesweeper has three universally recognized difficulty levels, established by the original Microsoft Windows version and used by competitive rankings worldwide:

Beginner (9×9, 10 Mines)

The smallest standard board. Low mine density means large openings and simple deductions. Ideal for learning the rules and practicing basic patterns. Top players clear Beginner in under 5 seconds.

Intermediate (16×16, 40 Mines)

A significant step up. The larger board introduces more complex boundary situations and longer solving chains. Intermediate is where most players spend the bulk of their improvement time.

Expert (30×16, 99 Mines)

The standard competitive difficulty. One in five cells is a mine. Expert boards require sustained concentration, advanced pattern recognition, constraint logic, and often probabilistic reasoning. World-class players clear Expert in under 30 seconds.

Custom Boards

Most Minesweeper implementations (including Minesweeper Blast) allow custom grid sizes and mine counts. You can create tiny practice boards, massive grids, or extreme densities. Custom boards are not used for official record tracking.

Special Rules in No-Guess Minesweeper

In no-guess Minesweeper, one additional rule applies:

Every board is generated to be 100% solvable through logic alone. There are no positions that require guessing.

All other rules are identical. The only difference is the board generation — you will never face an unsolvable position. If you lose, it is because of a logic error, not a forced guess.

Rules Summary

Keep Learning

• How to Play Minesweeper — Step-by-step tutorial that teaches you how to think through each move
• Minesweeper Tips — 20 quick tips to improve your game right now
• Minesweeper Patterns — Visual guide to every named pattern
• Minesweeper Strategy Guide — Systematic techniques from beginner to expert
• Play Minesweeper — Start playing right now