How to play

The board is covered in squares and some of them hide mines. Open a square to see a number: it tells you how many of the eight squares around it hold a mine. Use the numbers to work out which squares are safe and which are mines, flag the mines, and open every safe square to win. Open a mine and the game is lost. Your first click is always safe, and it always opens a patch to get you started.

• Computer: click to open, right-click (or press F) to flag. Click an opened number whose flags already match it to open all the other squares around it (a shortcut called chording).
• Phone or tablet: tap to open, press and hold to flag, or switch on Flag mode to flag with a tap. The big expert board scrolls sideways.
• Keyboard: arrow keys move, Enter or Space opens, F flags.

Levels and tips

Beginner is 9 × 9 with 10 mines, Intermediate 16 × 16 with 40, and Expert 30 × 16 with 99. Your best winning time for each level is saved in this browser. Start with the numbers next to a 1 in a corner, since those are often forced. If a 1 touches only one hidden square, that square is a mine. If a number’s mines are all flagged, the rest of its neighbors are safe.

Is the board fair? Mines are placed after your first click, so you can never lose on the first move; later guesses are sometimes unavoidable, as in the original. Is anything sent anywhere? No. Only your level and best times are saved on your device.