Minesweeper — Free Online

About Minesweeper

By the ToolFluency team · Updated October 2026

Play Minesweeper free online with multiple difficulty levels. Uncover tiles, flag mines, and clear the board using logic. Timer and mine counter included.

How to use

Pick a level from the bar above the board: Beginner (9x9, 10 mines), Intermediate (16x16, 40 mines) or Expert (30x16, 99 mines). Beginner is for learning the patterns, Intermediate is the sweet spot for daily play, and Expert is the standard competitive size.
Click or tap any tile to begin. The first click is always safe: the mines are placed after it and never on or next to that tile, so your first move always opens an area. Starting away from the edges usually opens more, because a tile in the middle has eight neighbours and a corner has only three.
Read every number as a hard constraint: a '1' means exactly one of the 8 surrounding tiles is a mine, a '2' means exactly two. Two key deductions get you through 80% of any board: if a number's mine count already equals its flagged neighbors, every remaining unrevealed neighbor is safe to click; if a number's unrevealed neighbors equal its remaining mines, all of them are mines.
Right-click to flag a tile you have proven is a mine. On a phone, press and hold, or switch on Flag mode (F) so a plain tap plants the flag. A flagged tile cannot be opened by accident. The counter shows mines minus flags, so it only reaches zero correctly when every flag is right. Flag a tile again to remove the flag.
Use chording to move fast: click a number that already has that many flags around it and all of its other neighbours open at once. If one of those flags is wrong, the chord opens a mine, so only chord on flags you are sure of.
Learn the two classic edge patterns. In a 1-2-1 running along a straight line of unopened tiles, the mines sit beside the two 1s and the tile beside the 2 is safe. In a 1-2-2-1, the mines sit beside the two 2s and the tiles beside the 1s are safe. And any number that touches exactly as many unopened tiles as its value marks every one of them as a mine.
When logic runs out (common on Expert), compare the odds instead of guessing blindly: count the mines a number still needs against the unopened tiles it touches, and open the tile with the lowest chance. You win by opening every safe tile; flags are optional. Open a mine and the game ends with every mine shown. Your wins and best time for each level are saved in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Minesweeper?

Minesweeper is a single-player logic puzzle where you uncover tiles on a grid that contains hidden mines. Click a tile to reveal it — if it is a number, that number tells you how many of its 8 neighboring tiles contain mines. If it is blank (zero mines nearby), all adjacent tiles are automatically revealed in a cascade. Right-click (or press and hold on a phone) to flag tiles you believe are mines. Your goal is to reveal every safe tile without clicking on a mine. The game requires logical deduction: by comparing numbers from multiple tiles, you can often determine exactly which tiles are safe and which are mined.

What difficulty levels are available?

Three classic difficulty levels are available. Beginner uses a 9x9 grid with 10 mines (about 12% mine density), providing a gentle introduction to the mechanics. Intermediate uses a 16x16 grid with 40 mines (about 16% density), requiring more sustained concentration and intermediate deduction skills. Expert uses a 30x16 grid with 99 mines (about 21% density), which is the competitive standard — expect complex chain deductions and occasional situations where probability analysis is needed. Each level offers a significantly different challenge.

What are the best strategies for Minesweeper?

Start away from the edges to give your first click the best chance of opening a large area. Once tiles are revealed, look for the simplest deductions first: a number that touches exactly as many unopened tiles as its value means all of those tiles are mines. Conversely, a number whose mines are all flagged means its remaining neighbours are safe, and clicking the number (a chord) opens them all at once. For harder spots, use the 1-2-1 pattern: when 1-2-1 runs along a straight line of unopened tiles, the mines are beside the two 1s and the tile beside the 2 is safe. Practice recognizing these common patterns to solve boards faster.

Is guessing ever required in Minesweeper?

Sometimes, yes. Many Beginner and Intermediate boards can be solved by logic alone, but mines are placed at random, so nothing guarantees it. On Expert, most boards reach at least one spot where no safe move can be proven and you have to pick the least risky tile, typically at an edge or in an isolated corner. Some Minesweeper variants generate no-guess boards on purpose; the classic random layout used here does not. When you do have to guess, compare the odds: a tile that is one of five candidates for a single mine is a better bet than one of three.

What does the number on each tile mean?

Each number represents the exact count of mines in the 8 tiles immediately surrounding that number (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally adjacent). A "1" means one of those 8 neighbors is a mine, a "3" means three of them are mines, and so on. If a tile has zero adjacent mines, it appears blank and automatically reveals all of its neighbors in a cascade (since they are all safe from the perspective of that tile). Numbers can range from 1 to 8, though seeing values above 5 is extremely rare and only occurs in very high-density configurations.

What are the world records for Minesweeper?

Competitive Minesweeper has an active speedrunning community. As of recent records, the fastest Expert times are under 30 seconds — requiring extraordinary pattern recognition and mouse precision. Intermediate records are under 7 seconds and Beginner records are under one second. The world rankings are tracked on dedicated leaderboard sites. Speed comes from instantly recognizing common tile patterns without conscious calculation, efficient mouse movement, and knowing when to flag versus when to chord-click (clicking a numbered tile to reveal all of its non-flagged neighbors, which this version supports with a single click).

Is this game free?

Completely free, with no sign-up and no downloads. Runs in your browser on any device — phone, tablet, or desktop computer. If you enjoy logic puzzles, also try Sudoku, Mastermind, or Kanoodle Puzzle.

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