To play Minesweeper, follow these steps:
- The game board is a grid of cells, some of which contain hidden mines. Your goal is to open all cells that do not have mines without triggering any mines
- Left-click a cell to open it. If you open a cell with a mine, the game ends immediately
- If the opened cell is not a mine, it will show a number or be blank. The number indicates how many mines are adjacent to that cell, including diagonally adjacent cells. A blank cell means no adjacent mines, and opening it will automatically open surrounding safe cells
- Use the numbers revealed to logically deduce which unopened cells contain mines. You can right-click to place a flag on cells you believe contain mines to mark them. Right-clicking a flagged cell removes the flag
- When the number of flagged cells around a number matches that number, you can "chord" by clicking both mouse buttons simultaneously on that number to open all adjacent unflagged cells safely
- The game is won when all non-mine cells are opened. The difficulty can be adjusted by changing the board size and number of mines, with common presets being Beginner (8x8 with 10 mines), Intermediate (16x16 with 40 mines), and Expert (30x16 with 99 mines)
- The first click is often guaranteed safe in many versions, so you can start by clicking anywhere to reveal some numbers and begin deducing mine locations
In summary, Minesweeper is a logic puzzle where you open cells based on clues from numbers indicating nearby mines, flag suspected mines, and avoid detonating any mines to clear the board successfully
