Minesweeper

Skycally's Minesweeper recreates the classic Windows puzzle game in your browser. Left-click to reveal a cell — if it's a mine, the game ends. If not, a number appears showing how many of the 8 surrounding cells contain mines. Right-click (or long-press on mobile) to plant a flag on a suspected mine. Clear all non-mine cells to win.

Minesweeper was included with Windows 3.1 in 1992 as a way to teach users mouse skills, and became one of the most played games in computing history. Three standard difficulties are available: Beginner (9×9 grid, 10 mines), Intermediate (16×16, 40 mines), and Expert (30×16, 99 mines). The first click is always safe — mines are placed after your first reveal.

The numbers are the key to solving the puzzle. A cell showing '1' means exactly one of its neighbors is a mine. A '3' means three neighbors are mines. Use process of elimination: if a '1' has only one unrevealed neighbor, that neighbor must be a mine — flag it. If all mines around a number are flagged, the remaining neighbors are safe to reveal.

Chording is an advanced technique: if a numbered cell's mine count matches exactly the number of adjacent flags, clicking the number reveals all remaining unflagged neighbors at once. This speeds up the game significantly once you're comfortable with basic deduction.