Minesweeper/Walkthrough

Minesweeper mostly consists of thinking and a little bit of luck.

How to Play
(Please note, these instructions are written with the built in Minesweeper that is included with Microsoft Windows, and specific instructions, such as right clicking may not be universal)

Minesweeper starts off with a blank board of tiles. The default is 9x9, but it can be any size. Each tile can be in three main states:


 * 1) It can be blank, with no information. (These are tiles that haven't been clicked on)
 * 2) It can have a number (This is how many mines are in the 8 tiles surrounding it. 0 isn't shown, and clears all adjacent cells as well.)
 * 3) It can be a mine.

You start off with a blank grid, and for your first tile, you must guess. Here's an example below, of a 4x4 grid (B indicates blank):

B B B B

B B B B

B B B B

B B B B

Now let's say, you clicked on the tile at (2,2)

B B B B

B 1 B B

B B B B

B B B B

That would tell us, 1 of the 8 tiles around it are a mine. Let's try clicking on two more:

B 1 B B

1 1 B B

B B B B

B B B B

We can tell that the tile in the top left corner has a mine, because it has to be a tile shared by all three ones. To illustrate this (X means possible mine):

X 1 X B

1 1 X B

X X X B

B B B B

Only one X is shared by all three ones, therefore, that must be our mine. Now that we know it's a mine, we can indicate that by right clicking on it. Right clicking on a tile will make it through a few of its states. The first one, would flag it, with a small red flag. The second, will replace the flag with a question mark. And a third click would make it revert back to it's original state (as a blank tile).

Blank Tiles
The blank tiles show nothing on them. They can be hiding a number tile or a mine tile under them. A flag tile can also be played on it. In some versions of the game, there are also question mark tiles, which can also be played on blank tiles.

Number Tiles
The number tiles can have a number from 1 to 8. The numbers tell how many mine tiles are touching the number tile.

Mine Tiles
The mine tiles shows a mine on each one of them. If you click on one of those tiles, then you lost the game.

Flag Tiles
The flag tiles shows a flag on them. These tiles can still be clicked on if the flag is taken off. The player can choose where to put the flags. The flags shows your guess on where the mine is, but sometimes the mine is not under there.

Question Mark Tiles
The Question mark tiles show a question mark on them. Only some versions of minesweeper are equipped with this feature. This tile can be clicked on if the question mark is taken off. The player can choose where to put the question mark. The question mark shows where you weren't sure what is under the blank tiles.

Mine Free Tiles
Mine free tiles have no picture on them. The tile says that there are no mines around them.