How to play Minesweeper
The board is a grid of covered squares. Some of them hide mines. Your job is to uncover every square that is not a mine.
When you uncover a safe square, it shows a number from 1 to 8: how many mines touch that square, counting all eight neighbors including diagonals. A square with no neighboring mines shows nothing, and the game automatically opens all of its neighbors for you, which is why some clicks open up a big area at once.
Use the numbers to work out where the mines must be. When you are sure a square is a mine, place a flag on it so you do not click it by accident. You win when every safe square is uncovered. You lose if you uncover a mine.
Controls
| Action | Computer | Phone or tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Uncover a square | Left click | Tap |
| Place or remove a flag | Right click | Long-press, or switch to Flag mode |
| Chord (open all neighbors of a number) | Click the number, or middle click | Tap the number |
Chording only works when a number already has exactly that many flags around it. It then opens every other covered neighbor in one go. If one of your flags is wrong, chording will set off a mine, so use it once you are confident.
Difficulty levels
| Level | Board | Mines |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 9 x 9 | 10 |
| Intermediate | 16 x 16 | 40 |
| Expert | 30 x 16 | 99 |
On narrow phone screens, Poozee turns the Expert board sideways (16 wide and 30 tall) so the squares stay big enough to tap accurately.
Your first click is always safe
On Poozee the mines are placed after your first click, and never on or right next to the square you clicked. Your first move always opens an area to work from.
Beginner strategy
- Start with numbers that touch only a few covered squares. A 1 touching exactly one covered square means that square is a mine.
- Once a number has all its mines flagged, every other square around it is safe.
- Look along the edges of the open area. Walls reduce the number of possible mine positions, which makes deductions easier.
- Learn the classic shapes, especially 1‑2‑1 and 1‑2‑2‑1. They appear constantly and solve themselves once you recognize them.
Our guides go deeper: start with how to play Minesweeper, then learn the Minesweeper patterns that expert players spot instantly.
Pro tip: You do not have to flag every mine. Many fast players flag only when a flag lets them chord. On Beginner, try opening safe squares directly to save time.
When you have to guess
Sometimes the numbers genuinely do not tell you where the mine is, most often a 50/50 between two squares. When that happens, guess early rather than late, so a wrong guess costs you less time. If you have a choice, guess a square that would reveal the most new information if it is safe.
A classic since the 1990s
Minesweeper-style games existed on earlier computers, but the version most people know shipped with Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s and became one of the most familiar games on the planet. Its rules have barely changed since, which is part of the appeal: the challenge is pure logic, with a little nerve for the occasional guess.
Minesweeper FAQ
Is the first click always safe?
Yes. On Poozee the mines are placed after your first click, so it never hits a mine and always opens an area.
How many mines are on each difficulty?
Beginner is 9x9 with 10 mines, Intermediate is 16x16 with 40 mines, and Expert is 30x16 with 99 mines.
What is chording in Minesweeper?
When a number already has that many flags around it, clicking the number opens all of its other neighbors at once. It saves a lot of clicks.