Minesweeper: clear the field without hitting a mine

Minesweeper is a logic puzzle played on a grid of covered cells. Some of them hide mines. Your goal is to open every cell that is safe without ever opening a mine. When you open a safe cell it shows a number from one to eight: that is how many mines touch it, counting the cells above, below, beside and diagonally next to it. An open cell with no number has no mines around it, so the game opens its neighbours for you and a whole area clears at once.

Your first click is always safe and always opens an area, so you never lose on the first move. From there, use the numbers to work out which covered cells must be mines and mark them with a flag. The counter above the board shows how many mines are left to flag. You win as soon as every safe cell is open; flags are optional, but they make chording possible.

• Beginner: a 9 by 9 board with 10 mines. Good for learning the patterns.
• Intermediate: 16 by 16 with 40 mines. Areas are smaller and you will meet more of the classic one-two patterns.
• Expert: 30 by 16 with 99 mines, the traditional tournament board. On a phone it scrolls sideways inside the board, and the Zoom button makes cells bigger.

Your best time is saved separately for each size. The clock starts with your first click and stops while the game is paused.

Flag a cell you are sure hides a mine: right-click with a mouse, long-press on a touch screen, press F on the keyboard, or turn on Flag mode so every tap places a flag. A flagged cell cannot be opened by accident.

Chording saves a lot of clicks. When a number already has that many flags around it, click or tap the number (or press Space on it) and every other covered neighbour opens in one go. Be careful: if one of your flags is wrong, chording opens a mine and the game ends.

• Start with the ones. A 1 touching a single covered cell means that cell is a mine. Flag it, then look at what that frees up around it.
• Learn the 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1 patterns. Along a straight edge, a 1-2-1 means the two cells under the ones are mines and the one under the 2 is safe.
• Subtract flags. A 3 with two flags next to it needs exactly one more mine. If only one covered cell is left, that is it.
• Use the edges. Cells in corners and along the border have fewer neighbours, so their numbers are easier to read.
• Guess only when you must. When logic runs out, pick a cell that touches the fewest numbers, or one far from the open area.

Switch to Daily challenge to play the same mine field as everyone else today, one for each board size. Finishing it grows your streak. After a win, Challenge a friend copies a link that opens the same board with your time to beat. Mines are kept away from the first cell you open, so a friend who starts on the same cell gets exactly the same field.

Your board is saved after every move, so closing the tab or reloading the page continues where you left off.