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How to Be Fast at Minesweeper

Minesweeper, the addictive game of risk-taking, is one of the oldest games to come packaged with the Windows operating system. It starts out deceptively simple: a field of gray squares, a timer in the upper-right corner, the number of mines left in the field and a smiling face whose fate you will determine with your clicks. Mark dangerous areas with the right mouse button and reveal safe areas with the left, but one false step and it's game over.

Things You'll Need

Good computer mouse

Instructions

- 1
  Start in the center and work methodically. If you do not hit an empty space on your first click, move two squares down and click again.
- 2
  Eliminate obvious mines first. A "1" on an inner corner indicates the corner contains a mine.
- 3
  Clear the maximum number of squares with each click. If you click a number using both left and right mouse buttons when you've already marked the corresponding number of mines adjacent to that number, you will reveal all other adjacent squares.
- 4
  Refrain from making excess clicks. Instead of testing squares when you're unsure, count them up and proceed logically. Before clicking, identify unnecessary clicks, or areas in which clearing the spaces around one number obviates the need to touch an adjacent number, then only clear the "important" square.
- 5
  Spread to the edges and corners only after you've revealed most of the center squares.
- 6
  Count the number of mines left when you're reaching the end. It may make a guess easier. In addition, you win not by marking all dangerous squares but by revealing all safe squares; the game automatically marks remaining mines and finishes, so you do not need to necessarily mark obvious mines.

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