Skip to content
Lizely

Minesweeper

Clear a fixed beginner minefield with keyboard-accessible reveal and flag controls while using exact adjacent-mine counts to avoid ten hidden mines.

Privacy: your files never leave your device. All processing happens locally in your browser.

How to use

  1. 1.Move the selected cell with the arrow keys and press Space or Enter to reveal it.
  2. 2.Read revealed numbers as counts of mines in the surrounding eight-or-fewer cells, and press F to toggle a protective flag on a covered cell.
  3. 3.Reveal all 71 safe cells to win; if a mine ends the round, select Restart and use the fixed board to refine your deductions.

About Minesweeper

Minesweeper is a keyboard-accessible version of the classic logic game. The board begins with 81 covered cells arranged in nine rows and nine columns. Ten cells hide mines and the other 71 are safe. Move the cursor with the arrow keys, reveal the selected cell with Space or Enter, and toggle a flag with F. Revealed numbered cells tell you how many mines occupy the surrounding horizontal, vertical, and diagonal neighbors. Use those counts to infer which covered cells are safe and which should remain marked.

This page uses a fixed beginner board rather than moving mines after the first selection or generating a new random field. A deterministic layout makes every rule and expected count independently testable, supports repeatable completion simulation, and lets returning players improve a known route. The mine locations are not shown while play is active, but they remain identical after Restart. Because the first keyboard cursor begins on a safe cell, you can start immediately with Space or Enter. The fixed layout is a Lizely implementation choice; it is not presented as the only official Minesweeper board.

The core rules follow the public GNOME Mines guide and the independent KDE KMines handbook. The easy board convention is 9 by 9 with 10 mines. An interior cell can touch up to eight neighbors. A revealed number equals the count of mines among those neighbors. A safe cell with no adjacent mines opens as a blank and automatically expands through connected zero-count cells plus their bordering numbered cells. Revealing a mine ends the round. Revealing every non-mine cell wins. Flags protect covered cells from reveal, but a flag is only your note and is not proof that a mine is underneath.

The interface deliberately keeps flagging separate from revealing. Press F on a covered selected cell to add or remove a flag. At most ten flags can be visible, matching the board's mine total. Space and Enter do nothing on a flagged cell, which prevents an accidental detonation until the flag is removed. Revealed cells cannot be flagged. The status line reports safe cells revealed and flags placed, while each cell has an accessible row, column, and state label. Mouse users can select and reveal with a normal click or toggle a flag through the context menu.

Scoring awards ten points for every safe cell revealed, including cells opened automatically during zero expansion. Clearing all 71 safe cells produces 710 points and saves that result as the local best. Triggering a mine freezes the board in a loss state, which is the game's detected terminal deadlock: no further move can recover that round, so Restart is required. A win also freezes the board to preserve the result. The score measures revealed safe cells, not elapsed time or flag accuracy, and there is no public leaderboard.

All board logic runs in the current browser. The mine set, neighbor calculation, flood expansion, flags, cursor, and terminal states are held in page memory. Only the best completed score may be saved in localStorage. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account requirement, and Restart returns to a clean board immediately. The automated fixture checks the 81-cell and 10-mine invariants, neighbor counting, zero cells, flag protection, mine loss, all-safe-cell victory, and a full completion sequence.

The shared game shell includes a boss key for quick visual privacy. Press Escape twice within 400 milliseconds to cover the game with a simulated spreadsheet, and repeat the double press to return. This cover does not pause a timer because this version has no timer, and it does not alter the board. Use the game as a short deductive puzzle, not as a measure of intelligence, attention, or workplace performance. For another grid strategy game, try Gomoku; for a movement puzzle without hidden hazards, try Maze Game.

Methodology & sources

A fixed set of 10 unique indices defines mines on a 9×9 board. For any cell, the browser enumerates in-range offsets from −1 through 1 on both axes, excluding the cell itself, and counts mine indices. Revealing a zero performs a queue-based flood fill over safe neighbors. A mine sets the loss/deadlock state; revealing 71 safe cells sets the win state.

Frequently asked questions

How many mines are on this board?
There are 10 mines on a fixed 9 by 9 beginner board, leaving 71 safe cells to reveal.
What does a revealed number mean?
It is the exact number of mines among the cell's horizontal, vertical, and diagonal neighbors, up to eight neighbors for an interior cell.
Does a flag guarantee there is a mine?
No. A flag records your suspicion and protects the covered cell from reveal, but the game does not validate it until the round ends.
Is the minefield random?
No. This version deliberately uses one fixed, tested beginner layout for repeatable keyboard play and auditable rule fixtures.

Related tools

Mini Games guides

View all