Minesweeper Patterns Every Player Should Know

A number tells you how many mines touch that square, counting all eight neighbors, diagonals included. Almost every deduction comes from two simple checks:

1. If a number equals its hidden neighbors, they are all mines. A 2 with exactly two hidden squares next to it means both are mines.
2. If a number already touches that many flags, the rest are safe. A 2 touching two flags means every other hidden neighbor can be opened.

Patterns are just these two rules applied to two or three numbers at once. In the diagrams, the highlighted numbers are the pattern, a green check is a square the pattern proves safe, and a red flag is a square it proves is a mine.

Look at the first 1, against the wall. It touches only two hidden squares, so exactly one of those two is a mine. The second 1 touches those same two squares plus one more. Its one mine is already used up by the pair, so the third square must be safe.

The 1-1 works from a wall, a corner or any square you have already opened, because the first 1 needs to be limited to two hidden neighbors.

The 2 needs two mines among its three hidden squares. Two of those are shared with the 1, and the 1 allows at most one mine there. So the 2's outside square must be a mine. That also means exactly one mine sits in the shared pair, which uses up the 1, so the 1's outside square is safe.

This is the pattern to look for first on any long straight edge. Whenever a number is exactly one more than its neighbor, the larger number's far square is a mine.

Apply the 1-2 rule from both sides. From the left, the 1-2 says the square past the 2 on the right, which is above the right 1, is a mine. From the right, the same logic puts a mine above the left 1. That is the 2's two mines, so the square above the 2 is safe, and so are the outer squares beside the 1s.

Memorize it as a shape: 1-2-1 means mines on the 1s. It shows up constantly on Medium and Hard boards.

Again, it is two 1-2 patterns facing each other. The left 1-2 puts a mine above the second 2, and the right one puts a mine above the first 2. That satisfies both 1s, so everything above and beside the 1s is safe.

The quick way to remember both: 1-2-1 marks the 1s, 1-2-2-1 marks the 2s.

Corners are where hidden squares have the fewest neighbors, so numbers there run out of options fast. Two shapes are worth spotting at a glance.

When an opened area wraps around a hidden block, the number in the inside corner often touches only one hidden square, the diagonal. A 1 there is an instant flag.

The board's own corners work the same way. A hidden corner square has only three neighbors, so a number touching it often equals its count of hidden squares. Whenever you see a number with exactly that many hidden neighbors, flag them all.

Chording is the biggest speed boost in Minesweeper. Once a number touches as many flags as its value, you can open all its other neighbors at once instead of one by one. In our game, tap or click an opened number whose mines are all flagged and the rest open together.

It only works when the flags are right. If you flag the wrong square and then chord, you will open a mine, so only flag squares you have proven.

In our Minesweeper, your first click is never a mine and never touches one. Mines are placed after you click, and the square you choose plus its eight neighbors are always kept clear. So your first click always opens an area, wherever you tap.

Where you click still changes how big that area is. We simulated thousands of games with the game's own rules:

Start in the middle. A center first click opens more than twice as much as a corner on Medium and Hard, which gives you more numbers and more patterns to work with right away.

Later in a game you will sometimes have no safe move left. When you must guess, pick the square with the best odds. A random hidden square away from any numbers has the overall mine density: about 12% on Easy, 16% on Medium and 21% on Hard at the start, falling as you flag mines. Squares next to numbers can be far safer or far riskier, so count before you guess.

• Play Easy for patterns, not times. Say the pattern out loud as you use it: "1-2, so that one is a mine". After a few games you will see them without trying.
• Scan edges first. Patterns live along straight edges between opened and hidden squares. Run your eye along each edge looking for a 1 beside a 2.
• Try the daily board. The daily Minesweeper is the same for everyone and starts with an opened patch, so nobody begins with a guess.
• Then move up. Medium and Hard use the same patterns, just many more of them. Hard turns sideways on narrow phone screens so the squares stay tappable.