Mineswifter

About Mineswifter

Mineswifter keeps the rules of Minesweeper: uncover squares, read the numbers that count neighbouring mines, and flag the mines. What it removes is the luck. Boards are generated so they can always be solved by deduction, which means you never reach the classic coin-flip where two squares are equally likely to hide a mine. The game also has no hard game over and offers free hints when you are stuck.

The home screen offers the three standard sizes (Easy 9x9 with 10 mines, Normal 16x16 with 40, Advanced 30x16 with 99) and a Daily Challenges list. Each day gets one board with an unusual size and density, such as 18x17 with 75 mines or 26x13 with 80, labelled Today, Yesterday and then by date, so you can go back and play days you missed.

Mineswifter comes from Michael McFadden, who also released Mineswifter apps for iPhone and iPad. The website is free and needs no account.

It suits Minesweeper players who are tired of losing to forced guesses, and puzzlers who want a pure logic version with a daily target.

How to play Mineswifter

1. Open Mineswifter and choose Today under Daily Challenges.
2. Click a square to uncover it; numbers show how many mines touch that square.
3. Flag squares you have deduced are mines, and uncover the ones you know are safe.
4. Clear every safe square to finish; use a hint if you are stuck rather than guessing.

Tips

• Every board is solvable by logic, so if you think you must guess, look again for a pattern you have missed.
• Learn the common patterns such as 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1 along a wall; they come up on every board.
• Work the edges of open areas first, where the numbers give the most information.
• Play the Easy board as a warm-up before tackling a dense daily layout.

Questions