MINESWEEPER
Introduction If you've got a PC, the chances are you've got Minesweeper. This addictive little game is included in most versions of Windows, and even has a world ranking table on the internet! If you've never tried it, have a look in Start->Programs->Games on your Start Menu: it's probably there. Concept As with Nonosweeper, the idea is to find and label a fixed number of mines which have been randomly distributed across a grid. In Minesweeper, though, the clues are also hidden in the grid along with the mines. When a grid square is clicked on, it reveals the number of mines in adjacent squares (unless it's a mine, in which case it's game over!). The challenge is clear the grid as fast as possible and get the best time on three different levels of play - Beginner (9x9 grid, 10 mines), Intermediate (16x16 grid, 40 mines), and Expert (30x16 grid, 99 mines). Strategy Although it's a simple game, there are plenty of ways of increasing your odds of winning or shaving a fraction of a second off your high score. There are numerous strategy guides available, ranging from the very good to the truly awful! The mathematics of Minesweeper There has been a lot of research done into the maths of Minesweeper, and the recent announcement that the Clay Mathematics Institute is offering a $1 million prize for solving a certain mathematical problem ("P=NP?") coupled with Richard Kaye's proof that Minesweeper is NP-complete (in other words, it's a representation of this abstract problem) have created number of headlines about winning a million dollars with Minesweeper. I can tell you now that being good at Minesweeper won't help you in the slightest with solving this problem, but as an accessible introduction to this type of mathematical problem, it's a very interesting connection. There's an article showing the equivalence between Minesweeper configurations and propositional logic (and hence the NP problem) here. Techuser.net has some articles about other theoretical aspects of Minesweeper. More about Minesweeper The Authoritative Minesweeper has a wealth of interesting information about the game: records, tips, history, links, and much more. Planet Minesweeper is a nice-looking resource for Minesweeper fans, with lots of information and regularly-updated world rankings. Some parts of the site are for French-speakers only. B.O.M.B. (Best Operative Mine Blasters) has lots of tips and videos to help you improve your times, and other useful information and links. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia contains an entry for Minesweeper. Believe it or not, there's even an archive of Minesweeper fan fiction out there! Minesweeper implementations JMine2 - An online Java-based implementation with some interesting extra features. JavaScript Minesweeper - A JavaScript demo program for both gamers and programmers Minesweeper3D - Minesweeper played in on a variety of different 3D boards, with a wealth of options and statistics. Back to Nonosweeper main page