How to Play
Intermediate spreads 40 mines over a 16 by 16 grid of 256 cells, about one cell in six. Open cells to reveal how many mines each one touches, flag the mines you've proved, and clear every safe cell to finish. It rewards the same logic as Beginner, but on a board big enough that working efficiently starts to matter.
Chording is the tool that makes the difference here: once a number is surrounded by the right count of flags, clicking or tapping it opens all its other neighbors at once. On a phone you can hold to flag or turn on Flag mode, and tapping a number chords. The board opens zoomed in there: drag to move around, pinch to zoom, and the zoom button in the bar above shows the whole field.
Rules
- New Game places the mines after your first click, so that click opens an empty patch.
- Daily Challenge: one board for everyone, solvable by logic alone from its marked start cell. You get one try per day.
- A chord only opens when the flags around a number match it. A wrong flag there opens a mine.
- Hitting a mine ends the game, and moves can't be taken back.
- Daily times rank the leaderboard in seconds; ties go to the exact milliseconds.
Tips & Strategy
Learn 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1
Along a straight edge, a 1-2-1 means mines under both 1s and a safe cell under the 2. In a 1-2-2-1, the mines sit under the two 2s. These patterns turn up constantly on 16x16.
Work one front at a time
Finish the area you're in before jumping across the board. Each solved stretch hands you new numbers to read, while scattered openings leave half-finished puzzles everywhere.
Flag, then chord
A flag followed by a chord clears three or four cells with two clicks. It is usually faster than opening those cells one at a time.
FAQ
Why does the Daily Challenge need a start cell?
The board was checked from that exact cell to be solvable without guessing. Starting anywhere else could land you in a spot where a guess is unavoidable.
Is every New Game solvable without guessing?
Not always. New Game boards are random after your first click, as in the classic game, so a late coin flip can happen. Only the Daily Challenge is guaranteed.
Where are my New Game results kept?
In this browser: games played, games won, your best time, and your current winning streak. They never go to a leaderboard.