Any tips for improving my minesweeper skills?

[bjr_jyd15]

hi everyone, i have a really slow computer for good games, so i try to make excuses for homework by playing MINESWEEPER!

does anyone have a strategy for this game?

i've been playing beginner mode and have my record down to 24 seconds.

let me know if someone can offer me tips!

thanks
brian

 

[Smurf]

My record is 8 seconds. I havn't even been able to come close since that time.

 

[Math Is Hard]

i try to make excuses for homework by playing MINESWEEPER!

let me know if someone can offer me tips!

Here's a tip: stop playing Minesweeper and go do your homework!

 

[bjr_jyd15]

8 sec? on beginner i assume. that's really good, but was a lot of that just luck? or do you employ a strategy?

 

[bjr_jyd15]

haha math is hard...believe me, my homework takes less thought than minesweeper. most of my homework isn't even checked by the teacher so i don't bother. minesweeper keeps me going for half-hours on end.

 

[BicycleTree]

Minesweeper! Hooray!

I looked up records for Minesweeper a year ago because I was playing it then and there are people who have gotten 1 second for beginner's level. I was playing the largest mode and when I could see that I was taking 300 seconds on my best time and the record was like one minute, I gave up.

 

[mattmns]

Pblack! weak!

4, 27, 99. Respectively, beg, int, exp.

Websites:
It has some world record (insane) scores/videos and some tips: http://metanoodle.com/minesweeper/
Also this website: http://www.planet-minesweeper.com/conseils.php

Best tip is to learn how to use the middle click button, and also to learn the logic. I am going to make a minesweeper tutorial/logic guide in a few weeks.

I will post more tomorrow, or later, time for fear factor.

 

[Smurf]

8 sec? on beginner i assume. that's really good, but was a lot of that just luck? or do you employ a strategy?

I employ a strategy, but a lot of it was luck too. I've gotten as low as 10 since I got 8, but usually I end up around 12-13.

 

[Huckleberry]

Anyone ever play pente?

A friend of mine developed this website. www.pente.net I just checked it and it is down at the moment. Its worth checking out if you are into mentally challenging games. This one can be deceptively complex against an experienced player.

Huck

 

[quantumdude]

does anyone have a strategy for this game?

Yeah, redefine "winning" to "finding a mine" and you can get your time down to about 0.5 sec.

 

[bjr_jyd15]

i'll be interested in your guide mattmns. i was thinking if ppl have ever tried to figure out the logic behind the game, instead of just clicking and using a little brain power like me.

i'm sure someone could come up with a sequence that determines where the mines are just based on some crazy formula.

 

[bjr_jyd15]

boy tom you really earned that super mentor logo didn't you

:)

 

[mattmns]

Yeah you really do not have to guess at all. Maybe twice per expert board: Usually one of those darn 50/50 guesses at the end too

Learn the 1-2-1 pattern, and rather than try to better your times, try to better how often you win. Seriously just sit there and think about the logic. Use edges/corners.

 

[quantumdude]

Yes, but I can't take all the credit. My 6 year old niece has found a way to "win" any game. I'm basically stealing her material.

 

[BicycleTree]

It probably wouldn't be too hard for someone to write a program to automatically play minesweeper. It would simulate button click actions and read from the screen to determine what state the squares are in and it could probably play the expert level in like 5 seconds.

 

[bjr_jyd15]

ohhh you shouldn't have shown me that website mattmns, now i learned a cheat! oh well, this should help wean me off minesweeper and onto homework. lol

 

[mattmns]

Yes, of course, you can cheat at any game. Why would that affect you wanting to play it or not?

 

[bjr_jyd15]

well, when i get a cheat for a game, it loses its originality.
i remember playing "the sims" a few years ago and it was really fun until i learned a code to get a million dollars and then it became boring cause there was no point.

but i'll try not to use this code b/c i want to see if i can actually go sub-10 (legally).

 

[Gale]

My strategy for minesweeper is to guess a bunch until i clear most of the board, then the rest is logic, and a little 50/50 guessing at the end. double clicking is definitely the greatest thing ever. i remember when i first discovered it, i was like "holy cow! this is the greatest thing ever!" I used to play minesweeper all the time in computer class. It was one of those games that the school seemed to never be able to get off the computer. My record for beginer is 4 secs, intermediate is in the 40's and i never really try to beat my score on expert, i just try to win, and I'm happy with that. I think I'm probably just under 300.

 

[gravenewworld]

Ill have to ask my roomate. He can do expert in 80 s. I watched him do it, simply amazing. Hit left and right mouse buttons at the same time to clear out all the blocks adjacent to a bomb. It saves time.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Tsu and I played this years ago and had a little competition going. I finally realized that I could randomly click around the screen as fast as possible, and on occasion get a win. I did this until I had it down to 1 or 2 seconds, which left Tsu a little frustrated when she saw the time.

 

[BicycleTree]

I'm way too slow at games like this, it's weird. I'm smart otherwise.

 

[Moonbear]

i'll be interested in your guide mattmns. i was thinking if ppl have ever tried to figure out the logic behind the game, instead of just clicking and using a little brain power like me.

Another perk of owning a Mac is it doesn't come with Minesweeper installed! I probably could have been twice as productive in grad school if I had never encountered that game!

There certainly is logic to the game...though of course the first few clicks are just luck. However, if you stop and think about what you're doing, you're never going to get those really good scores (though you can win a lot more than you lose). To get those record times, you just have to click as fast as you can and hope for the best!

P.S. Didn't you all watch the first episode of Numb3rs? They stressed the importance of Minesweeper as a mathematical theory...or something like that.

 

[hypermorphism]

Once you get the few patterns involved, the only times you waste time are in the beginning (trying to find clear regions), and in the end where there may be a corner or collection of hidden squares that defies logical analysis and you just have to guess.

 

[BicycleTree]

Yeah... whatever... you people are all computers.

 

[hypnagogue]

lol, and I thought I was a minesweeper fanatic! Some of the 'tips' from the metanoodle page are, uh... disconcerting.

It may be fun, but looking at the clock wastes time you could use.
Further, nerves can affect you if the timer is near your record. (My hands tremble).

Many of us have solved boards dreaming!

Actually, I have to admit that I've had phases of playing Tetris where, when I would be half-asleep, I'd spontaneously see Tetris blocks falling and I'd move them around as if I were actually playing.

This next bit is the scariest, though:

If you don’t mind ‘wasting’ a bit of time, take a 5 minute break every hour to run up and down the stairs. It will get your blood moving again, increasing glucose levels in your brain to give you slightly better reflexes.

Speaking of variation, just for fun one time play Hexmines for an hour before starting Minesweeper. It almost makes you feel as if you are hallucinating

My record for expert is 113 seconds (almost 3 times as long as the world champion ). The best tip I could give (as others have mentioned) is to recognize patterns so you can fill in mines automatically instead of having to think about it. Some that come up often are 1-2-1, 2-3-2, and ...1-1-2-2-1-1...

If you're interested more in solving a board than getting a record time, it can also be useful to try to come up with hypothetical placements where mines might be (question marks would be useful for that) and going from there, seeing if the pattern of mines that logically follows is consistent with numbers further down the line.

 

[Danger]

My best in expert is 213, but I'm not any kind of fanatic about playing it. It's just something to do at work. My boss bought me a deluxe Mah Johng (sp?) disk, so I do that instead now. I'm sure that Minesweeper cheats, though, at least in expert mode. I've played several thousand games and not one single time have I ever hit a mine on the first click. So obviously it must not pick the location until after you've clicked it. It also chooses against you about 80% of the time on a 50/50 guess.
Just for the hell of it, I downloaded a Mac version of it for home. There are no instructions with it. Having learned the game on a PC, I have no bloody idea how to play it with a one-button mouse. Any help there?

 

[mattmns]

lol one button mouse, hmm that would be difficult. I guess you would just not be able to mark. Many of the great players do not mark, but I think to be the best you need to use both styles.

Mah Jongg is how it is spelled on my computer. Fun game, but I have not thought about it as intensely as I have mindsweeper

 

[su27killer]

Hehe really interesting thread, and as I am far from the modest I will announce my 2-12-41 scores, making me 5th in the world and probably 1st here

 

[mattmns]

WOW!

I stopped playing once I finally broke below 100 total, my scores are 2-25-71