How to solve Hidden Mines in Games by Zaweba

Hidden Mines is the classic logic grid that has kept people busy on office computers for decades, rebuilt for the Puzzles shelf of Games by Zaweba. Under a grid of covered squares lie a number of mines. Your task is to open every square that hides no mine, without setting one off.

It feels like a game of luck at first. It is almost entirely a game of reasoning once you learn to read the numbers.

Opening the first square

Click any square to open it. The first square you open is always safe, so there is no risk at the very start. From there, the numbers that appear are your guide, and each one you open gives you a little more to reason with. Treat the opening as a free look, not a gamble.

What the numbers mean

Every opened square that sits next to mines shows a number. That number tells you how many mines touch it, counting all eight neighbours, including the diagonals. A 1 means exactly one of the covered squares around it is a mine. A 3 means three are.

The reasoning grows from there. If a 1 touches only one covered square, that square must be a mine. If a 2 already has two mines worked out beside it, every other covered square round it is safe. Put two numbers side by side and they often tell you more together than either does alone.

Flagging and opening round a number

When you have worked out where a mine is, flag it. Right-click a square to flag it, or turn on flag mode and use an ordinary click, which is handy on a laptop touchpad. Press F or Space to switch flag mode on and off.

Flags are more than a memory aid. Once a number has all its mines flagged, click the number itself and Hidden Mines opens every other square round it in one go. This is the quickest way through a large board and the move that experienced players use most. Be sure of your flags first, though: if one is wrong, opening round the number will set off a mine.

Habits that help

Work along the edges of the opened area, one number at a time, and look for the easy certainties first. Corners and walls help, because a square on the edge has fewer neighbours to think about.

Look out for well-known patterns. A row of 1, 2, 1 along a straight edge, for example, tells you the outer two covered squares are mines and the middle one is safe. Once you recognise a few of these, whole sections of the board open quickly.

If you get stuck, take a step back and look at a different part of the board. There is often a certain move somewhere you have not looked.

Finding Hidden Mines in the app

Hidden Mines sits on the Puzzles shelf of Games by Zaweba alongside Number Place, Picture Grid and Colour Code, the games where careful deduction is the whole point. It keeps your best result, plays and wins for each mode. Press Esc to pause halfway through a tricky board, F11 to fill the screen, and F1 if you would like the rules explained again.