Minesweeper Strategy: Patterns That Clear the Board Without Guessing

How to clear a Minesweeper board by logic alone: reading the numbers, flags, the 1-2, 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1 patterns, and counting mines at the end.

Sunroom Games · Updated October 9, 2026

Minesweeper looks like a game of luck, but it's really a game of reading numbers. A handful of patterns come up again and again, and once you know them you can clear whole boards without ever taking a chance. Here they are, with pictures, plus a few numbers from our own boards.

If you'd like the rules first, see how to play Minesweeper.

Why our boards never need a guess

In the classic game, only the first square you click is sure to be safe, and many boards reach a point where no amount of thinking can tell you what's under the next square. We measured it: using only the reasoning in this guide, you could finish just 28 in 100 random Easy boards, 15 Medium boards and fewer than 2 Hard boards. Every other board would need a guess somewhere.

So every board on our site is checked first. Each one starts with an open area already uncovered, and our computer solves the whole board using only the patterns below before you ever see it. Even with that open start, only about 1 random Hard board in 10 passes, so the computer simply tries again until it finds one. If you're stuck, there's always a next step, and the Hint button will show it.

1. A number counts its eight neighbors

Every uncovered number tells you how many mines are in the eight squares around it: above, below, left, right and the four diagonals. Squares along the edge of the board have fewer neighbors, which makes them easier. A blank square has no mines around it at all, which is why the game opens up around it by itself.

The trick is to look at a number together with its covered neighbors, and the flags you've already placed around it.

2. When the covered squares and the number match

If a number touches exactly as many covered squares as its value, every one of those squares is a mine. This is the first pattern everyone learns.

The 1 in the middle touches only one covered square, in the corner, so that square must be the mine.

The same works for bigger numbers: a 3 with exactly three covered squares around it has a mine under each one.

3. When a number already has its mines

The opposite pattern is just as useful. Once a number has all of its mines flagged, every other covered square around it is safe.

The second 1 already touches a flagged mine, so the two covered squares above it (outlined in green) are safe.

Here's a shortcut: when a number has all of its mines flagged, tap the number itself, and the game uncovers all of its other squares at once. Just be sure your flags are right first, because a wrong flag means uncovering a real mine.

4. Compare two numbers: the 1-2

When no number settles anything on its own, compare two neighbors. Look at the squares they share and the squares only one of them touches.

The 2 needs one more mine than the 1 next to it, and it touches exactly one covered square the 1 doesn't, on the right. That square must be a mine, so the 1's mine is among the squares they share, and the square only the 1 touches, on the left, is safe.

This is the most common pattern beyond the simple ones. In our boards, every Hard board and about 6 Medium boards in 10 needed it at least once.

5. The 1-2-1

Along a straight row of numbers, the pattern 1-2-1 always works the same way: the mines are next to the 1s, and the square next to the 2 is safe.

In a 1-2-1, the mines are above the two 1s. The square above the 2, and the corners, are safe.

It follows from the 1-2 pattern used twice, once from each side, but once you've seen it you'll spot it instantly.

6. The 1-2-2-1

Its cousin, 1-2-2-1, puts the mines next to the two 2s, and the squares next to the 1s are safe.

In a 1-2-2-1, the mines are above the two 2s, and the squares above the 1s are safe.

7. Work along the edge of what's open

All the information is where uncovered numbers meet covered squares. Start at one end of that edge and work along it, a number at a time, settling what you can. Every square you uncover adds a new number, and often that number settles the next square along. Squares in the corners and along the sides of the board have fewer neighbors, so they're often the easiest place to start.

8. Count the mines at the end

The count above the board shows how many mines are still to be flagged. Near the end, that can settle the last few squares. If two mines are left and exactly two covered squares remain, both are mines. If every mine is flagged, everything still covered is safe. In our boards this was needed only now and then, about 6 Hard boards in 100, but when it's needed, nothing else will do.

Flags: use them or not

You don't have to flag mines to win; you win by uncovering every safe square. But flags help you keep track, they make the shortcut on numbers work, and they stop you uncovering a mine by accident. If you're not sure a flag is right, leave the square alone: the Hint button checks your flags first and tells you if one is on a safe square.

How long does each level take?

Our hints needed about 22 steps to clear an Easy board, about 90 for Medium and about 210 for Hard. The open start covers about half of an Easy board, a quarter of a Medium one and less than a tenth of a Hard one, so Hard really is a different game. If you're new to Minesweeper, play a few Easy boards until the patterns above feel natural, then move up.

If you enjoy puzzles of pure logic, try our Sudoku techniques guide too.

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