WHEN WAS MINESWEEPER INVENTED?

While the claims of when exactly Minesweeper was invented vary, the general consensus is that some variation of it was created sometime during the 1960s or 1970s. However, it didn’t really take off until Microsoft released Minesweeper on one of their Windows game packs in 1990.  

Despite the argument over the release date, there is one thing most agree on - Minesweeper is one of the most popular time-wasters of all time. Many websites claim that Minesweeper is the most popular game of all time, although that is certainly up for debate.

This popularity is due to two factors: the simple game instructions and the fact that Minesweeper comes pre-installed on a lot of computers. 

WHAT DOES MINESWEEPER TEACH YOU?

Minesweeper is great for pattern recognition, meaning you’ll learn how to look at a series of numbers and figure out what the numbers mean when they’re in a specific order. It’s also great for deductive reasoning.

DO YOU HAVE TO GUESS IN ORDER TO PLAY MINESWEEPER?

Oftentimes Minesweeper is dismissed as a game of luck. However, if players really put their mind to it, there doesn’t have to be a ton of guessing. In some versions of Minesweeper, depending on the difficulty level, there doesn’t have to be any guessing whatsoever a lot of the time.

In our Coolmath Games version of Minesweeper, you may have to guess once or twice a game in order to come out victorious. Our advice - think long and hard before you decide to guess. There may be one more square that you don’t have to guess on, make sure to weigh all of your options before leaping into the unknown of guessing. If you try and avoid guessing at all costs whenever you can, you’ll be surprised by how many Minesweeper games are winnable with minimal risk.

IS THERE A TRICK TO PLAY MINESWEEPER?

Minesweeper is a pretty straightforward game, with not a ton of sneaky tricks to it. The main 'trick' is to just be patient and consider all of your options. 

One tip that we have - if there is a square that only has one mine next to it, and it is tucked away in a corner surrounded by safe squares to the left and right, then the mine must be directly diagonal to it. 

There was one famous trick in Minesweeper, although it is long gone by now. Back in the Windows XP days, if players pressed the keys 'xyzzy' and then the left shift key, a pixel would pop up in the top left-hand corner of the monitor and stay there. When players hovered over a safe square, it would appear white. On the other hand, when players hovered over a square with a mine underneath it, the pixel would turn black.

WHAT IS THE FASTEST TIME IN MINESWEEPER?

Minesweeper speed runs are insane. Considering that the game has been around for decades, there have been many people who have trained countless hours in pursuit of the record. If you are hoping to beat the world record, you will have to be able to complete the entire map in just seconds. You heard that right - the Minesweeper world record is completed in a matter of seconds.