What the Numbers Mean in Minesweeper

What a number counts

When you open a safe cell, it shows how many mines are hiding in the cells that touch it. A cell touches up to eight neighbors: left, right, above, below and the four diagonals. A 1 means one of those neighbors is a mine, and a 5 means five of them are.

That last point is the whole puzzle. A number tells you how many, never where. The where comes from comparing the number with the cells around it. Here is what each value says:

• Blank (zero): none of the neighbors is a mine, so all of them are safe.
• 1: exactly one neighbor is a mine.
• 2 and 3: two or three neighbors are mines. Together with 1 these are usually the most common numbers.
• 4 to 8: four to eight neighbors are mines. They are usually uncommon, and an 8 means every neighbor is a mine.

It also helps to know what a number does not count:

• The cell itself. You only see a number because that cell is safe.
• Cells two steps away. Only the ring of touching cells counts.
• Your flags. A number counts real mines, whether or not you have flagged them.
• Cells you already opened. They cannot be mines, so they never add to the count.

In classic Minesweeper, opening a blank cell opens all of its neighbors automatically, which is why one click can uncover a whole patch.

Edges and corners have fewer neighbors

A cell in the middle of a board has eight neighbors. On a wall it has five, and in a corner it has only three. That means the highest number you can see depends on where the cell sits: a 5 on a wall or a 3 in a corner is already the maximum.

Minesweeper Worlds Online has no outer edge, because its grid extends infinitely in every direction, so you will not meet true walls there.

The counting idea still applies. Neighbors you have already opened cannot hold mines, so a number sitting beside an opened region behaves like a wall number. Only its covered neighbors matter.

Turn a number into a certainty

Most of the work is one small calculation. For any number, find two things: how many mines it still needs, and how many covered neighbors it has left. The mines it still needs are its value minus the flags already touching it.

• If it still needs 0 mines, every covered neighbor is safe.
• If it needs exactly as many mines as it has covered neighbors, every one of them is a mine.
• Anything in between gives no certainty from this number alone.

Here is the calculation with real values. Say a 3 touches one flag and has two covered neighbors left. It still needs 3 minus 1, which is 2 mines, and it has exactly 2 covered cells, so both are mines. If the same 3 had three covered neighbors left, it would need 2 mines among 3 cells, and you would have to look elsewhere for the answer.

All the remaining neighbors are mines

A satisfied number clears its neighbors

Flagged cells count as mines in this arithmetic, which is also why a wrong flag is dangerous: it makes a number look finished when it is not. In Minesweeper Worlds you can click or tap a satisfied number to open all its remaining neighbors at once, and if any flag is misplaced, a hidden mine gets opened. The details are in flags and chording.

Read two numbers together

Sometimes a single number is stuck. Look at its neighbors instead. When two numbers share some of the same covered cells, compare how many mines each one allows in the shared cells and in the cells only one of them touches.

Patterns such as 1-1, 1-2 and 1-2-1 are just this kind of comparison, which you learn to recognize at a glance. The patterns guide collects the common ones with diagrams.

Common misreadings

• A covered cell next to a 1 is not automatically a mine. It is a mine only when it is the 1's last covered neighbor and no flag already touches that 1.
• A bigger number does not point toward the mines. A 5 only says that five of its eight touching cells are mines.
• A blank opened cell is not unexplored. It is a zero, and all of its neighbors are safe.
• Placing a flag does not change any number. The numbers always count the real mines.

Another common slip is thinking every number needs its own mine. One mine can count toward several numbers at once.

Put it to work

After you open a patch, work through its border with the same short routine:

1. Pick a number with few covered neighbors. These are the easiest to settle.
2. Subtract the flags already touching it from its value.
3. Compare what is left with the number of covered neighbors. If it is zero, open them all. If it equals the covered count, flag them all.
4. After every new flag or opened cell, re-read the numbers beside it, because one result often settles a neighbor.
5. When single numbers run out, compare neighbors in pairs.

Mine density is not the same everywhere in Minesweeper Worlds. The game's own tip says it varies depending on the terrain, so read each number for what it says rather than for what is typical. You can try it in your browser without downloading anything, and if every number on the border is stuck, the guide to avoiding guesses explains what to do next.