Mine Finder Puzzle Rules: How to Play (Printable Example)

A Mine Finder puzzle hides a handful of mines in a grid and gives you numbers that count them. The Mine Finder puzzle rules are short, but the first time you see the grid it is not obvious where to look. This page explains how to read a number, shows the first moves of a real Easy puzzle, and lists what each of the four levels asks of you.

What a Mine Finder puzzle is

You see a square grid. Some squares contain a number, the others are empty. Mines are hidden in the empty squares. You cannot dig or flag anything: you work out where every mine is, then draw it. The puzzle is the pen-and-paper version of a well-known computer game, with one important difference. On paper there is no lucky first click, so each grid is made so that a solver never needs to guess.

The rules

1. Mines are hidden in the empty squares of the grid. Find all of them.
2. A number tells how many mines touch its square. The diagonals count, so a square has up to 8 neighbours.
3. A square that shows a number never holds a mine.
4. The total number of mines is printed under the grid, next to a small mine.
5. The grid has one solution, and you can reach it by logic.

While you solve, draw a mine in a square you know is a mine, and put a small dot in a square you know is safe. When you have drawn as many mines as the total, and each number agrees with the mines around it, you have finished.

Reading a number

The number of neighbours depends on where the square is. A square in the middle of the grid has 8 neighbours. A square on an edge has 5, and a square in a corner has only 3. This matters: a 3 in a corner means all three neighbours are mines, while a 3 in the middle leaves a lot of room.

A 0 is a very useful number. It means that none of its neighbours is a mine, so you can put a dot in every empty square around it at once. Every grid we generated while preparing this article (60 for each level) had at least one 0, so it is a good place to start.

A worked example

This is an Easy puzzle made by the LogikLand generator, followed by its solution. The grey squares carry numbers. The mine symbol under the grid shows the total: 10 mines.

The first three moves

Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left.

1. Look at the 0 in row 1, column 5. None of its neighbours is a mine. One neighbour already shows a number (the 1 on its left), and the four empty ones, row 1 column 6 and row 2 columns 4, 5 and 6, are safe. Put a dot in each.
2. Now the 1 in row 1, column 4. Its neighbours are row 1 columns 3 and 5 (numbers) and row 2 columns 3, 4 and 5. Columns 4 and 5 of row 2 are safe from move 1, so the one mine must be in row 2, column 3.
3. The 1 in row 1, column 3 touches that same mine. It has its one mine already, so its other empty neighbours, row 1 column 2 and row 2 column 2, are safe.

Each move makes the next one possible. In this grid the same two ideas, a number that has all its mines and a number that has as many empty neighbours as mines left, solve every square. You will find them in more detail in how to solve a Mine Finder puzzle.

The four levels

The Mine Finder assistant has four levels. The size and the number of mines are the ones the generator uses. The last column says which kind of reasoning a grid of that level can ask for.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the diagonals. A number counts the squares touching it by a corner too.
• Putting a mine in a numbered square. A numbered square is always safe.
• Counting a neighbour that is outside the grid. Squares on an edge or in a corner have fewer neighbours.
• Marking a mine after a guess. If you cannot explain a mine with the numbers, it is not certain yet.

Making a book of Mine Finder puzzles

LogikLand has no free single-puzzle tool for Mine Finder. To make a book, create a free account and open the Mine Finder assistant. You choose the level, or several levels with a number of puzzles each, the page size (8.5 x 11 or 6 x 9 inches), how many puzzles go on a page, and how many solutions go on a page. The assistant puts up to 4 puzzles on a page in the 8 x 8 and 10 x 10 levels, and at most 2 as soon as the book has 12 x 12 or 14 x 14 grids, or when the page is 6 x 9. A free account can make books up to 50 pages, and the commercial rights come with the PRO and EXPERT plans; see the pricing page for the current plans.

Questions