Minesweeper #explained in 60 seconds

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:01]Arbitrary Insights, this is how to play Minesweeper [music] in 60 seconds.

[00:00:05]Minesweeper is a household name largely for coming pre-installed on every Windows operating system from 3.1 all the way until 8. At its core, it's a puzzle game whose objective is to clear the board by clearing the safe tiles and flagging the tiles that have mines. The puzzle is in determining which is which.

[00:00:23]After picking a starting tile, numbers populate the board and they indicate how many mines are touching that tile. A one will be touching one mine, a two will be touching two, and so on.

[00:00:34]So, if a one is only touching one block that isn't already cleared or flagged, like a corner, you know it's a mine.

[00:00:41]If a two is already touching two known mines, you know that every other tile around it is safe to clear.

[00:00:47]One of the major flaws in classic Minesweeper is that sometimes [music] you're simply forced to guess, so diligent gameplay alone won't always guarantee success.