About Sweep
Sweep is minesweeper, the desktop classic that turned a generation of office workers into logicians. Behind the plain grid is a genuinely elegant deduction puzzle: every number tells you exactly how many mines sit in the eight surrounding tiles, and from those numbers alone you can reason your way across the whole board.
This version is the game you remember with the sharp edges filed off — three board sizes, a guaranteed-safe first click, flags, and chording for players who like to move fast.
How to play
- Click or tap a tile to reveal it. Your first click is always safe.
- A number shows how many of its eight neighbors hide a mine. A blank tile has none, and reveals its whole neighborhood automatically.
- Right-click (or long-press on a touchscreen) to plant a flag on a tile you believe is mined.
- When a number already has the right amount of flags around it, click the number to reveal its remaining neighbors at once — that's chording.
- Reveal every safe tile to win. Reveal a mine and the round is over.
- Choose Easy, Medium, or Hard to change the board size and mine count.
Strategy
- Start from the blanks. Big open areas give you long borders of numbers to work with.
- Count what a number still needs. Subtract the flags already placed. If the remaining hidden neighbors exactly match the remaining count, they're all mines; if the count is met, everything else next to it is safe.
- Learn the 1-2-1. Along a straight edge, a 1-2-1 row means the mines sit above the two 1s and the tile above the 2 is safe. Patterns like this solve themselves once you've seen them.
- Flag certainties, not hunches. A wrong flag quietly poisons every deduction that touches it.
- Guess late, not early. Exhaust the logic first; if a guess is truly forced, prefer tiles touching the fewest numbers.
Tip: Work outward from numbers that are already satisfied — every satisfied number turns its remaining neighbors into free, safe reveals.
Sweep FAQ
Can I lose on the first click?
No. The first tile you reveal is always safe — the board arranges itself so you never hit a mine immediately.
How do I place flags on a phone?
Long-press a tile to flag it. On a computer, right-click.
What is chording?
Clicking a revealed number that already has the right number of flags around it reveals all of its other neighbors in one go. It's faster — but if a flag is wrong, you'll set off the mine.
Do I have to flag every mine to win?
No. You win by revealing every safe tile. Flags are just a thinking aid.
Enjoying Sweep? Try Sudoku or Solitaire next, or browse all games.