Tidy Puzzles
Minesweeper beginner board of 9 by 9 cells with a wide open area and a few flags

Minesweeper beginner: the 9×9 board with 10 mines

Minesweeper beginner is the small 9×9 board with 10 mines, the right place to learn the numbers. Your first click always opens an empty area, and by default every board can be finished without guessing. No app, no sign-up, no interstitial before play; it works offline and plays fully from the keyboard.

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9×9, 10 minesNo-guess mode.

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How to play Minesweeper

  1. Open cells to find the mines. A number tells you how many of the eight surrounding cells hold a mine.
  2. Your first cell is always safe and opens an empty area. Mines are only placed after that first move.
  3. Flag a cell you are sure holds a mine: right-click, press F, hold your finger on it, or turn on Flag mode and tap.
  4. Click or press Enter on a number that already has the right number of flags around it to open its other neighbours at once. If a flag is wrong, that opens a mine.
  5. You win when every safe cell is open. Opening a mine ends the game; Undo is available while you play.
  6. Beginner and intermediate boards are laid out so they can be solved by logic alone. Turn that on for expert or off entirely in Settings.

Keyboard

Arrows
Move between cells (Home, End, Page Up and Page Down jump to the edges)
Enter / Space
Open the cell, or open the neighbours of a number whose flags match it
F
Place or remove a flag (with question marks on: flag, question mark, clear)
U
Undo
Y
Redo
H
Hint
P
Pause
N
New game
?
This help

How to play Minesweeper on the beginner board

  1. Click, tap or press Enter on any cell. The first one always opens a clear area.
  2. Each number counts the mines in the eight cells around it.
  3. Flag a cell you have proven is a mine with a right-click, F, a long press or Flag mode.
  4. Open every cell you have proven safe. Click a number with all its flags placed to open the rest around it.
  5. Clear all 71 safe cells to win. Hitting a mine ends the game.

Minesweeper beginner tips

On 81 cells with 10 mines, about one cell in eight is a mine, so the first click usually opens a large part of the board. After that, the whole game is two questions asked of each number on the edge of the open area.

  • Does this number touch exactly as many hidden cells as its value? Then all of them are mines. Flag them.
  • Does this number already have all its mines flagged? Then every other hidden cell around it is safe. Open them, or click the number to chord.
  • When neither works on any single number, compare two neighbours. A 1 and a 2 that share two hidden cells tell you the 2's extra cell is a mine.
  • Watch the mine counter at the end. If the counter says 1 and only one hidden pocket could hold it, everything else is safe.

Why you never need to guess here

No-guess mode is on here by default: after your first click the game picks a layout its solver can clear using single numbers, number pairs and the mine count, the reasoning above. If you feel stuck, a safe deduction exists; press H and the hint names it, such as Single cell or Subset.

Daily, stats and printables

This page plays the 9×9 board. When you finish in under a minute, move up to Intermediate.

The timer starts on your first move and pauses when you switch tabs. Stats per board size stay in this browser: played, won, win rate, best and average time.

Undo and Redo cover the whole game, even the first click. The first two hints on a puzzle are free; if ads are switched on later, more hints offer a short ad or a 30-second wait. Wins come with share text, and every random board has a code such as A7K3Q that replays it.

Plays anywhere, no app, no account

The 9×9 beginner board fits a phone screen without scrolling, and a long press or Flag mode places flags by touch. Tidy Puzzles runs entirely in your browser: there is no app to install, no account to create and no interstitial before you can play. After the first visit the game also works offline, because each puzzle is generated on your device from a seed. Every board can be played with the keyboard alone, on a phone or a desktop, and your stats and unfinished puzzles stay in this browser rather than on a server.

Frequently asked questions

How many mines are on the Minesweeper beginner board?

10 mines on a 9×9 board of 81 cells, a density of about 12 percent. That leaves 71 safe cells to open.

Is beginner Minesweeper always solvable without guessing?

Yes, with the default setting. The board is chosen after your first click so it can be cleared by logic alone. You can turn this off in Settings for plain random boards.

What is a good time for beginner Minesweeper?

Once you know the basic patterns, under a minute is a good target. Your best and average times are kept in this browser.

How do I get a hint in Minesweeper?

Press H or use the Hint button. The hint points at a cell and names the rule that proves it; Apply hint opens it or places the flag for you.

Can I undo a mistake?

Yes. Undo covers the whole game, including a click on a mine, so you can step back and try the other cell.

Last updated 2026-09-27. Written and maintained by the Tidy Puzzles team; puzzles are generated on your device. How it works.