Minesweeper: How Do We Know Which Square to Start On?

[mythociate]

You know the game (comes on many PCs standard): a grid of grey squares, clicking on one either reveals a blank space, a number, or a bomb you just died stepping on. The numbers indicate how-many of the squares directly-surrounding have bombs beneath them.

Is the usual practice just to click on a corner or two and hope you're lucky?

[lvstephanie]

I guess it depends on what you are going for... Corners are more likely to be empty (except for the top-left in Windows up until Vista) but also provide the least possibility of opening a large, clear section. Since those large openings allow you to do a better job of determining where the mines are located (or at least set up certain patterns), they will increase your speed in solving the puzzle. So if you are playing to win the game, then clicking on a corner is the better strategy while if you are playing for speed, then clicking towards the center is the best. Also, I heard that with Vista (I'm not sure if this continued with later versions) the first click is always safe, so the best strategy is to always click in the center and hope that it opens up a large, clear area.

[mythociate]

So if you are playing to win the game, then clicking on a corner is the better strategy while if you are playing for speed, then clicking towards the center is the best.

Sounds like I can close this discussion with that! Thanks!