Constraint analysis desk

Minesweeper Solver and Safe-Cell Finder

Recreate the part of the board you can see. The solver tests every mine arrangement allowed by those clues and marks a cell only when the evidence proves it safe or proves it contains a mine.

Click a cell to cycle from covered to 0 through 8

Enter only revealed numbers. Leave every unknown cell covered. A small frontier is usually enough, as long as it includes every visible number touching the cells you want to test.

Try the built-in 1-2-1 case

121 ???

The outside cells are mines

The center 2 needs two mines among the three covered cells. Each outside 1 touches only its adjacent pair. The only arrangement satisfying all three clues puts mines below the two 1s and leaves the center cell safe. Load the case above to see those exact coordinates marked.

What counts as proof

  1. Each revealed number becomes a rule for the covered cells touching it.
  2. Connected rules are grouped so unrelated parts of the position do not inflate the search.
  3. Mine placements that break even one visible number are discarded.
  4. A cell is marked only if every surviving placement gives it the same state.

This is why an unmarked cell is not an error. If one valid arrangement makes it a mine and another makes it safe, the clues have not settled that cell. The honest result is undetermined.

Three results that need different responses

Guaranteed move

Green or red cells are logically forced by the numbers entered. Compare the coordinates in the analysis log with your original board before making the move.

No forced cell

Add any surrounding revealed numbers you omitted. If the full frontier still permits multiple arrangements, the position may be a true 50/50. No deterministic solver can manufacture information that the board has not revealed.

Contradictory clues

If no mine placement fits, at least one number was entered incorrectly or a revealed clue was left out of the recreated frontier. Recheck the grid before treating any mark as actionable.

Practical limits

Exhaustive enumeration stops when one connected component exceeds 22 covered cells. Those cells appear amber instead of receiving an unsupported answer. Adding more revealed numbers often divides a large component into smaller solvable groups. For ordinary play without forced guesses, No-Guessing mode uses board validation before the game begins.

Solver questions

Is there a Minesweeper solver?

Yes. Enter the numbers you can see and this solver works out which covered cells are definitely mines and which are definitely safe. It only reports a cell when every mine arrangement consistent with your numbers agrees, so it never guesses.

Why does the solver say a cell is undetermined?

Because the numbers you entered genuinely do not settle it. If two covered cells could each hold the mine and nothing on the board separates them, that is a true 50/50 and no solver can resolve it - only more information can.

Does using a solver count as cheating?

Not on a board you have already finished or on a position you are studying. It is a learning tool: work a position out yourself, then check it. Ranked games on this site record every move, so solver-assisted play is detectable.

Continue from the diagnosis

Study the recurring shapes in the pattern guide, keep the Minesweeper cheat sheet nearby, or measure a completed board in the 3BV laboratory. The tools desk routes each kind of question to the right utility.