What is chording in Minesweeper?

Chording means clicking a revealed number after flagging the correct number of adjacent mines. The game instantly reveals all remaining unrevealed neighbours in one action. For example: if a 3 has three flags placed around it, clicking the 3 clears every other neighbour simultaneously - up to five cells from a single click.

How does chording work, step by step

The mechanic is conditional: the game only acts if the flags around a number already equal that number.

• Reveal a number - say a 2 - that still has hidden neighbours.
• Flag the two cells you have deduced are mines.
• Click the 2. Because its flag count now matches its value, the game reveals all of its *other* neighbours at once.

If the flag count does not match, the click does nothing (or briefly highlights the neighbours). That safety check is what lets you chord rapidly along a frontier without thinking about each cell individually.

Why it is the most important speed technique

Without chording, a 480-cell Expert board means hundreds of individual reveals. With it, one flag plus one chord routinely replaces three to five clicks. The difference compounds: most sub-60-second Expert clears are chains of flag-chord, flag-chord along the frontier. Chording is also central to efficiency - the percentage of your clicks that were necessary - because a well-placed chord is the cheapest way to convert one deduction into many revealed cells. The efficiency & 3BV/s guide shows exactly how each chord affects the math, and the rankings are dominated by players who chord well.

A worked chording example

Picture a 3 with five hidden neighbours, three of which you have proven are mines. Without chording you would click each of the two safe cells individually - two clicks - after placing three flags. With chording you place the three flags and then make a single click on the 3, which opens both safe cells at once. On a full Expert board these savings stack into the dozens, and because each opened cell may itself be a satisfied number, a single chord can trigger a small chain reaction of further reveals.

How to chord on Minesweeper.now

On desktop, left-click the satisfied number (the classic both-buttons and middle-click styles accomplish the same thing in older clients). On mobile, tap the satisfied number once the right flags are in place. The action is identical whether you flagged manually or used flag-first mode - all that matters is that the visible flag count equals the number you click.

The risk you accept

A chord is only as correct as its flags. If one of the flags is wrong, the chord reveals a mine and the game ends immediately - the most common way intermediate players throw winnable boards. Chord aggressively on deductions you trust, and never on guesses. The discipline of flagging only what you can prove is exactly what makes high-efficiency chording safe.

Practice the rhythm on the Intermediate board, where 40 mines give constant chording opportunities without Expert's density, or warm up with a Daily Challenge. Related: how to flag.