Play Intermediate Minesweeper on a 16x16 Board With 40 Mines
Intermediate Minesweeper uses a 16x16 board with 40 mines, giving you a larger puzzle than Beginner while staying more readable than Expert.
The 16x16 Training Board: Why Intermediate Matters
Intermediate is the training ground for players who know the rules and want deeper deduction. The board creates more edge patterns, chained openings, and situations where chording can save a lot of time.
En direct Intermediate Minesweeper Statistics
The current Intermediate record on Minesweeper.now is 17.794s, held by qqwref. 34 players hold a ranked time in this category. Over the last 7 days, 54 Intermediate games were finished here with a 87.0% win rate. See the full rankings →
More deduction
A wider board creates richer number chains and more chances to combine clues.
Speed training
Intermediate rewards cleaner chording and fewer wasted flags.
Bridge to Expert
Use this mode to prepare for 30x16 Expert boards without jumping too far at once.
Intermediate Strategy: Building Toward Expert Pace
Intermediate is where chording becomes especially useful. Clicking a satisfied number (one whose mines are all flagged) reveals every remaining neighbour at once, reducing repeated cell-by-cell actions on long frontiers.
Work the perimeter of each opening before diving into fresh territory. The 15.6% mine density produces long number chains along opening borders, and chains are where multi-cell patterns like 1-2-1 and 1-2-2-1 appear. Solving a whole chain in one pass is far faster than hopping between distant clues.
Track 3BV/s alongside raw time while you train here. 3BV estimates the board's minimum clearing work, so 3BV/s helps distinguish faster solving from an unusually open board. Move to Expert when Intermediate wins are reliable and your reads no longer pause at common patterns.
Train the skills that carry into Expert: memorize common patterns and measure board workload with the 3BV calculator.
Play Intermediate Minesweeper on a 16x16 Board With 40 Mines FAQ
What size is the Intermediate Minesweeper board?
Intermediate Minesweeper uses a 16x16 grid with 40 mines - 256 cells at about 15.6% mine density. It is the middle of the three classic difficulties, between Beginner (9x9, 10 mines) and Expert (30x16, 99 mines).
What is a good Intermediate Minesweeper time?
There is no universal good-time cutoff because board workload and player samples differ. Use the live Intermediate ranking and percentile tool for the current Minesweeper.now distribution, then track whether your own median and personal best improve.
When should I move from Intermediate to Expert?
When you win most Intermediate games without long pauses and your times stop improving, the Expert board's higher density will teach you more. Many players keep Intermediate as their speed-practice board even after switching to Expert for ranked play.
More questions? Visit the full Minesweeper FAQ.
Related Minesweeper Modes
Beginner Minesweeper
Start with a 9x9 board and 10 mines.
Intermediate Minesweeper
Move up to a 16x16 board with 40 mines.
Expert Minesweeper
Challenge the classic 30x16, 99-mine board.
No-Guessing Minesweeper
Play boards solvable by logic alone.
Intermediate Leaderboard
See the fastest ranked Intermediate times and where you would place.
Strait of Hormuz Minesweeper
A naval-themed Minesweeper variant played on a chart of the real strait.