Minesweeper Efficiency
Efficiency measures how precisely you solve a board. A 100% score means every click contributed to clearing the board - no wasted moves.
Formula
How 3BV Feeds the Efficiency Formula
How to Increase Efficiency
Chord aggressively. Clicking a number with adjacent flags matching opens multiple cells in one click - the primary way to exceed 100%.
Use NF technique. Avoid placing unnecessary flags. Every flag is a wasted click unless it enables a chord.
Think ahead. A single well-timed chord can open 5+ cells. Plan your next two moves before clicking.
Avoid wasted clicks. Clicking already-revealed cells or empty space wastes moves and drops your efficiency.
Key Points
- Efficiency of 100% means zero wasted clicks - every left-click directly revealed a new cell.
- Chording is the only way to exceed 100% - one click reveals multiple cells simultaneously.
- Boards with 3BV below the minimum are excluded from ranked records and trophy calculations.
- The Orange shard in events scores purely on efficiency - a 110% game beats five 80% games.
- Efficiency is tracked per difficulty - your Expert record and Beginner record are separate.
Techniques Compared
Two main techniques determine your efficiency ceiling. No-Flag (NF) play skips flagging entirely - every click is a reveal. Chord play uses a minimal number of flags placed only to enable chords. A pure chord player on Expert can achieve 130–160% efficiency by opening 3–5 cells per chord across a board. NF players typically land 95–105%.
- Chord on "1s" near edges. Edge and corner "1" numbers surrounded by a single flag are the easiest chords - fast to spot, always worth taking.
- Skip flagging in open areas. In a wide open section you can chord-cascade without flags by using double-click (chord on any satisfied number).
- Review your replay. After each game, check where your efficiency dropped. Usually it's 2–3 accidental blank clicks or missed chord opportunities.
Worked Example: From Clicks to an Efficiency Percentage
Say you win an Expert board whose 3BV is 120 - meaning a perfect flag-free solve needs exactly 120 left-clicks. If your replay shows 150 total clicks (reveals, flags, and chords all count), your efficiency is 120 ÷ 150 = 80%. Thirty of your clicks did no unique work: redundant flags, clicks on already-open cells, or reveals a chord would have handled.
Now replay the same board with disciplined chording and finish it in 100 clicks. The 3BV has not changed - it is a property of the board - so your efficiency becomes 120 ÷ 100 = 120%. Same board, same result, radically different score. That is why efficiency is the best single number for judging clean technique independently of raw speed.
How Chording Changes the Click Math
A chord is never free: it costs one click for the flag and one for the chord itself. The profit comes from what it opens. If the chord reveals five hidden neighbours, you spent 2 clicks to do 5 clicks of work - a net saving of 3. If it reveals only one cell, you actually lost a click compared to revealing that cell directly. The skill of high-efficiency play is spotting which numbers give a multi-cell payoff and skipping the ones that don't.
Better still, one flag can serve several chords. Flag a mine that touches three different numbers and each of those numbers becomes chordable off the same single flag click - this flag reuse is how top players push past 130%.
What Counts as a Good Efficiency Score?
Under 80% means a large share of your clicks were wasted - usually over-flagging or panic clicking. 90–100% is tight, deliberate play and a realistic target for anyone past the beginner stage. Crossing 100% requires chording by definition, and sustained 130%+ on Expert is elite territory.
On Minesweeper.now those numbers have concrete payoffs: an Expert win at 100%+ unlocks the Sniper achievement (2,000 XP and 200 minecoins), some daily quests require hitting a set efficiency in a single win, and your best-ever efficiency feeds the trophy table - 100% earns 80 trophies in the category, 110% earns 100, and the ceiling of 150% is worth the full 150.
Put it into practice: drill chording rhythm on the Intermediate board, chase 3BV/s on the Expert board, and compare your efficiency against the field on the world rankings.
- Go deeper on the metric with what 3BV is and why it defines speedrunning.
- Cut clicks even further with the chording guide and flagless play.
- Push your 3BV/s on the Expert Minesweeper board, or read the 3BV FAQ.
More guides in the Minesweeper Help Center, or browse the Minesweeper FAQ.
Want the numbers for a specific board? Use the Minesweeper 3BV calculator to get its 3BV, 3BV/s and click efficiency, or check how good your time is against every ranked player here.
Every speed and efficiency guide on the site is collected in Speed & Strategy, and you can work out any board's numbers with the 3BV calculator.