Minesweeper Glossary: Every Term Explained in One Place

Minesweeper has a small, precise vocabulary, and most of it looks like code until someone explains each word in a sentence. This glossary is that someone. Bookmark it and flip back whenever a guide uses a term you have not met.

Board terms

• Field. The grid of cells where the game happens, sized by columns and rows.
• Cell. One square of the field. Sealed, revealed, flagged, or questioned.
• Reveal. The action that opens a sealed cell and shows its number or a blank.
• Number. A revealed value counting the mines in the eight cells touching it.
• Mine. The hidden hazard that ends a run when revealed.
• Edge. The border of the field, where cells have fewer neighbors.
• Opening. The fan of blank cells a first click produces.
• Front line. The ring of revealed numbers separating solved ground from sealed unknown.

Actions

• Flag. A marker promising a cell hides a mine. Right-click or long-press to place.
• Question. A tentative marker sent for review when question marks are on.
• Chord. Double-clicking a satisfied number to open every remaining neighbor, all at once.
• Undo. Reversing the previous action in friendly modes, at no cost to the field.
• Hint. A next-move suggestion proven by the same solver that builds No Guess boards.

Concepts

• Solvable. When the board guarantees at least one provably safe move.
• Proof. A logical argument that a cell is safe or mined, from the numbers alone.
• 50/50. The classic dead end where two cells both fit the same numbers, one hides a mine, and no proof exists.
• Guess. Revealing without proof, forced by a 50/50 or chosen by impatience.
• No Guess. A generator that refuses to ship any position with an unprovable move.
• 3BV. The minimum number of actions a perfect player would need to clear a board. The fair way to compare times.
• Actions per second. Your clear time divided by the board's 3BV. The speed skill number.
• Forced move. A cell that only one outcome can satisfy, guaranteed by proof.

Patterns

• Edge 1. A 1 on the border with one sealed neighbor: that neighbor is a mine.
• 1-2-1. Three in a row reading one, two, one: mines sit above the two ones, ground above the middle two.
• 1-2. A 1 sharing a cell with a 2: one mine the 1 owns, the 2 takes its other mine from the cell only it sees.
• Reduced pattern. A familiar pattern with already-solved cells mentally subtracted.

Modes

• Classic. Standard minesweeper with a timer, records, and honest 50/50s.
• Zen. The same field with the timer removed, for calm complete reads.
• Rush. A hard countdown: Beginner at 60 seconds, Intermediate at 150, Expert at 300.
• Daily. A fixed No Guess board everyone shares on a given date, with a daily leaderboard.
• Practice. Faint number previews under sealed cells, hints on, undo on, competitive records switched off.
• Custom. Hand-sized field from 5 by 5 up to 60 by 60, your mine count, your rules.

Buried treasure terms

• First-click safety. The field is generated around your first click so it can never open a mine.
• No Flagger trick. Clearing Expert while placing few or no flags, saving clicks.
• Personal best. Your fastest clean time on a mode and board size.
• Streak. Consecutive daily boards cleared without a miss.

Now you can read any guide without a dictionary. Start with the strategy guide and come back here when a word sneaks past you.