minesweeper

Currently they are:
beginner: 10
intermediate: 66
expert: 308

I used to have a beginner time of around 7, possibly lower, and I think I had an intermediate time of 58. Expert requires sheer luck most of the time. I''ve seen a screenshot of expert in 87 seconds, but anything less than 200 seems crazy to me.

Custom (100x100 grid with 1 mine): 1 second ^_^

Actually, the only time I''ve ever won non custom was a beginner game and took me 17 seconds. I''ve never been too fond of the game, just something I played while I D/Led pr0n.

I''ve done large in 300 seconds or so.. begginer in about 8 or 9. I forget intermediate.

My beginner time is 6 seconds. I can''t be bothered to look the others up right now.

Hmmm ... I should make a minesweeper AI.

Beginner: 6
Intermediate: 46
Expert: 109

Getting those scores requires a ton of luck - just having everything line up nicely.
But I play it almost constantly - when my program is compiling, when I''m waiting for web page to load (on cable, no less - I''m impatient), when I''m bored...I love minesweeper.

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"The sun is the same in a relative way,
but you''re older"
--Pink Floyd

Beginner: 7
Intermediate: 41
Expert: 206

Beginner: 9
Intermediate: 54
Expert: 145

Although I could easily make it 1, 1, and 1.... =D

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Qui fut tout, et qui ne fut rien
Invader''s Realm

I went to highschool with this guy who could do Expert in 24 seconds. Though, the lowest I saw him do it in was 32. It was freaking insane watching him do it. I guess he had played it enough that it was just reaction.

To give you an example, just click your mouse at a semi-fast pace. He kept that pace through the whole thing. Granted, it would take him about 20-30 tries to finish in that time, he could do it. Also, he would refresh if he didn''t get a good start. Basically, he would click in 6 spaces and hopefully get an even division of open squares. If he got a couple large holes, then that means there were probably lots of mines stuck together. He said it was best to get 6 small places and work your way from there. Any combination resulting in 4 or under he could wisk right through, but with any combination above 6 he usually went someplace else and came back when he could have a better chance of getting it.

He told me he always played it after school while waiting for his mom. She was a teacher.

I got 110 once (Expert), and I would have had 105 but I crashed on a 50-50 right at the end. I don''t play it any more, or I''ll get addicted again. I thought I would be the best in the state, but then I looked around and found there were soem people who could do it in under a minute!! Google for Minesweeper + best times and you''ll find the page I found.

I thought this was going to be another of those "Game Threads"

* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * 2 1
* * * * * * 1 _

Minesweeper is an excellent exercise in pattern recognition and elementary set theory. It''s gameplay is simple, fundamental and endlessly fascinating - like that other colossal time waster, Solitaire. I do have a few interesting questions for you:

1. Can it be proven that every Minesweeper game can be won? (Or every Solitair game at that.) Reportedly every Freecell game has a logical path to completion. Anybody care to either formulate a proof or write an exhaustive search program? Can it be won without resorting to chance and 50-50s?



2. Can a Minesweeper game be written that always presents a decent opening without giving away the game and always has a solution? Anybody care to write it? (In this version, any failures would be your fault, not the computer "shafting" you.)



3. Can anybody think of a way of extending Minesweeper''s gameplay into 3D? Not just overhead or even perspective rendering of the same old minefield, with pretty explosions; something analogous to 3D tetris games, or Nintendo''s Tetrisphear. Perhaps the player would be a UN Minesweeper charged with clearing an area of landmines (throw in UN banners, pictures of children and so forth so the game also has a real-world message). Or perhaps we''d twist and make it a bomb diffusal game, essentially having to compute intersections in 3d dimensions of where critical points are...

I''ve lost my minesweeper scores. I''ve been playing the game for almost 8 years, over 3 or 4 computers! I know I beat Beginner in 7 seconds and had Expert under 200. Never play Intermediate much.

Oluseyi is alive!

quote:

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Original post by Oluseyi

1. Can it be proven that every Minesweeper game can be won? (Or every Solitair game at that.) Reportedly every Freecell game has a logical path to completion. Anybody care to either formulate a proof or write an exhaustive search program? Can it be won without resorting to chance and 50-50s?



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Every game can be won in theory, if you're very lucky and never click on a mine

Proof that you DON'T ALWAYS win:

if your first click looks like this:

********
********
***7****
********
********

You HAVE to click another square, and you cannot possibly know if it has a mine or not, there's always a chance that it has one.

EDIT: made this post better

[edited by - Boops on May 28, 2003 11:54:42 AM]

Oluseyi:
1. No.

The first move that a player makes in minesweeper is a random one, which could or could not trigger a mine. If we propose a minesweeper game in which the first move is a guaranteed safe move made by the game itself, we could press further by examining troublesome constructions on a small board. As a hunch I believe that it is possible to generate a board that requires guesswork. I''ll look deeper into it later.

You most certainly are NOT guaranteed to win every minesweeper game (in expert). You can click them all and be left with just this: (F = Flag, ? = ?)
|-----------
|FF
|?F
|?F
|FF
|-----------

With only one mine remaining, you can''t guarantee anything.

Here''s some quick tips about minesweeper, though:

- In older versions of Windows (Win95, dunno about others), there was a code you could type (XYZZY I think) that would allow a single pixel in the corner of the screen to change color if the mouse was over a mine. Almost impossible to detect unless you were looking for it. Max Bombs + Max size + secret code = perfect game every time

- It isn''t too rare to win the "Beginner" version with a single mouse click. I''ve done it a couple of times myself after seeing it done (accidently) by my niece. Therefore, if you play beginner a lot, you will eventually get a time of 1.

- The high scores are held in a winmine.ini file somewhere in a system folder (Windows? System? Somewhere like that). Simple text-editing will shoot your times as low as you want.

- Screen shots can easily be changed using MS Pain. Just get one SS with a decent time (30 seconds for expert? LOL!) and get another after you win (<150 if you are DAMN good, more like 300+ if you aren''t ''into'' it). Copy + paste and VI-OH-LA! Screenshot goodness.

quote:

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Original post by dagarach
Oluseyi:
1. No.

The first move that a player makes in minesweeper is a random one, which could or could not trigger a mine.

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Nope, your first move on ANY minesweeper board is GUARANTEED to be safe. Always. You cannot trigger a mine on your first click, even if you wanted to. Try making a custom board with the max amount of mines. Then click once. You will see an 8 (most likely), but an 8 is safe

quote:

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Original post by Rick Scott
- The high scores are held in a winmine.ini file somewhere in a system folder (Windows? System? Somewhere like that). Simple text-editing will shoot your times as low as you want.

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On XP and I would think other version of NT, the scores are stored in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\winmine

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Qui fut tout, et qui ne fut rien
Invader''s Realm

Yeeep, and I''m done here.