Is Minesweeper a game of skill or luck?

Minesweeper is primarily a game of skill and logic. However, there are situations where you may have to guess (a 50/50 chance), especially at the very end of difficult boards.

What do the numbers mean in Minesweeper?

The number on a square tells you exactly how many mines are touching that square, including the 8 surrounding squares (sides and corners).

Is online Minesweeper free to play?

Yes. Online Minesweeper is completely free to play, with no signup, no downloads and no ads required to start a game.

Does the first click ever hit a mine?

No. In this online Minesweeper, the first click is guaranteed to be safe — mines are placed after your first click, so you always get a fair start.

What difficulty levels are available?

You can play Beginner (9x9, 10 mines), Intermediate (16x16, 40 mines), Expert (16x30, 99 mines), a custom board of your choice, and a daily Minesweeper challenge.

Accessibility Statement

Last updated: April 7, 2026

Our commitment

We are committed to making online-minesweeper.io usable by as many people as possible. Our target conformance level is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and 2.2, Level AA, and we design new features with accessibility in mind from the start rather than bolting it on afterward.

What we have done

Full keyboard support for the game board. Use Tab to reach the board, arrow keys to move between cells, Space or Enter to reveal a cell, and F to flag or unflag a cell.
Every cell on the board is exposed to screen readers with its row, column, state (hidden, flagged, revealed) and adjacent-mine count.
Win, loss, and new-game transitions are announced via a polite live region (WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages).
A visible high-contrast focus ring marks the currently focused cell (WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible).
Pinch-to-zoom and browser zoom are enabled up to 400% without loss of content (WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text, 1.4.10 Reflow).
The interface keeps motion restrained and avoids depending on animation for gameplay or status changes (WCAG 2.3.3).
We rely on the browser and operating system’s built-in accessibility features — page zoom, high-contrast mode, screen readers, and the Reduce Motionpreference — rather than overlaying a third-party accessibility widget. The site is built to honor those preferences directly, which is the approach recommended by the broader accessibility community.
All interactive targets in the chrome of the game meet the WCAG 2.2 minimum target-size requirement of 44×44 CSS pixels (SC 2.5.8).
We rely on semantic HTML, keyboard support, visible focus states, and direct browser/OS accessibility features instead of loading an accessibility overlay or widget on the page.

Known limitations

We want to be transparent about areas where work is ongoing:

Expert-mode cell sizeon very small phones may fall below the WCAG 2.2 SC 2.5.8 minimum target size of 44×44 CSS pixels. Minesweeper’s expert board intrinsically requires a dense grid; we rely on the SC 2.5.8 “essential” exception and on the keyboard and screen-reader paths for users who cannot reliably hit small cells with a pointer.
Some decorative backgrounds use glassmorphism effects. These are automatically simplified on larger boards and when the operating system requests reduced motion.

How we test

Our accessibility testing process includes:

Automated checks with tools such as axe-core, pa11y, and Lighthouse during development and release review.
Keyboard-only walkthroughs of the complete game loop on each release.
Manual screen-reader spot-checks with VoiceOver (macOS, iOS) and NVDA (Windows).
Contrast checks for all game board states and UI chrome.
Zoom and reflow testing at 200% and 400%.

Compatibility

The game is designed to work with the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge on desktop and mobile, and has been tested with VoiceOver and NVDA. If you use an older browser or a less-common assistive technology, parts of the game may not work as expected; please report problems using the contact information below.

Reporting an issue

If you encounter an accessibility barrier or have suggestions for improvement, please open an issue on our repository or contact us. We aim to respond within five business days and to resolve verified issues as quickly as possible.

Legal note

This statement describes our good-faith efforts to meet WCAG 2.1 & 2.2 Level AA. It is not a legal certification. Conformance is evaluated continually, and this document is updated as the product evolves. For formal procurement requirements, please request our Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR).

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