license: mit
pretty_name: Minesweeper Solver Benchmark (win-rate by difficulty)
language:
- en
tags:
- minesweeper
- solver
- constraint-satisfaction
- probability
- benchmark
- csp
task_categories:
- other
size_categories:
- n<1K
configs:
- config_name: winrate
data_files: data/minesweeper-benchmark.json
Minesweeper Solver Benchmark — Win-Rate by Difficulty
By LK Forge: privacy-first browser tools & games, nothing to install, nothing uploaded.
Full-game win-rate for the LK Forge Minesweeper Solver across the three standard difficulties. The shipped engine turns every revealed number into a constraint and applies counting → the subset rule → exact enumeration of all valid mine arrangements; when logic is exhausted it opens the hidden cell with the lowest computed mine probability. 1,000 seeded games per difficulty. Rules: classic board sizes, the first click is guaranteed safe (a single non-mine cell in the centre — not a guaranteed large opening), and a game counts as a win only when every non-mine cell is cleared.
- How the solver works: https://lkforge.com/tools/puzzles/minesweeper-solver/how-the-minesweeper-solver-works.html
- Try it: https://lkforge.com/tools/puzzles/minesweeper-solver/
- Producer: LK Forge — client-side AI games, solvers, and tools.
Headline numbers (1,000 games each)
| Difficulty | Board | Mines | Win rate | Solved with no guess | Avg guesses/game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 9×9 | 10 | 95.5% | 78.5% | 0.30 |
| Intermediate | 16×16 | 40 | 85.6% | 52.4% | 0.89 |
| Expert | 30×16 | 99 | 36.2% | 3.8% | 3.82 |
Expert Minesweeper is famously hard even for optimal play — under this safe-first-click rule the best-known solvers land in the ~34–40% range on classic 30×16 Expert, so 36.2% is squarely in the expert-solver band. Win rates quoted above this band (e.g. ~54%) generally use the easier guaranteed-opening rule, where the first click always reveals a large zero-region; that is a different rule, not a stronger solver. The steep drop from Beginner to Expert is driven by how often a position cannot be resolved by logic and forces a guess: 78.5% of Beginner games need no guess at all, versus 3.8% of Expert games.
Files
data/minesweeper-benchmark.json— per difficulty:winPct,solvedNoGuessPct,avgGuessesPerGame.
Method
- Engine: the shipped
minesweeper-engine.js(LKMines), used unmodified as the decision-maker. - Play policy: flag proven mines, open proven-safe cells; when none exist, open the hidden cell with the minimum exact mine probability.
- Reproducible: seeded RNG for mine placement; center first click (guaranteed safe).
Reproduce
node scripts/benchmark-minesweeper.mjs
Citation
LK Forge (2026). Minesweeper Solver Benchmark — Win-Rate by Difficulty. https://lkforge.com/tools/puzzles/minesweeper-solver/
Everything runs client-side, no login, no tracking.