Changing whether there can be a mine on the first move

When you start the game, you have no way of telling where any mines might be, so it could be considered unfair if you hit a mine on your first click; however, some people might say that letting the first square clicked never be a mine is cheating. Therefore, this program has an option to turn that off.

Also, you can't know for sure where any mine is until you've uncovered more than one mine; the only way to safely do this is if you've uncovered a square that has no mines around it. Therefore, this program also has an option to make the first square you click have no mines around it.

  1. Choose Minesweep > Preferences
  2. In the First Move pop-up menu, choose one of the following:
    • Can be a mine: The computer will not do anything to make sure that you don't lose right away. This option is least likely to be considered cheating.
    • Is never a mine: The computer will make sure that the first square that you click does not contain a mine. This option is the default.
    • Has no mines around it: The computer will make sure that the first square that you click does not contain a mine and that it is not surrounded by any mines. This option is the easiest.

See also