Cat Minesweeper

The rules are simple. You click tiles with the left mouse button, avoid those hiding bombs, and mark suspected bomb tiles with the right mouse button. Numbered tiles indicate how many bombs are adjacent to them. If a tile has no bombs nearby, it appears blank and automatically reveals any connected blank tiles. You complete the game by correctly marking all the bombs. You can choose from four standard grid sizes, ranging from simple to nightmare, or try one of four special grids with unique layouts such as a heart or a diamond. These special layouts are not necessarily more enjoyable, as they contain many additional corners that make them harder to navigate, but they are worth attempting at least once. The first click always involves some luck. Since there are more empty tiles than bombs, you would have to be extremely unlucky to hit bomb tiles several times in a row. One strategy is to begin in a corner, though you can also use a limited number of hints that reveal a tile for you. It is best to save these hints for tricky situations familiar to Minesweeper fans, when the clues are not enough and you are forced to guess. There is also a robot on the left side of the screen, but aside from following your cursor when it gets close, it serves no real purpose. Although this version aims to replicate the classic Windows Minesweeper experience rather than reinvent it with groundbreaking gameplay, it has a few issues. The first problem involves the music player feature. The music player displays a blue line across the top of the screen that cuts through the minefield’s top row and partially obstructs the tiles. While you can still make out the numbers underneath, the line should be repositioned. The second issue is more serious because it undermines the purpose of placing flags. In most similar games, a flag not only marks a suspected bomb but also prevents you from accidentally clicking that tile. Here, however, flagged tiles can still be clicked, allowing you to trigger a bomb despite marking it. In conclusion, you might play the game to earn the achievements, which are not especially difficult even though they are time based. However, there is little here to encourage you to keep playing beyond that.