Mines guide
How to play Mines
Mines is the classic mine-finding logic puzzle, with monsters. Some of them are fast asleep under the tiles. The numbers tell you how many sleep next door: uncover every safe tile and wake nobody. Every level can be solved by logic alone, no guessing.
Mines rules
The rules in one minute
The board is a grid of tiles. Under some of them a monster sleeps, under all the others there is nothing. Uncover a tile and you see a number:
- Start where it is open. Every level opens with a patch of the floor already free. Empty tiles open their neighbours by themselves.
- A number counts sleepers. This 2 says: that many monsters sleep in the eight tiles around it. Which ones, you have to work out.
- Uncover the rest, wake nobody. Open every safe tile and the level is solved. Then all the sleepers wake up and wave.
You win by uncovering every safe tile. Marking the sleepers helps you keep track, but you do not have to mark a single one. Every level in Beasties has one way through by logic alone, starting from the open patch.
How to play
Mines in Beasties, step by step
The board in the middle with the sleeper counter on top, three tools below: Uncover, Sleeper and Hint. Your monster peeks over the edge and follows every tap.
- Uncover. With Uncover picked, a tap opens a tile. Pick it when you know a tile is safe.
- Mark a sleeper. With Sleeper picked, a tap puts a moon on the tile. Holding a tile does the same with any tool. The counter shows how many are still missing.
- Tap a full number. When a number has all its sleepers marked, tap it and every other tile around it opens at once.
- Hint, if you must. For 30 stars the hint opens or marks the tile that logic says comes next, and fixes a wrong mark. The round then gives two stars at most.
Stars and mistakes
Three stars at stake in every level
You start every level with three stars. A mark never costs anything, but waking a monster does.
- Waking one costs a star. Uncover a tile with a monster under it and it jumps up, grumpy. One of your three stars falls, the red tile stays.
- Marks are free. A moon is just a note for you. Put it on, take it off, nothing is checked and nothing is lost.
- Three woken: try again. With all three stars gone the level is lost, and you start the same board again.
- Solve it, keep them. The stars you have left fly into your counter. Spend them on monster parts, hints and level packs.
Difficulty levels
Four difficulties, fixed boards
The boards below are level 1 of each difficulty, with the patch that is open at the start. Each step up brings a bigger board, more sleepers and a smaller opening, and asks for one more technique.
Chill
8×9 · 10 sleepers
A few sleepy monsters. One number at a time is enough, now and then two side by side.
Normal
9×11 · 16 sleepers
More sleepers. Most levels make you compare neighbouring numbers, like the 1-2 pattern.
Tricky
9×12 · 22 sleepers
A crowded bedroom. Every level has a spot where only two overlapping numbers get you on.
Devilish
10×13 · 32 sleepers
Monsters everywhere. Long chains and counting the last sleepers, but never a guess.
Within one difficulty, level 1 and level 999 ask for the same. Chill, Normal and Tricky have 150 free levels each. You unlock the rest for free with the stars you win, or all at once with Pro. All of them are the same for every player in the same order, so the solutions on this site match your app, from level 1 to 999 on every difficulty.
Mines techniques
From the first tile to the last sleeper
Five ways of reading the numbers, from the one you use all the time to the one that saves the end of a Devilish board. Every example is a real spot from a level in the app.
Technique 1
Count what is around
Two rules do most of the work. A number that needs as many sleepers as it has hidden tiles: they all sleep. A number that has found all its sleepers: the rest around it is safe.
- Needs all: all sleepers. This 2 has exactly 2 hidden tiles left. Every one of them must hold a sleeper: mark them.
- All found: the rest is safe. This 2 now touches its sleepers. Nobody else fits, so every other tile around it opens.
- Every tile is a new clue. New numbers appear, and the same two rules carry on. They solve most of a Chill level.
Technique 2
The 1-2 pattern
Compare two numbers side by side. When the hidden tiles of one all touch the other, the difference between them tells you what the extra tiles hold. The key to Normal.
- The 1 has two candidates. One of these two hidden tiles holds its sleeper. You do not know which one yet.
- The 2 touches both, plus one. The two tiles of the 1 give the 2 exactly one sleeper. It needs a second one.
- The extra tile sleeps. Only the tile the 1 does not touch is left for it. Mark it. This 1-2 pattern shows up all the time.
Technique 3
Overlapping numbers
Two numbers share only some tiles. Work out how many sleepers can sit in the shared part at most, and what each number needs outside it. Every Tricky level needs this at least once.
- Two numbers share tiles. The 1 and the 2 both touch the highlighted tiles. Neither can be solved on its own.
- The 1 limits the overlap. At most one sleeper fits into the shared tiles. The 2 needs two, so its own tile must hold the other one.
- And the 1 is full. That one sleeper in the overlap is all the 1 gets. Its own tile is safe.
Technique 4
Chains: what if?
When no pair helps, pick one tile and follow both options through the numbers next to it. If one option makes a number impossible, the other one is certain. That is logic, not a guess.
- Stuck? Pick a tile and ask: what if? Pretend a sleeper were under this tile.
- Follow the chain. Each number next to it now has only one way left, and that pushes the next one, until a number cannot be right any more.
- So it is the other option. A guess that breaks a number is impossible. The other option is certain, and you never had to guess for real.
Technique 5
Count the last sleepers
Near the end the counter becomes a clue. If the numbers along the edge already need every sleeper that is left, the tiles nobody touches are all safe.
- Check the counter. Near the end it pays off: here just one sleeper is still hidden.
- The edge needs them all. The numbers along the edge still need exactly that many, wherever they end up.
- The rest is safe. No sleeper is left for the tiles no number touches. Open them all.
Tip: work from the open patch outwards and finish one edge before you jump to another. Each new number is a new clue, and the simple rules come back after every hard step.
Solutions
Stuck on a level?
Every level has its own solution page, free and Pro. You see the start, then the logical order one step at a time, each with the numbers that decide it. Or uncover the whole board.
FAQ
Mines questions, short answers
What do the numbers in Mines mean?
A number tells you how many monsters sleep in the eight tiles around it: left, right, above, below and the four corners. An empty tile has none around it, so its neighbours open by themselves.
Can I look up the rules during a round?
Yes. Tap the gear at the top left of the round: Settings open, and their Game guide row takes you straight to the rules of this game, what is special in it and how the stars work. You also find the guide behind the ? on the level start and in Settings on the home screen.
How do I win a level?
Uncover every tile that has no monster under it. You do not have to mark the sleepers; when the last safe tile opens, the level is solved and all the monsters wake up to wave.
Do I ever have to guess?
No. Every level in Beasties is checked when it is made: from the open patch at the start, the whole board can be solved by logic. If you feel you have to guess, compare two neighbouring numbers or look at the counter.
What happens if I wake a monster?
It jumps up, grumpy, and you lose one of your three stars. The red tile stays as a reminder and counts as found. After three woken monsters the level is lost and you start the same board again.
Does marking a tile cost anything?
No. A moon is only a note for you: nothing is checked, and you can take it off again. Only tapping a number with a wrong mark around it can wake the monster that really sleeps there.
What does the hint do?
For 30 stars it uncovers or marks the tile that logic says comes next, near your last tap, and it removes a wrong mark if there is one. A round with a hint gives two stars at most.
Is level 37 the same for everyone?
Yes. The boards are fixed and come with the app: the same levels in the same order for every player. New levels are only added at the end.
Does Beasties need the internet?
No. Beasties works completely offline, and there are no ads.