Every round of Mines asks the same question, and it isn’t a complicated one: do you take the money, or do you tap another square? The game is a Hacksaw release built on a grid, a bet, and a hidden set of explosives. Nothing else. If you want the mechanics written down plainly before you start poking at squares, minesweepers.org.uk covers the board sizes, the mine counts and the cash-out rules without padding. Then come back here, because the rules are the easy part.
You set the trap yourself
Most casino games hand you a fixed volatility and wish you luck. Mines doesn’t. Before a single square is turned, you choose the size of the board – anywhere from a tight 3×3 up to a sprawling 9×9 – and you choose how many mines are buried in it, from one lonely charge up to a genuinely hostile eighty. That second dial is the whole personality of the round. A sparse board with a couple of mines is a slow, grinding session. A crowded board is a coin flip with a payout attached. The paytable updates as you go, so you can watch the value of your next pick climb while you decide whether you’re still enjoying yourself.
A round, start to finish
- Set your bet, then choose the grid size and the number of active mines.
- Tap squares. Each diamond you uncover raises the current win value and earns you another pick.
- Hit a mine and the round ends – the winnings you’d built up are gone.
- After any diamond, cash out to bank the current amount and walk away.
That’s it. No bonus rounds, no free spins, no feature that triggers and plays itself. The decision is yours on every tap, and the game is unusually honest about the fact that greed is the only thing that beats you.
Where the risk actually sits
| Board | Squares | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| 3×3 | Nine | Fast, brutal, over in seconds |
| 5×5 | Twenty-five | The comfortable middle – room to build a run |
| 7×7 | Forty-nine | Longer sessions, thinner margins |
| 9×9 | Eighty-one | Space to breathe, or space to bury eighty mines |
Payouts scale with the board size, the number of picks you’ve banked, and how many mines are live. Fewer squares and more mines means every tap is worth more – and every tap is closer to ending you.
Small screens, same trap
It runs on iOS and Android in portrait or landscape, with the grid, the paytable and the mine settings all still on screen. Worth checking before you commit:
- The whole grid and the mine counter stay visible without scrolling.
- Bet controls are reachable one-handed – you’ll use them more than you think.
- The cash-out button sits where your thumb expects it, not tucked into a menu.
The takeaway
Decide your exit before your first tap. Pick a number of diamonds – three, five, whatever – and cash out the moment you reach it. Mines punishes improvisation, and the players who lose badly are almost always the ones who were one square from a bigger win and couldn’t let go. Set the target, hit it, and close the round. The grid will still be there tomorrow.