Puzzle Golf – take clues away, don't solve

How it works

Every cell without a mine shows its number — zeros included. Each number says how many mines lie in the eight cells around it, and whatever carries no number is a mine. So there is nothing left to solve. Your job is to make the puzzle as lean as it can get.

Tap a number to take it away. After every tap the server checks whether the board can still be solved without guessing, using the same solver that judges any other Minesweeper task on the site. If it can, the number is gone. If that number is needed, it stays where it is and the attempt counts as a failed one.

Score = numbers left + failed attempts. Lower is better, as in golf. Above the board you see the target for the day, the par: “Target: this many or fewer”. When nothing more will go, tap “Give it in”. “Finish later” lets you step away; the server keeps your position until you come back.

Nothing on this page starts on its own. The hole begins when you tap “Start”, and no timer runs while you play.

Tips & techniques

• The opening moves are free. While the board is full, every single number is dispensable; roughly two thirds of your moves succeed whichever number you pick. Save your attention for the end.
• Order matters. What you remove early decides what can still go later: a missing number can make another one indispensable. Two players who go after the same numbers in a different order finish on different scores.
• The same failed attempt costs you only once. Removing a number takes information away and never adds any, so a number that was needed once stays needed. A cell you have tested is knowledge you keep; tapping it again costs nothing and gains nothing.
• Trial and error does not pay. Every new failed attempt counts exactly like a number left on the board. Before you tap, ask whether the neighbouring numbers already say what this one says.
• A number covers an area. A well-chosen number tells you more than a poor one. Keep the ones that settle several open cells at once, and remove what the neighbours give away anyway.

Frequently asked questions

What is the target, and who sets it?

The target is the day's par: the lowest score the server found for this hole — the minimum of three hundred random removal orders. It is the best known result, not a proven optimum. Beating par is possible, and the result screen tells you when you did better than what the server found.

Why are zeros shown?

In ordinary Minesweeper an empty revealed cell is unambiguous. Here, empty means “taken away, or a mine”. An invisible zero would look like a cell with nothing left to collect — yet a zero can be removed like any other number.

Is there a clock?

No. Only the score counts. Thinking is free; a failed attempt is not.

How often can I play?

There is a new hole every day, and it is the same one for everybody.

Do I need an account?

No. Puzzle Golf is free and runs in the browser. Only the daily board needs saved progress: a random key kept on this device, with no email address and no password. One finished run per day is ranked; every further round is a replay without a ranking. Without saved progress you play exactly the same way, just unranked, and whether your name appears on the board is your choice.