Sources and verification

The reference: the app

The rules described on this site are those of the Démineur app, as read in its code: mine placement, numbers, cascading openings, flags, chording, levels, and unlock thresholds. When the app's built-in help and its code differ, the site follows the code.

Sources consulted

• Démineur (video game genre) (new tab) (Wikipedia): the game's basic concept, numbers, flags, and cascading openings.
• Minesweeper (video game) (new tab) (Wikipedia in English): the game's history, common grid sizes, and the protected first move.
• Richard Kaye, “Minesweeper is NP-complete”, The Mathematical Intelligencer, volume 22, 2000 (new tab) (Springer): why no simple method solves every grid, and why guessing is sometimes necessary (Strategy page).
• NP-complete problem (new tab) (Wikipedia): the concept of a difficult problem mentioned on the Strategy page.

Links checked on 30 October 2026.

How the examples are verified

Before each publication, two independent programs redo all the site's calculations:

• a tool connected to the app's engine, without modifying it, generates each example grid with the app's generator, plays the first tap, then each deduction: safe squares are opened and flags placed using the app's functions;
• it reads the dimensions of the 6 levels, from Beginner to Marathon, and checks across 2 000 grids per level that no mine is placed near the first tap;
• a second program, written separately, recreates the mine placement, numbers, and every deduction, compares each grid square by square, and blocks publication if there is even the slightest discrepancy;
• for a grid that requires guessing, it tries every possible arrangement of the remaining mines.

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