STUCK
Is your game menu off the screen? Stuck
permanently playing one level? Except for XP and Win2000, the minesweeper window appears
higher on the screen every time you play. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to fix the situation:
Option 1: Increase your screen resolution, center the game, and resize.
Option 2: Right-click on the task bar, select 'cascade windows'.
Option 3: Press 'alt' and the 'spacebar' together, select 'm', now move.
LOOKING
Guess and get out. Hesitating will not
make you more accurate, it will waste time.
Once you guess there is no need to stick
around for the outcome. You will know soon enough whether or not you were
right, and your time is better spent solving the next problem.
CLOCK
It may be fun, but looking at the clock
wastes time you could use.
Further, nerves can affect you if the timer
is near your record. (My hands tremble). Remember,
adrenalin is part of the autonomic nervous system because you do not control
it.
WARMER
Yes, practice and determination help,
but you can get faster easier than that!
As a pianist, the effect of temperature on movement is noticeable. I did
a little experiment: putting my hands in 40 Celsius water for 5 minutes,
I could play at a speed 15% faster than at room temperature. The effect
is short-term, but it really helps restore you to par in winter.
Also, "if you heat or cool an arm/leg/hand
on one side of your body your body will compensate by heating or cooling
the opposite extremity. This is because it must keep your core body temperature
reasonably constant. Thus, if you keep you left hand in warm water it
will keep your right hand at a higher temperature than normal." (Robbie
Gorman, Australia).
SCREENSHOTS
Press 'alt' and 'print screen' together,
then paste into a program (Paint, etc.) to save your game while the window
is active.
(Pressing 'control' instead saves the entire
desktop!)
Note: Please crop your picture. In Paint,
select 'options' and 'attributes', then alter size. (Beginner XP is 170
x 260 pixels).
The smallest file is to save as a 256-bit bitmap, then resave as a png
file. (An expert pic 24-bit is 550kb, 256-bit is 185kb, png is 13kb).
QUESTIONMARKS
These are a complete waste of time for
anyone who flags. However, marks can be useful when solving custom high
density boards.
FIRST CLICK
Not everyone used to agree on where to
click first. I was one of the strongest proponents of starting in the
middle, and took fire from corner and edge diehards. (Most noticeably,
my thanks go to Paul Kerry). They are correct: edges give significantly
more openings, and corners give even more. However, middle openings are
significantly larger on average.
So, it is up to you. I begin in the top
middle, with a circular motion of 5 clicks, click 2 and 3 being on the
top edge. Some always start in the left corner, others sweep without any
recognisable pattern. Your style will depend on the type of openings you
work with best.
ATTENTION
It is very uncommon to break your record
while consciously trying. (Except when first starting to play). Several
players have broken records while on the telephone, others while listening
to music or tv, and still more while not really paying attention.
So, stop paying attention, right? Maybe.
Thinking is an action that takes time. Every situation you solve is solved
quicker the second time, and so on. Eventually, moves are added to memory,
becoming automated. Many of us have solved boards dreaming!
VARIATION
Sweeping for a long time can tire you.
Sometimes, you faze out.
If you have several windows versions of
minesweeper, I find it helps to switch from time to time. The first few
minutes on a new design wake you up and give you a new rush of speed.
This gets more obvious the longer you play on the previous version.
If you don’t mind ‘wasting’
a bit of time, take a 5 minute break every hour to run up and down the
stairs. It will get your blood moving again, increasing glucose levels
in your brain to give you slightly better reflexes.
Speaking of variation, just for fun one
time play Hexmines for an hour before starting Minesweeper. It almost
makes you feel as if you are hallucinating: You will notice aspects of
design that did not exist for you before. (At least, this happens to me!)
EYE-SORE
Changing the brightness of your monitor
to low will help reduce eye-sore.
As well, some windows versions are easier
on the eyes (XP is best, 3.1, then 95).
HOLDING
Getting tired of clicking on the mine
you knew was there? Squares open when you release the button, not when
you press it. You can often save yourself by sliding off the mine and
releasing elsewhere.
VERSION
Are some versions faster than others?
Windows versions before XP have a timer
glitch. When you start a game, depending on how far into a second your
system clock is, you lose that time. If you begin near the end of a second,
you may even miss the entire first second of the game timer. This instability is what makes it so hard to get a 1 second beginner on older
versions, and why I list XP seperately.
Otherwise, all Windows versions use the
same board generator and features.
It was noticed with the release of Rodrigo's Clone 0.97 that
openings are displayed slightly quicker than in Winmine, but this has
largely passed unnoticed as the gains seem to be small.
Many clones, such as Narkomania significantly
increase your speed, while others like Minesweeper2000 and MinesweeperX start the clock
at 0 seconds. These unfair advantages so far disqualify them from ranking.
FLAGS
Some people flag, some never flag. The
small difference in world records (41 versus 50) is probably due to fewer
people playing without flags.
I think a mix of both techniques if most
efficient.
Flagging everything is a waste of time.
Mines are often isolated, or located such that chording on them does nothing.
Every click should have a purpose.
A single click is best if you have more
mines than empty spaces in an area.
STAY DOWN
This tip is only for flaggers.
If you keep the right-button down after
a flag, you can simply left-click to chord. This saves you the time required
to lift and lower your finger a second time.
However, some find it is more trouble to
get used to this than use this. I find it extremely helpful, but I am
biased from habit.
Damien Moore
October 8, 2004
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