How to Play Minesweeper Faster
Once you stop hitting mines, you want to be faster. Your time does not depend on hand speed alone: on the same board you can easily spend twice as many clicks as you need. The three ideas below show where the seconds go.
Chording
A chord is a click on an open number that already has as many flags around it as it shows. The game opens all its other neighbors at once. In Sapero you chord with both mouse buttons or the middle button, and the settings under the board let you chord with a plain click on a number.
Chording saves clicks when it opens two or three cells or more. If you have to place a flag that serves no other purpose just to chord, opening the safe cells one by one is quicker.
3BV
3BV is the smallest number of clicks needed to clear a board without flags. Every empty area counts as one click, since it opens all at once, plus one click for every number that does not border an empty area. The higher the 3BV, the harder and longer the board. That is why records are not compared on time alone: in Sapero only boards with a 3BV above the level's minimum go into the tables, so lucky boards can't top the leaderboard.
3BV/s and efficiency
3BV/s is solving speed: the board's 3BV divided by your time. It is fairer than time because it doesn't care whether you got an easy board. Efficiency is 3BV divided by the number of clicks you made. A hundred percent means not a single wasted click; going above a hundred comes from chords that open several cells at once. Both numbers appear under the board after every game.
Flags or no flags
Playing with no flags (NF) is faster on easy stretches because you never spend clicks on mines. Flags make chording possible and reduce the risk of a rushed mistake. Most strong players mix the two: a flag goes down only where a chord will pay it back.
How to train for speed
- Play sets of ten games on one level and watch 3BV/s rather than time: that is where real progress shows.
- Check efficiency after each game. Below 70% means lots of wasted clicks; look for places where one click could have opened an area.
- Don't chase speed on Expert until you clear Intermediate almost without losses: mistakes cost more than seconds.
Compare your best time, efficiency and 3BV/s with others on the player leaderboard, and test your speed against a live opponent in the arena.