Playing the Expert board
Expert is the largest of the three classic Windows sizes: 30 columns, 16 rows and 99 mines. The board above is already set up for it. Click any tile to start: mines are placed after your first click, never on it or next to it, so the game always opens an area to work from. The counter on the left shows the mines left minus your flags, and the clock starts with that first click.
What makes it harder
It isn’t only the size. Mines cover 20.6% of an Expert board, so numbers are higher, openings are smaller, and more of the board has to be worked out a tile at a time. Board difficulty is measured in 3BV, the fewest clicks that clear it. In 5,000 Expert boards generated here, 3BV ran from 110 to 253 with an average of about 171, so two Expert games can differ a lot. That’s why the result card after a win shows 3BV/s next to your time.
How to get faster
- Clear the easy parts first, then come back to the hard spots with the whole picture.
- Chord instead of opening tiles one by one: flag the mines around a number, then click the number.
- Learn the edge patterns (1-1, 1-2-1, 1-2-2-1): on Expert they show up in almost every game.
- When a real 50/50 is left, take it early. Losing in the first minute costs less than losing in the last.
Your Expert stats (games, wins, best time and streaks) are kept apart from other levels, and a game in progress comes back if you reload. Tired of losing to coin flips? Turn on No-guess above the board and every Expert board you get can be solved by logic alone.