Archived Minesweeper Websites


Expert World Ranking (1997-1998)

http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~wichiram/games/winmine.html

The first important ranking with nearly 150 Expert players. Created by Wacharin Wichirimala on 15 May 1996 and updated until 20 Jan 1998. The ranking accepted sub100 Expert games (including games lost on the last click) and used the honour system with players sharing screenshots of games. At the time, Wichirimala had a personal best score of 76 seconds.

1997-01-03 Early version of site with 101 players. Expert record 55 seconds.
1998-01-20 Final version of site with 146 players. Expert record 51 seconds.

Intermediate Minesweeper World Records (1998-1999)

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/1882/minesweeper.html

The first Intermediate ranking site. Created by Chris Paradise on 20 Jan 1998 and updated until 12 Feb 1999. The ranking accepted Intermediate games under 30 seconds. At the time, Paradise was the top ranked Expert player with 51 seconds.

1999-02-12 Final version of site with 23 players. Intermediate record 17 seconds.
2000-06-13 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 1998-2000 (7pgs).

Minesweeper Central (1998-1999)

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/9600/minesweeper

Unfinished site with an Expert ranking and some personal records. Created by Clint Olsen about 19 September 1998 and updated until 23 Jan 1999. He also ran a small jokes site called Comedy Central.

1999-01-23 Final version of site ranking 9 players. Expert record 70 seconds.

Authoritative Minesweeper (2000-2020)

http://www.metanoodle.com/minesweeper
http://www.minesweeper.info
http://pub19.bravenet.com/guestbook/1561860698/

The first world ranking for all 3 levels. Hosts the official world rankings and more than 40 archived sites and the MinesweeperWiki.

2000-06-30 Earliest pages from original site (1 MB, 50 files).
2001-02-01 Earliest full version of original site (10 MB, 200 files).
2001-08-09 Article about flagging.
2004-10-10 Early version of site (26 MB, 300 files).
2004-11-17 Article about patterns.
2007-12-31 Final version of metanoodle.com/minesweeper (16 MB, 300 files).
2020-12-31 Final version of minesweeper.info (2.8 GB, 61000 files).

The Intermediate Hall of Fame (2001-2002)

http://www.minesweeper.8k.com
http://www.geocities.com/inthalloffame
http://iinthalloffame.8m.com
http://pub3.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=238466592

Website dedicated to the Intermediate level of Minesweeper with rankings, player profiles, articles and mouse reviews. Created by Matt McGinley on 24 Mar 2001 and updated until 28 Nov 2002. At the time, McGinley was the top ranked Intermediate player with 10 seconds. The site had a Top 20 ranking, a Hall of Fame ranking for players with Sub20 scores and a list of all 72 known players with Sub20 scores.

2002-11-28 Final version of the site. Intermediate record 10 seconds.
2001-03-29 Strategy page from an early version of the site.
2001-12-01 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 2001 (18pgs).
2003-05-10 PDF of surviving posts from the Guestbook 2002-2003 (6pgs).

Active Ranking (2002-2004)

http://www.case.twobit.net
http://www.geocities.com/kaminwx/AR.html
http://www.active-ranking.de.vu
http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/~bechtel/ranking/
http://pub26.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=2175793237
http://www.planet-minesweeper.com/active-ranking.php

The Active Ranking was a fortnightly competition ranking players by their best Intermediate and Expert sum. The ranking was hosted on multiple sites and maintained by numerous volunteers before moving to Planet Minesweeper in August 2004. This archive contains all rankings in the original format prior to this move. See Planet Minesweeper (2005-2006), Minesweeper.cc (2007-2009) and Authoritative Minesweeper (2010-2020) for additional active rankings.

2004-12-31 All 78 rankings from 2002-2004.
2006-07-06 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 2002-2006 (58pgs).

Bestever Ranking (2002-2004)

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/minesweeper-addicts/database
http://www.planet-minesweeper.com/bestever.php

The Bestever ranking was created September 2002 in the Minesweeper Addicts group. The ranking was originally called the "World Ranking" then "Best Ever Players" and then simply "Bestever". Updates soon became fortnightly with players ranked by sum of their best Beginner, Intermediate and Expert games using the format from Authoritative Minesweeper. There was also a Sub70 Expert list and Georgi Kermekchiev maintained both lists until June 2004 when the ranking moved to Planet Minesweeper. In 2005, Yahoo! deleted the database but 20 updates survive with the final ranking listing 263 players. This archive contains rankings prior to the move to Planet Minesweeper.

2004-06-15 ZIP file with the surviving 20 Bestever rankings (1 MB).

China Minesweeper Ranking (2003-2004)

http://www.szmine.51.net

The first China ranking created by Ruan Yi in 2003. The ranking accepted Intermediate scores under 28 seconds and Expert scores under 90 seconds. Website includes personal scores of 2-16-59 and a profile with some links, tips and strategy pages. It also included some pages and videos copied from an early version of Authoritative Minesweeper. Several players submitted fake sub55 Expert scores with the final ranking listing a fake 48s video.

2003-05-16 Early version of site with 8 Intermediate and 12 Expert players. Best times 16-50.
2004-12-11 Final version of site with 22 Intermediate and 23 Expert Players. Best times 14-48.

Russia Minesweeper Ranking (2003-2010)

http://www.gammel.pisem.net
http://www.minesweeper.ru

Minesweeper ranking for players from Russia and the former Soviet Union. Created by Roman Gammel on 1 Dec 2003 and updated until 13 March 2010. The ranking used Minesweeper Clone and accepted players with a sum under 120 seconds for Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. At the time, Gammel was the top ranked Russian player with best times of 1-10-42.

2010-03-13 Final version of site with 132 players. Records of 1-10-42.
2011-10-25 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 2003-2011 (76pgs).
2014-02-07 PDF of surviving Forum topics from 2008-2014 (37pgs).

Minesweepers.org (2003-2016)

http://www.minesweepers.org

The site started in March 2003 as a strategy guide called "The Minesweeper Handbook". In January 2004 it introduced world rankings (one ranking per level) using a downloadable Winmine clone with players paying a membership fee to upload scores. The original clone did not have flags but these were added in a later release. A new version of the site was published in May 2007 which added state rankings for American players and a world ranking based the sum of best Beginner, Intermediate and Expert scores. The site was maintained by "Eric" until 20 May 2016.

2003-02-12 The original "Minesweeper Handbook".
2007-04-16 Final version of original site.
2007-02-24 PDF of surviving Forum topics from 2005-2007 (22pgs).
2016-05-20 Final version of the site.

Minesweeper.cc (2007-2010)

http://www.minesweeper.cc

Christoph created the site in April 2007 to host a new world ranking to replace Planet Minesweeper and Authoritative Minesweeper. The site also hosted the fortnightly Active Ranking until December 2009.

2010-01-01 Final version of the site (43 MB, 1000 files).
2011-01-01 PDF of Forum topics (17 pgs).

Minesweeper Strategy (1996)

http://mcn.net/~jimloy/mine.html

Simple one page introduction to solving Minesweeper.

1999-02-24 Only version of page.

Minesweeper For Beginners (1996)

http://www.ishipress.com/mineswee.htm

Introduction to Minesweeper and lengthy advice from a player with scores of 11-83-276. Sloan claimed to be the best player in the world and explained that Expert scores under 400 seconds were amazing. Analysis of several Minesweeper boards using text diagrams.

1997-04-17 Only version of page.

Jack Welsby's Minesweeper Page (1996-2000)

http://www.innotts.co.uk/~jackw/mineswpr.htm

Minesweeper page with some of the earliest mentions of NF, Density and Cheats.

1998-12-20 Early version of page.
2000-09-10 Final version of page.

Minesweeper Tips (1997-1999)

http://www.cs.siena.edu/bchu/minesweeper/

Some Minesweeper tips and personal scores. The Guestbook was the center of the Minesweeper community for several years and is an important part of sweeping history. Created by Brian Chu on 3 Jul 1997 and updated until 3 May 1999.

1999-05-03 Final version of site.
1999-05-03 Orphan page with Minesweeper definitions.
2000-11-18 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 1997-2000 (45pgs).

Hall of the Minesweeper (1997-1999)

http://www.interlog.com/~thermhlp/winmine/

Fan site with an introduction to Minesweeper and a short strategy guide. Created by Alex Perel in July 1997 but never updated although the Guestbook stayed alive intil August 1999.

1999-08-20 Final version of site.
1999-08-20 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 1997-1999 (5pgs).

The Minesweeper Page (1997-2000)

http://www.ph-cip.uni-koeln.de/~wester/winmine.html

The best minesweeper strategy site for many years with numerous examples and tips. Created by Frank Wester on 12 Aug 1997 and updated until 29 Aug 2000.

2000-08-29 Final version of site.

Minesweeper Strategies and Tactics (1999)

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~jl/Essays/minesweeper.html

List of Minesweeper tips compiled by John LeFlohic on 14 February 1999.

1999-02-14 Only version of page.

The Intermediate Hall of Fame (2001-2002)

http://www.minesweeper.8k.com
http://www.geocities.com/inthalloffame
http://iinthalloffame.8m.com
http://pub3.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.php?usernum=238466592

Website dedicated to the Intermediate level of Minesweeper with rankings, player profiles, articles and mouse reviews. Created by Matt McGinley on 24 Mar 2001 and updated until 28 Nov 2002. At the time, McGinley was the top ranked Intermediate player with 10 seconds. The site had a Top 20 ranking, a Hall of Fame ranking for players with Sub20 scores and a list of all 72 known players with Sub20 scores.

2001-03-29 Strategy page from an early version of the site.

Minesweepers.org (2003-2016)

http://minesweepers.org

The site started in March 2003 as a strategy guide called "The Minesweeper Handbook". In January 2004 it introduced world rankings (one ranking per level) using a downloadable Winmine clone with players paying a membership fee to upload scores. The original clone did not have flags but these were added in a later release. A new version of the site was published in May 2007 which added state rankings for American players and a world ranking based the sum of best Beginner, Intermediate and Expert scores. The site was maintained by "Eric" until 20 May 2016.

2003-02-12 The original "Minesweeper Handbook".
2007-04-16 Final version of original site.
2007-02-24 PDF of surviving Forum topics from 2005-2007 (22pgs).
2016-05-20 Final version of the site.


Programmer's Minesweeper (1995-2003)

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ramsdell/pgms/

One of the earliest published Minesweeper solvers with detailed information on implementing your own strategy. The program originally implemented Single Point Strategy and Equation Strategy but was updated in 2003 to include Mio Strategy based on a paper by Castillo & Wrobel. Numerous other math papers have used PGMS to implement and test custom strategies.

1999-01-17 Earliest version of site but with the updated PGMS download from 2003.

Dynamite Minesweeper (1995-1996)

http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~manning/dynamine.html
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~manning/dynamine.html

Free Windows 3.1 game where you find a path across a field using your mine detector. Instead of numbers the shade of colour changes.

1996-04-21 Final version of site.

Sledgehammer (1998-2001)

http://www.sledgehammer.demon.co.uk/solver.htm

Solver written by Tim Williams in 1998. Website was created on 1 April 1998.

2001-04-06 Final version of page with download.

Hex Minesweeper (1998)

http://users.aol.com/hausebill/hexmines.html

One of the earliest known hexagonal versions of Minesweeper for Windows. Shareware download.

1998-12-03 Only version of page.

Global Mines (1998-2002)

http://algonet.se/~stefpet/software/globalmines/
http://www.stefan-pettersson.nu/site/gmines/

Pettersson created Global Mines in 1998 but rewrote the program in 2002 after seeing Project Minesweeper Utopia. Global Mines almost became an official version for world rankings but in the end Minesweeper Clone and Minesweeper X were chosen because Global Mines cost $9.90 per player.

2003-02-02 Final version of the Global Mines section of Pettersson's game site.

OPENsweeper (1998)

http://home.dti.net/open/omswp.html

OPENsweeper was a version for Windows that penalised you for guessing. Site mentions a lost 150 page manuscript on Minesweeper. Created by Jean-Claude Chetrit on 25 Sep 1998.

1998-09-25 The only version of the site.

Smrtmine (1999)

http://fy.chalmers.se/~f96hajo/old/play_games.html

Solver that can play the entire game or one move at a time.

2003-10-07 Only version of site.

The Oz Minesweeper (2001)

http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~raph/minesweeper/

Raphaƫl Collet implements an Oz Minesweeper solver using constraint satisfaction techniques to calculate mine probabilities.

2001-12-05 Earliest version of site.

Minesweeper Clone (2004-2009)

http://www.geocities.com/minesweeperclone
http://www.planet-minesweeper.com/clone

Official homepage for the Minesweeper Clone by Rodrigo Camargo. The site was originally hosted on geocities before moving to Planet Minesweeper. Clone was an official version for the world rankings from 2004-2013.

2009-10-07 Final version of site with download information for Clone 2007.
2004-06-09 Orphan article explaining Unfair Prior Knowledge (UPK).


Mark Peters (1998)

http://www.auburn.net/~swifty/mswpr.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~epididymisle/mswpr.html

Single page site with personal scores. His final scores were 2-18-72 and he was ranked #3 on the Intermediate World Records site (1998) and #37 on the Expert World Records site (1998).

1998-12-06 Earliest version of site.
2003-04-14 Final version of site.

Andrew Schultz (1999)

http://www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~ajschult/mine.html

Personal site with a short Minesweeper guide with some downloads and the XYZZY cheat. Best scores 7-44-120.

1999-11-14 Final version of page.
1999-09-30 Newspaper article quoting the site.

Dan Cerveny (2001-2004)

http://www.geocities.com/kaminwx

Dan Cerveny was the top ranked American player and retired with 1-11-44 in 2004. He was the 3rd player to Sub50 (2001) and 1st player to Sub50 NF (2005) and for most of his career was Top 5 reaching World #2 on several occasions. He also managed the Active Ranking site for several years.

2004-01-30 Final version of site.

Charles Yu (2001-2004)

http://www.geocities.com/flyingking_2000/minesweeper.html

Charles was a Top100 player and retired with 2-16-58 in 2003.

2003-11-26 Final version of site.

Tim Kostka (2002-2003)

http://devtk.com/minesweeper/
http://www.nuprograms.com/minesweeper/

Tim Kostka wrote several articles about Dreamboards, Board Cycles and Randomness.

2003-04-16 Final version of second site.


The Unofficial Minesweeper Page (1996-2000)

https://www.seanet.com/~niblox/sweeper.html

Minesweeper fan page with a guestbook and shareware downloads. Created by Patrick Fox and maintained until he abandoned Windows for Linux. There is a letter on the site from Ricardo Galletti who in 1996 was listed in first place with 55 seconds on the Expert World Records site.

1997-06-07 Early version of site.
2000-03-04 Final version of site.
2000-06-07 PDF of the complete Guestbook from 1997-2000 (11pgs).

Minesweeper Maniac (1999-2000)

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8383/records.html

Jovan Milosevic wrote a strategy guide (pages missing) and started a world ranking (with 3 Expert players).

2000-06-08 Final version of site.

International Campaign to Ban Winmine (1999-2001)

http://rcm.usr.dsi.unimi.it/rcmweb/fnm/indexfnm.htm

Lobby group that campaigned to change Minesweeper from mines to flowers. The Windows XP Italy edition released "Prato Fiorito" (Field of Flowers) and Microsoft introduced flowers as a skin option with Windows Vista in 2006 globally. The site has an online "Winflower" version. Created by Sergio Chiodo on 16 Feb 1999 and updated until 31 Aug 2001.

2001-08-31 Final version of site.

Million Dollar Minesweeper (2000)

http://www.claymath.org/events/minesweepermath.htm

Ian Stewart wrote an article for Scientific American explaining the P=NP problem and how writing an efficient solver for Minesweeper could win the Clay Institute Millenium Prize. The Clay Institute reproduced the article and hosted a lecture on 1 November 2000.

2000-11-01 Article and site created for the lecture.

Minesweeper (2003)

http://www.techuser.net/minesweeper.html

Usman Latif wrote several articles about first clicks, random boards and advanced tactics.

2003-12-18 All Minesweeper articles.

B.O.M.B. Minesweeper Clan Homepage (2004-2006)

http://minesweeperclan.mi.funpic.de
http://www.bomb-minesweeper.de

Site was created by three German players and was the first website with a 3BV/s ranking.

2006-01-05 Final version of site.
2006-08-09 Complete German Guestbook (39pgs).