Sayre board completed in 2003 by Stephen Bechtel
A 'Sayre board' is a 30x24 density game with 149 mines.
The board was proposed by Chris Sayre (USA) on 4 July 2003 in the Authoritative Minesweeper Guestbook as a new Master level to rank players. Some players had previously complained about Beginner being ranked and the new discovery of Intermediate board cycles seemed to make the level meaningless.
Support was limited because players were reluctant to abandon existing scores. However, Chris also suggested that players with tied sums should be sorted by the Expert level and then the Intermediate level to more accurately reflect skill. This was quickly incorporated into the world rankings.
Pictures
Article created 28 October 2020 by Damien Moore and updated 5 August 2021.