<![CDATA[A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection.]]>A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. I'm pleased to say that the new Mines is now completed and live! You can now play Minesweeper on a wide range of tilings in your browser
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/js/mines.html
or download a desktop version from the parent page which supports the same set of grids.

As well as the support for lots of grid types, there's also a new user preference (off by default) to make it easier to play on them. When you click on a clue square to potentially clear around it, the existing flags adjacent to the square light up, to make it easier to count them and work out how many more mines you're still expecting. Particularly useful in the hat tiling, where it's easy to mistake exactly what is adjacent to what!

I expect different people will prefer different grids. Personally I think the triangular grid is particularly tricky and puzzly; the hexagonal honeycomb makes a gentle introduction; the Cairo, Floret and Kites tilings are a nice set in between those extremes; and of course the aperiodic tilings are there to keep you on your toes and ready for anything.

Many thanks to Anders HΓΆglund for this excellent piece of work.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/f6778ac3-5a4f-4aa8-9e02-1e8ef626d2c3/a-couple-of-weeks-ago-i-showed-a-preview-of-a-new-mode-for-mines-in-my-puzzle-collection.RSS for NodeFri, 11 Sep 2026 19:02:00 GMTWed, 02 Sep 2026 19:13:13 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:06:51 GMT]]>@simontatham Some of these are HARD. (in a good way)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/bit101/statuses/117207728862787824https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/bit101/statuses/117207728862787824Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:06:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:06:18 GMT]]>@simontatham wow!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/fractalkitty/statuses/117207726747022250https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/fractalkitty/statuses/117207726747022250Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:06:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:13:18 GMT]]>@simontatham
Nice! I'll try and see if it works in my Plan 9 port.]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pleroma.envs.net/objects/f48080ef-e4f7-420f-a56c-f272f821bb9ehttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pleroma.envs.net/objects/f48080ef-e4f7-420f-a56c-f272f821bb9eThu, 03 Sep 2026 14:13:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:03:05 GMT]]>@simontatham @RealGene @bjh21 thanks for the pointers (pun intended).

I don't think I'll be able to help. The codebase is really far from what I'm used.

I did manage to compile it and play on my machine, the hat pattern feel fun and playful while these specter really do hate me 😒

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/gkrnours/statuses/117207242235084450https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/gkrnours/statuses/117207242235084450Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:03:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:18:25 GMT]]>@simontatham nice, thx, I'll see if I can port this fun game πŸ˜‰

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mamot.fr/users/Mindiell/statuses/117207066553584215https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mamot.fr/users/Mindiell/statuses/117207066553584215Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:18:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:16:24 GMT]]>@Mindiell yes, the git repository is on the main web page.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117207058668452646https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117207058668452646Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:16:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:16:09 GMT]]>@simontatham is source code available ?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mamot.fr/users/Mindiell/statuses/117207057640384678https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mamot.fr/users/Mindiell/statuses/117207057640384678Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:16:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:09:28 GMT]]>@simontatham In high school I spent waay too much time on a similar desktop variant. I stopped when I saw different tilings when I closed my eyes in school...]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.place/objects/352b8000-d9d2-4e32-bbd3-0acac45fc5e7https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.place/objects/352b8000-d9d2-4e32-bbd3-0acac45fc5e7Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:09:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:47:47 GMT]]>@gkrnours @RealGene @bjh21 yes, all the source code is in a git repository whose URL is on the main puzzles page. Unfortunately the online gitweb browser is currently down (because otherwise it got DDoSed by AI scraper bots), but it should still be possible to clone the repo.

To build the Javascript version you need Emscripten, which is conveniently (at least from my point of view) available as a Docker image.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206710170789164https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206710170789164Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:47:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:58:26 GMT]]>@simontatham @RealGene @bjh21 is the source available somewhere? I would like to submit patch for long-click as right-click

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/gkrnours/statuses/117206516132377338https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/gkrnours/statuses/117206516132377338Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:58:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:56:41 GMT]]>@jay @yojimbo there's a new preference option for that, mentioned in the initial post.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206509260409655https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206509260409655Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:56:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:55:09 GMT]]>@simontatham @garthy Oh, and speaking of UI, might be a good idea to pop up a "Generating" message when setting up larger grids, otherwise the browser looks like it froze for a few seconds.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206503228715834https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206503228715834Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:55:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:52:31 GMT]]>@simontatham @garthy I chose honeycomb because it's IMHO the hardest to show in this way – I'd say square is much simpler:

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206492890394827https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206492890394827Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:52:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:38:52 GMT]]>@jernej__s @garthy that's an interesting UI thought. It might be more difficult in the other two cyclic modes, though, because the triangular cyclic grid has straight edges at top and bottom, and the square cyclic grid has straight edges everywhere!

But I agree it would be nice to have _some_ visual indication that you're playing a cyclic grid, if only for people who have forgotten which option they selected from the menu. (Alas, real work sometimes temporarily distracts people from the important business of playing puzzle games.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206439228153642https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206439228153642Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:38:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:36:55 GMT]]>@simontatham Saw this on my timeline, thought "this is cool, imagine this on Simon Tatham's app", then saw who posted πŸ˜‚

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.art/users/HugoBDesigner/statuses/117206431560488738https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.art/users/HugoBDesigner/statuses/117206431560488738Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:36:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:35:33 GMT]]>@simontatham @garthy Would it make sense to draw half tiles mirroring the opposite tile in cyclic mode, to make it more obvious?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206426148529252https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jernej__s/statuses/117206426148529252Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:35:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:31:19 GMT]]>@kgjenkins worse still, how about the map of Liechtenstein, many of whose administrative divisions have exclaves separate from the main part, so that the adjacency graph isn't even planar!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206409530520952https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206409530520952Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:31:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:28:33 GMT]]>@ra yes, that's an occasional failure mode of the grid generator at high mine densities. It's _technically_ still a uniquely soluble grid with the right number of mines, but also, not exactly what you wanted! You'd have seen the same phenomenon before this patch if you'd turned up the mine density in an ordinary square grid.

I've never managed to figure out exactly how to change the generation strategy to avoid this happening, although I keep thinking it _ought_ to be possible.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206398633386056https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206398633386056Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:28:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:27:35 GMT]]>@LionsPhil @yojimbo the contributor of this patch mentioned that he did _try_ adding a mode in which only adjacency along tile edges counted, and vertex-only adjacency was ignored. But he judged that the gameplay became too boring, and didn't even bother sending me the code.

The Honeycomb grid has this property already, because there _are_ no pairs of tiles that only touch at a vertex – tiles share an edge or don't touch at all. And indeed I think that is the most boring of the new modes. So I believe him!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206158877418892https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206158877418892Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:27:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:25:25 GMT]]>@yojimbo @simontatham yeah, I noticed the 5 in the triangles screenshot and was confused until I considered that's true for the square grid counting diagonals too

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://plush.city/users/LionsPhil/statuses/117206150365259611https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://plush.city/users/LionsPhil/statuses/117206150365259611Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:25:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:54:33 GMT]]>@simontatham
Oh, okay. Yeah, there's an extra name, you're right.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.world/users/LiseAndreasen/statuses/117206029015390442https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.world/users/LiseAndreasen/statuses/117206029015390442Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:54:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:49:14 GMT]]>@LiseAndreasen that's up to the downstream maintainer of whichever phone app you have in mind. I don't maintain any of the phone ports personally.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206008111397689https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117206008111397689Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:49:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:47:21 GMT]]>@simontatham
Oh wow!
This will appear in the app too?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.world/users/LiseAndreasen/statuses/117206000688294268https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.world/users/LiseAndreasen/statuses/117206000688294268Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:47:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A couple of weeks ago I showed a preview of a new mode for Mines, in my puzzle collection. on Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:28:47 GMT]]>@garthy those settings specify a "cyclic" mode, in which the top of the grid is considered to wrap round to the bottom. So that 2 clue is not just adjacent to the single closed cell shown in your picture, but also to some cells at the bottom of the grid.

If you click on the 2 cell as if you were going to clear around it, it will show all the cell's closed neighbours temporarily.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117205927700755192https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/simontatham/statuses/117205927700755192Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:28:47 GMT