Some time ago I blogged about how in minesweeper I was up against a plateau (129), and someone suggested I play without mines to get better (edit: as in like this). So I did!
At first it felt awful but pretty quickly I found myself able to play at a decent speed. Recently, after at least a month of only playing mineless, I had gotten to the point where I would uncover about half of the field in about 80 seconds but then slow down dramatically and never actually win. I guess that while I am fine at being able to move forward once I've spotted an area that I can figure out, I am less good at finding those areas when their number dwindles and there's a bunch of other stuff as well.
But today, for the first time in a long time I finished a mineless game (406). Alright, might as well go back to using mines for a bit and see if I've improved. First time that I finish takes ~200, lame. Second time that I finish... 125 ^^ It didn't even feel like I was playing especially well, so I bet I am capable of even better... but I should really study for finals, heh. But once they are over I will be able to play BW again! I am also thinking about streaming because why not. Finals can't be done soon enough : 3
On May 04 2011 07:01 infinitestory wrote: How do you play minesweeper without mines? O_o I can't imagine in my head what the game mechanics would be like.
There are still mines, I just never mark them with flags (or double click anything).
Playing minesweeper without mines sounds similar to me to drinking decaf coffee - eg its pointless.
lol.
edit: got sniped by your post but I don't see how that changes anything at all. If instead of marking the flags you just leave them... nothing will happen lol.
The speed of this is beautiful. I practiced a lot of minesweeper in my free time, actually the full screen version is a pretty good mouse accuracy trainer, and on good days I could go under 100 seconds, my best was 79 - was such a great feeling to break 80. Mad respect to anyone who can go under 50, the quick thinking and not getting distracted is insanely hard to do.
I'm pretty it was I who suggested it, but I also said you should stop playing, which you didn't listen to =/. I'm at 106 still, but I have given up long ago, minesweeper sucks and you know it. It might also help to know I didn't mean to never mark at all, but to avoid it as much as possible when it won't save you any time.
After hiting a wall at ~120 a year or two ago I decided to start going for accuracy as much as speed. The newer versions of minesweeper track your win percentage. I was at something like 10% when I was going for only speed but since then I've pulled it up to 17%. Still kinda low, but there are many cases where you have to guess as seen above. Also, I still start off trying for speed but if it takes me 60sec to clear 1/4 of the board, I just slow it down a little and just try and win.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs37/f/2008/260/6/b/Impossible_minesweeper_by_Da_Lego_Man.png)
