# Minesweeper

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Minesweeper and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a familiar, simple classic that still holds up as a casual game, and browser recompiles let it run anywhere. Critics most often report flagging and right-click input bugs.

## Why people recommend it

- Nostalgic classic bundled with Windows (2 comments): "Minesweeper is one example that comes with Windows, and I remember plenty of other casual" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49825972)) "I guess Minesweeper and Solitare are still pretty good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171549))
- Fun, casual, still good (2 comments): "I guess Minesweeper and Solitare are still pretty good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171549)) "Minesweeper was kinda fun." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45934602))

## What people warn about

- Flagging and right-click input bugs (5 comments): "Still, ctrl-click should also work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733060)) "The "flag" button doesn't seem to do anything, it just shows a flag on the screen for half a second and nothing happens" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49052022)) "long press didn't work for me with a trackpad (Safari on macOS), so wasn't able to flag at all" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48732423))
- Endgames often force 50/50 guesses (2 comments): "I managed to find myself in an end state that could only be resolved with a 50/50 guess." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733812)) "the original also had a problem with last calls being frequently 50/50" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744514))
- Paid subscription or charging for games (2 comments): "But you have to subscribe for each game separately, and it's a per-device subscription." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962891)) "Stop charging money for Freecell and Minesweeper." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47466882))
- Newer versions overdesigned or ruined (2 comments): "overdesigned mobile game-inspired app with daily challenges and in-game purchases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50029143)) "first they ruin notepad, now Minesweeper too" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037501))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Outer Wilds](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outer-wilds.md): 65 recommend
- [enclose.horse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enclose-horse.md): 64 recommend
- [The Witness](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witness.md): 60 recommend
- [Braid](https://hackerapproved.com/p/braid.md): 36 recommend
- [Blue Prince](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blue-prince.md): 30 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Minesweeper", https://hackerapproved.com/p/minesweeper/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).