Post Your Best Minesweeper Times

[James Boston]

Beginner: 9 sec
Intermediate: 55 sec
Expert: 4 min 47 sec

[Willluck]

beginner 7
Intermediate 35
Expert 103

[jgunnip]

7, 41, 123

[PokerFink]

[ QUOTE ]
beginner 7
Intermediate 35
Expert 103

[/ QUOTE ]

103? Whaaaaaaat!

My scores got erased when my windows got messed up, but I think beginner was 10 and expert was 300 something. Can't remember intermediate.

[PokerFink]

By the way, what are your high scores for the space cadet pinball? I think mine was 9.8 million.

[Crveballin]

Beginner: 1 Got that lucky first click
Intermediate: 63
Expert: 130

[Crveballin]

Is it possible to lose on the first click or does it set the board after the first click?

[Grisgra]

Been a looong time since I've participated in that particular time-suck . . .

Beginner: 1. Booyah!
Intermediate: No idea.
Expert: 120'ish? Maybe 118? 122? Something like that.

[antidan444]

5 (no lucky first click), 33, 98

Edit: In another thread, someone claimed to have times of 2, 21 and 60-something.

[Willluck]

[ QUOTE ]
5 (no lucky first click), 33, 98

Edit: In another thread, someone claimed to have times of 2, 21 and 60-something.

[/ QUOTE ]
And here, for a second, I thought I had the biggest penis.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible to lose on the first click or does it set the board after the first click?

[/ QUOTE ]

It sets the board after the first click.

[ggbman]

I got 6 seconds on begginer, forgot the other ones.

[Bulldog]

Awesome. We haven't had this thread in at least three weeks. It's MINESWEEPER you schmucks. Next everyone post your best Pong victory ever.

[OrangeHeat]

Expert: 136 seconds

Orange

[Bradyams]

Beginner - 5
Inter. - 199
Expert - 286

[beerbandit]

i dont think ive ever won


so im probably 0 - 9 right now

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Beginner - 9 sec
Intermediate - 51 sec
Expert - 3 min 1 sec

[Fabian]

4, 27, never played.

World records are 1, 11 and 39 IIRC. Pretty sick.

[mgsimpleton]

beginner - 3
intermediate - 18
expert - 60

swear by it... no one before appreciated my talent until i met you lovely folk at two plus two.

p.s. i have no penis of which to prove its size so i'm telling the truth.

[LargeCents]

[ QUOTE ]
4, 27, never played.

World records are 1, 11 and 39 IIRC. Pretty sick.

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't played minesweeper since back in 1993. My roommate and I, back then, had a fierce ego-battle over who was the best minesweeper. I think our times were very close to the "world records" above, if not better. It was insane, I'd come home from class, and he'd have the high score, then I'd work all evening to beat it by one second, and the whole process would repeat like that for months. It came to the point of simply cycling through as many "perfect boards" as possible. If you didn't get a "perfect board" you just reset, so as not to waste time/effort. I don't even want to know how many hours I lost during those days.

I wish I could dig up those old minesweeper times, but that computer died a decade ago, although I still have the hard drive, thinking someday I might go back to retrieve the data. lmao. I never had a reason, until now. I think I got a time of zero on the beginner's level. I actually hit a board that cleared out on one click! My roommate from back then still refuses to believe me, but I swear it's the truth.

The next day, he had zeros next to all of the times, and claimed the same thing, 3 perfect boards. He opened the high score data file and edited the times, obviously. I think that is how we ended it. lol.

So, the "skill" in minesweeper is really just luck, or perseverence in clicking through enough boards to hit the perfect one. Maybe someone could do a mathematical analysis to find out the odds of hitting a perfect board in each of the three levels. I'd probably estimate 100k:1 for beginners. I don't know if a perfect board can exist for the other levels, or if so, would be quite exponential odds.

[JustSomeJackass]

Beginner: 3 seconds
Intermediate: 31
Expert: 118

[JustSomeJackass]

Try playing the expert level without marking any of the bombs with a flag and see how quick you can do it

[Blarg]

I think my expert was 133. I thought it was decent till last year someone put up this same thread and I saw somebody posting that he did it in like 90. When I read that, I went from feeling like kind of a champ to super bad. I mean, holy crap...90? That's just not right.

[Blarg]

I have no idea what a perfect board is supposed to be, but I used to be competing with friends, too, and definitely, if a board had a bad lay-out, you'd just start over so you wouldn't waste time. What board you get does make a big difference. Of course, after doing it hundreds of times, you can't make that excuse any more, and eventually your times come closer to reflecting your max ability.

I do remember one fantastic board where I was going to get it in well under 100, but I got so excited I made a stupid mistake right in the last cluster. Which is actually kind of unusual I think in minesweeper when you start getting reasonably fast; you don't make all that many thought-through mistakes; you usually blow up because you've hit a construction that forces you to take a guess, at which point your goose is cooked if it's the wrong one.

[ptmusic]

How about Spider Solitaire?

I was pretty damn psyched completing the most difficult (4 suits) level.

-ptmusic

[Homer]

I still can't break 100 in expert (106 is my best).

[LargeCents]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no idea what a perfect board is supposed to be

[/ QUOTE ]

All of the mines in one big continuous chunk, such that you click an open space and everything opens up, voila!

I think the "designers" of minesweeper must have seen this "clumping" as problem, and have a somewhat non-clumping randomization algorithm to determine mine placement. Thus the randomized distribution of mines has a certain homogenization factor which prevents too much clumping, thus the possibility of clearing the mines with one click. I've never seen a board that looks like a postcard with a postage stamp in the corner, or all of the mines along the perimeter in a continuous row, or anything even coming close to that. The "connected clump" would be the ideal layout for a zero time. The algorithm for mine placement sticks in my mind like a sliver. I have such an unnatural desire to reverse-engineer the randomization algorithm to better understand the game. lmao

Another factor is that beginner has a 9x9 grid with 10 mines, giving a mine density of .12 mines per block. Intermediate is 16x16 with 40 mines, giving a density of .16 mines per block. Expert has 16x30 with 99 mines, giving a density of .20 mines per block. With a higher mine density, there is more opportunity for homogeniety, and less clumping. So, not only are the upper levels bigger grids, but also more mine-dense.

[Bob Moss]

Beginner: 5
Intermediate: 38
Expert: 128 (I almost never win)

Bob