Mines looks like a memory game and plays like a staring contest. Every tile on the board is either a gem or a bomb, and the only way to find out is to commit to it — knowing your opponent is watching every gamble you make. It is one of those rare games where the tension comes from the choice, not from the luck.
On this board you play Mines online against a real person. You create a private invite link, someone opens it, and the two of you uncover the same grid one tile at a time until somebody digs up a bomb. No bot, no house, no dealer flipping tiles against you.
Mines against a real person, not the house
Most Mines games you find online are solitaire against a payout table: the house sets the odds, you cash out early or you lose. Here there is no house on the other side of the board. Two players, one grid, one pot — and the points only ever move between the two of you.
- Real opponents, not bots. A private invite link is the whole lobby.
- No draw. A round always ends when a bomb goes off, so somebody always scores.
- Your settings. You pick the board size and the number of bombs before the invite goes out.
- Fun game or Monero wager. The same board either way — only the stakes change.
What a gem and a bomb actually do
Mines here is a turn-based duel, not a cash-out race. Players alternate turning over one hidden tile per turn:
- Gem. The tile is safe, nothing bad happens, and the turn passes to your opponent.
- Bomb. You lose the round on the spot and your opponent takes the point.
That single rule is what makes the game sharp. A safe tile is not a reward you bank — it is a turn you hand over, and sometimes the board you carefully cleared is exactly the one your opponent profits from.
How a 1v1 Mines match works
- Open the Mines setup.
- Choose Best of 1, 3 or 5, a board size (4x4, 5x5 or 6x6) and the number of bombs.
- Pick Fun Game (Free) or Bet XMR, add a nickname and create your private invite link.
- Send the link — whoever opens it first becomes your opponent and sees the exact board you set up.
- Take turns uncovering one tile at a time. The first bomb ends the round; the first player to take the majority wins the match.
Board size and bombs: how the game changes
Both settings are chosen by the creator and shown to your opponent before they join, so nobody is ever surprised by the board:
- 4x4. Small and brutal — a dozen safe tiles and very few places to hide.
- 5x5. The default. A solid middle ground between nerve and patience.
- 6x6. A longer, tenser board where a cautious early game can pay off.
- More bombs. Each extra bomb raises the chance the very next dig explodes — bigger swings, faster rounds.
The board is random — the choice is not
Nobody can see the mines, you included, so no one can solve a board. But what you do with an unseen board is still a decision, and that is where matches are won:
- Count the revealed tiles. Every safe tile that gets opened is one fewer hiding place for a bomb, so the pressure builds with every turn.
- Pressure beats patience. Hand your opponent a board with few safe tiles left and you force them to gamble on your terms.
- Read their nerves. Players who open a corner fast are usually comfortable; players who stall are usually counting.
- Respect the swing. On a heavy board one wrong dig ends the round — and sometimes the match.
Free game, or a Monero wager
A Fun Game costs nothing and needs no account: a nickname is enough. Switch to Bet XMR and both players lock the same stake to build the pot, with the winner paid the whole pot minus a flat 5% house fee the instant the match ends. Because there is no dealer, that fee is the only money the site ever takes — everything else moves between the two of you. Canceled or unaccepted invites are refunded automatically.
Provably fair: every board is drawn from a published seed
It would be easy for a site to hand one player a softer board. That is exactly why every match here commits to its randomness before it starts. The server publishes a SHA-256 hash of a secret seed, both players add a client seed of their own, and the whole mine layout is drawn from that combined stream with HMAC-SHA256. The starting player is drawn the same way. When the match ends the server seed is revealed, so anyone can recompute the exact board and confirm that neither player — and not the site — could have steered it. The full flow is on the provably fair page.
Pick a board and dare someone: create a Mines match and send the link. Every gem is safe — until somebody finds the bomb.