Game Goal

The goal of Sweeper Cube is to uncover all safe tiles, without uncovering any bombs, as quickly as possible.

Basic Rules:

• Tap any covered tile to uncover it.

• If you think a tile contains a bomb, tap and hold to flag it.

• Safe tiles show the number of bombs next to them.

• Uncovering a bomb gives you a strike. 3 strikes ends the match.

• No guessing required! You always have enough info to solve the board.

• Each match has a 3 minute time limit.

Fairness

Each match is played against another player to see who can get the highest score.

• You are matched against players of similar skill, but you don’t always play at the same time.

• Both players get the same board with the same bomb placement and hints.

• Timer continues to run even while the game is paused to prevent cheating.

• Play faster than your opponent without setting off any bombs to win!

How To Play

Revealing Tiles:

• Tap a covered tile to uncover it. This is called Tap Clearing.

• Tap an uncovered tile to clear all the tiles around it. This is called Fast Clearing.

• Fast Clearing will only work if you have placed the right number of flags.

• Fast Clearing can reveal bombs if you have tiles flagged incorrectly.

• Use Fast Clearing to maximize the time bonus.

Flagging Tiles:

• Place flags on tiles you think have bombs.

• Tap and Hold a covered tile to place a flag on it.

• You can also hold the button at the bottom of the screen to enable Fast Flagging.

• When Fast Flagging is on, use a second finger to place flags instantly.

• Fast Flagging can be used to chain flags back to back.

• Fast Flagging takes a little getting used to but helps to maximize the time bonus.

It's All About Information:

• The numbers on revealed tiles show the number of bombs next to that tile.

• The number of un-flagged bombs remaining is shown in the top right corner.

• This number goes down every time you flag a tile whether it’s correct or not.

• If this number is negative, you have tiles flagged incorrectly.

• You never have to guess! There is always enough info to make a logical choice.
  
  

Board Types

Board Rank:

• Determined by the number of deductions required to solve for any given tile.

• In a Rank 1 board, you only need the information given from the surrounding tiles to deduce whether a tile is clear or not.

• Higher ranks increase the number of tiles you need to take into consideration.

Board Difficulty:

• Determined by a combination of mine count and rank.

• As the difficulty gets harder the rank and mine count increase.

• Each game has boards from a specific difficulty.

• Cash games have boards from all difficulties.

• There are four different board difficulties:

  • Easy:

    • Mine Count: 16 + Board Ranks: 1, 2

  • Intermediate:

    • MineCount: 16 + Board Rank: 2

    • MineCount: 20 + Board Rank: 0, 1

  • Hard:

    • MineCount: 16 + Board Rank: 5

    • MineCount: 20 + Board Rank: 2, 3

  • Expert:

    • MineCount: 20 + Board Rank: 4

Scoring

In Sweeper Cube scores between 10,000 and 11,000 are great, anything higher than 11,000 is exceptional!

There are three factors that affect score in Sweeper Cube:

1. Game Score 

2. Time Bonus 

3. Difficulty Bonus

Game Score:

• Earned by successfully uncovering tiles and clearing the board.

• Tiles revealed empty awards +100 points.

• Avoiding bombs awards +100 points.

• Each board has a max game score of 9600 points, earned by clearing all 96 tiles.

Bombs:

• Hitting a bomb will deduct -899 points.

• Detonated tiles also can’t be cleared, costing another 100 points.

• In total, hitting a bomb subtracts 999 points from the game score.

Why Subtract 899:

• 899 isn’t a random number; it gives you more information about the match.

• All mechanics increase your score by multiples of 10.

• By subtracting 899 for hitting a bomb, we encode a digit at the end of your score.

• The number in the ones place tells you and your opponent how many bombs were uncovered. 

Difficulty Bonus:

• The Difficulty Bonus is based on the rank of the board.

• The bonus increases as the boards get harder:

  • Easy = +0 points

  • Intermediate = +200 points

  • Hard = +400 points

  • Expert = +800 points

• You only obtain this bonus if you complete the board.

Time Bonus

• The time bonus awards +10 points per second remaining when you finish.

• Use advanced mechanics like Fast Flagging and Fast Clearing to max out this bonus.

• Time is the biggest factor separating the good and the best!

Strategy

• Start off by looking for freebies: tiles that you have a 100% chance of getting right. These can open up the board significantly!

• Use Fast Flagging and Fast Clearing to max out your time bonus.

• You always have enough info to solve the board. No guessing required.

• Pay attention to the bomb count: when there aren't many bombs left, the board becomes simple.

• Bombs have the highest potential to affect your score, prioritize correctly flagging over flagging quickly.

• If you're feeling stuck, keep an eye out for common hint patterns like 1-2, 1-2-1, and 2-1-2.

• For more in depth strategy applicable to Sweeper Cube click this link: http://www.minesweeper.info/wiki/Strategy