Introduction:

Mine Blaster is a game of luck and skill.  When playing Mine Blaster, you are presented with a mine field.  Your objective is to either find all the mines in the field, or find a path as quickly as possible.  To do this, you uncover all the squares that do not contain mines, and mark the squares that do contain mines.  If you uncover all the squares that do not contain mines, or find a path (depending on the game type) you win the game.  If you uncover a mine you lose the game.

Initially the counter on the upper-left corner displays how many mines there are in the playing  field.  When you mark a square the count decrements, even if the square is incorrectly marked.  Conversely, when you unmark a square the count increments.

The counter on the upper-right corner is a timer that counts the number of seconds from the beginning of the game.  The timer only starts after you uncover the first square.

If you like this game and would like to get updates, please send $10  plus $2 shipping and handling to:

Adriano DeOliveira

146 Little Fawn Road

Southington, CT 06489

Please include your name and address.  You will get a feature rich version of Mine Blaster with, among others, more skill levels and the capability of displaying a larger game board.

To report bugs please e-mail to compuserve id: 75251.2363, or write to the address above.  This application was written using Borland C++ 4.0 and OWL 2.0.

How do I ...

... play the game.

•	To start a new game select Game | New or click on the happy face at the top of the game board using the left mouse button.

•	To choose a skill level select Game | Beginner, Game | Intermediate, or Game | Expert.  The higher the selection, the larger the game board and the number of mines.

•	Use the left mouse button to select a square to uncover.  If the square contains a mine you lose.  If the square does not contain a mine, it displays a number representing the number of adjacent squares that do contain mines.

•	Use the right mouse button to mark squares that you think may contain mines.  To unmark the square, just click on it using the right mouse button again.

... keep score.

The counter on the upper-right corner is your playing time in seconds.  The faster you finish the game the better your score.  To see a list of the fastest playing times, choose Game | Best Times.

Options:

The Game | Custom option allows you to customize the size of the Mine Blaster playing field, the mine density, and the type of game.  There are three types of games you can choose from.

•	The Grid game is the plain vanilla type of game, where the squares are laid out in a grid fashion and you can approach squares from any direction.

•	The Brick wall game lays the squares out in a brick wall fashion on the game board.  You can still approach the squares from any direction.

•	The objective of the Path Finder game is to find a path from the upper left corner to the lower right corner of the game board.  Squares are laid out in a grid fashion, but you can only uncover squares that have at least one adjacent square uncovered.

Hints and strategies:

•	If an uncovered square is labeled N, and there are only N covered squares touching it, those squares must be mines.

•	If an uncovered square already has the correct number of mines marked around it, clear the unmarked squares around it.