Coan.net 2-player Sweeper Games:

I really like the 1 player Minesweeper game, and starting in June 2005, started to come up with rules and details for a 2-player version of the game. Since then, I have come up with a few different versions of the game, and some of the games being released on different game sites on the internet.

 

Original Coan.net Sweeper GAME:

Can be found on turn-based game site BrainKing.com as Frog Finder. Released in January 2007, as of November 2008, over 25,000 games have been played, and the win/lose rate between player 1 & 2 are very even (50.17% vs. 49.70%)

BOARD/SETUP:

 NOTE:  Everything below will be written as if it was a 2 player game…. but more can play if wanted.

QUICK OVERVIEW:

POINTS:

 TURN:

 Each player gets a turn – then submit – then goes to the next player.  During a turn, a player can do 2 things:

When playing, taking a shot may reveal some good information for the next player.

** PICTURE EXAMPLE (from BrainKing.com Frog Finder game):  In the picture, this is a what the red player would see at the start of the game - his own 5 men on the board that the computer randomly placed on the board, with their opponents frogs hidden from view.

SHOT:

When it is your turn, you have 2 choices.  Shot or guess.

To shot, a player chooses a space on the board to shoot.  Like minesweeper, it will show you how many men are in the 8 spaces around that space.  So a number between 0 and 8 will be shown in that space.  0 means there is no men in the surrounding spaces.  8 means you are COMPLETELY surrounded by men, which of course would make for easy guessing on where they are.  Most likely, you will find a number between 0-2.

?

?

?

?

2

?

?

?

?

Example – Someone takes a shot (middle space in this 3x3 example) – and a “2” shows up.  That means in the 8 surrounding spaces, there are 2 men.

 

   

Man

 

 

 

2

Man

 

 

 

 

Example (cont.) – So this shows where the men are and shows why a “2” would show up.  Of course the surrounding spaces and men would remain hidden until someone takes a shot or guesses in those spaces.

  Example (board from BrainKing.com Frog Finder) - As you can see, someone shot at the space where there is a "2" - which means, in the 8 surrounding squares, there are 2 men (frogs) total.  As you can see, 1 is a red man (frog) - which means that one of the opponents men (frogs) is in one of the other 7 spaces.

When a shot is taken, and the result is given – that result stays visible on the board for the rest of the game.

Your shot results are visible to all players.

Also note that a shot near your own man will also show up on the shot radar also since all players men are on the same board, giving your opponents information that your pieces are near, so you may not want to shot near your own piece.  But then again, since the computer randomly places the men, it is possible that your own man & an opponent man is sitting next to each other.

Also note that when you are playing with more then 2 players, your shot results are visible to all players and may end up helping your opponent also.

If you accidentally (or purposely) shot a man, that man is reveled to everyone.  You will lose 5 points, while the player who owns that man will gain 5 points.  (moral:  Shooting a man is bad and costly, don’t do it!)

 GUESS:

   PICTURE EXAMPLE (board from BrainKing.com Frog Finder game)
-- This picture shows a game in progress.
-- The blue man (frog) at G9 had been shot by red (so blue got +5 points, red got -5 points). 
-- The blue man (frog) at A1 was correctly guessed by red (red +5 points). 
-- This board also shows no men (frogs at A3-A6, B3-B6, C3-C6). 
-- It also shows there is 1 man (blue frog) at either F7, F8, or F9.

 

 

END OF GAME:

Game ends when all but the last players men are revealed on the board.  (Either by guesses or shot)  The last player standing also received bonus points – 2 points, plus 1 point for each man not found or shot.

At this point, the player with the most points win!  If there is a tie in points, the player which stayed in the game longer gets the nod to be ahead.

Original Co-op Variant:

Can be found on turn-based game site BrainKing.com as Frog Finder. Released in January 2008

Differences from original:

 

Co-op Variant #2:

Can be found on turn-based game site Jijbent.nl[Dutch] as Mijnenveger. Released in November 2008.

As I write this, it is only on the Dutch language site, but once any bugs are worked out, I hope that this games will also be introduced on the English site: YourTurnMyTurn.com and the German site: Brettspielnitz.de.

Differences from original Co-op Variant:

Screen shot to the right is taken from Jijbent.nl the empty spaces show there are no bombs. The red X at g4 is ONLY seen by the person who guessed wrong at that spot. (so your opponent will not know you guessed wrong at that spot)

 

Other Variant Ideas:

Well I don't have "set" rules - I just like a good game. So if a site want's to develop the game and make it a little different, I'm happy to help. (like the Co-op Version 2 on Jijbent.nl) - they liked the co-op version, but there were a few things that could make the game even better - so Co-op Version 2 was thought up - same game, but a few tweaks here and there that will make the game even better. So some other ideas: (kind of thrown out there - but can be tweaked as well.

 

 

CREDIT:

Game rules and such written by:  Michael A. Coan (COAN.NET) 2005,2006, 2007, 2008

Board example from BrainKing.com Frog Finder game & Jijbent.nl Mijnenveger game. (used with permission)

Game rules are free to use as long as credit is given back to COAN.NET.  (And no major money is made from the game – then in that case, I want a cut of it!)

[back to Coan.net]