Mines: how to play, odds and RTP

Mines is a board of 25 tiles hiding a number of mines that you choose. Every tile you reveal that turns out to be a gem raises your multiplier. Cash out whenever you like, but reveal a mine and the round ends with the bet lost.

How a round goes

You set the bet and pick how many mines hide on the board: 1, 3, 5, 8, 12, 16, 20 or 24. Then you tap tiles one at a time. Our servers place the mines when the round starts, so the tiles you choose do not change your chances.

The multiplier is built from the chance of surviving each pick. With 3 mines, the first tile is safe 22 times in 25 (88%) and pays 1.10x; five safe tiles in a row pays 1.95x. The cash-out games guide shows the full working.

Choosing a mine count

More mines make every pick riskier and every safe pick worth more. The return to player does not change with the choice, so this is purely about the style of play you enjoy:

• 1 or 3 mines: long runs of small, steady gains.
• 5 or 8 mines: a quicker climb with a real chance of an early loss.
• 12 or more: a few picks decide the whole round, and the top multipliers appear.

What each mine count looks like

The table shows the first pick and the far end of the board for each mine count the app offers. Every multiplier is 0.97 divided by the chance of surviving that far, rounded down.

With 5 mines a 20th gem would pass the payout limit, so the game pays for 19. With 8 mines it stops at 15 gems for the same reason. The long end of each row is a very small chance: the 19th gem with 5 mines is a 1 in 8,855 round.

A worked example

You play 5 mines with a 100-coin bet. The first tile is safe 80% of the time and pays 1.21x. Three safe tiles in a row happens 49.57% of the time and pays 1.95x, so cashing out there returns 195 coins. Four safe tiles is a 38.30% shot at 2.53x, or 253 coins. If you carry on from three gems to four, you win the extra step 77% of the time (38.30 / 49.57) and lose the lot 23% of the time. That is why the multiplier jumps: 0.77 x 2.53 comes to the 1.95 you were already holding, so the extra step is a fair trade rather than a better deal.

The next tile gets riskier

The mines are fixed, but the board shrinks. With 5 mines the first tile is a mine 5 times in 25 (20%). After 10 gems there are 15 tiles left and all 5 mines are among them, so the next tile is a mine 1 time in 3. After 15 gems it is 1 time in 2. The multiplier climbs faster on those late tiles to match, and it never makes a late pick a better or worse deal than an early one.

The payout limit

With 5 to 20 mines the multiplier can climb to the game-wide limit of 50,000x the bet, and no round pays more than 250,000,000 coins. In practice the game ends the round with an automatic cash-out before a pick that would pass the limit. With 24 mines there is only one safe tile, so the top of the board is 24.25x.

What is the same as other games

Mines is the plain version of the idea that Tower: How It Works, Odds and Payouts and Road Hop: How It Works, Odds and Payouts reuse: price each step from its true chance and let you stop. Several games began as Mines in a different costume and now have their own rules, such as Balloon Pop: How It Works, Odds and Payouts, Mole Bash: How It Works, Odds and Payouts, Wire Cut: how it plays, odds and payouts and Bubble Pop: how it plays, odds and payouts, so do not assume this page's table applies to them. For the full working and the honest view of strategy, see How the Mines Game Works: Tiles, Multipliers, Odds and Mines Game Strategy: Tips That Hold Up (and Myths).

Tips that hold up

• The tile you tap is irrelevant. The mines were placed before your first tap, and every hidden tile is equally likely to hold one.
• Pick the stopping point first. Deciding "three gems and out" before the round removes the pull of one more tile.
• The mine count is your volatility dial. It changes how often you lose early and how big the top end can get, not the 97%.
• An early mine is not a pattern. With 5 mines, losing on the very first tile happens 1 round in 5.

Play it responsibly

Mines uses virtual coins that have no cash value, and Cashout Arcade is for adults aged 18+. A run of safe tiles is luck, not a pattern, and a loss does not make the next round more likely to win. Set a time limit before you start.