A cascade in Minesweeper (Windows version) occurs when a single click uncovers many adjacent squares. A cascade can expand and uncover large portions of the board. Understanding the cascade algorithm is not only interesting from a programming point of view but can also provide a slight advantage when playing the game. Inferring the behavior of […]
Category Archives: Games
Lego Mindstorms: What Went Wrong?
Lego launched the Lego Mindstorms line of programmable toy brick construction sets with a lot of fanfare back in the fall of 1998, but in recent years the company has lost all enthusiasm for the Mindstorms line. For several years now, Lego has not introduced any new Mindstorms sets, and the company has discontinued almost […]
Minesweeper First Click Behavior
What does Windows Minesweeper do to make sure a mine is not uncovered on the first click? According to Ivars Peterson’s Minesweeper Logic page, if a mine is uncovered on the first click, it is moved to the upper-left corner of the board. If the upper-left corner is occupied the mine is moved to the right of […]
The Probability of Unplayable Solitaire (Klondike) Games
The Solitaire game Klondike has a few idiosyncracies: not all Klondike games are solvable. Moreover, Klondike sometimes produces unplayable games. In such cases no moves are available to the player even at the beginning of the game. The probability of occurrence of unplayable games is an important number as it is a lower bound for […]