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Minesweeper Games (RISC OS)

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This is a collection of minesweeper games for RISC OS (1987). RISC OS was an operating system used by Acorn Computers (UK) on their products from 1987-1998 before they sold it to Pace Micro Technology. It was then licenced to RISCOS Ltd which released versions of RISC OS 4 (starting in 1999) and RISC OS 6 (starting in 2007). Castle Technology managed to buy the OS and seperately developed RISC OS 5 for their Iyonix computer, which sold in the UK from 2002-2008. RISC OS 5 is also used on the ARMini computer (2011) released by R-Comp Interactive.

RISC OS expects you to have a mouse with 3 buttons - Left is 'Select', Right is 'Adjust' and the middle button 'Menu' is used to open menus. One interesting feature of all RISC OS minesweeper games is that the timer starts from 0, unlike the Windows version which jumps to 1 on the first click.

Two minesweeper versions for RISC OS deserve special mention: Mine Hunt, by Paul LeBeau, came bundled with OS 3.5 to 3.71 (1994-1998) while Flag Day, by Richard Hallas, comes with all OS 4 (except 4.02), 5 and 6 releases.

1992 - Minefield

RISC-Minefield(Brodie).jpg Stewart Brodie (England)
1992-06-22
Download: Minefield 1.00
Standard 3 levels and mouse control but you chord by pressing SHIFT and making a left click. No Questionmarks. Highscore list saves best score for each level.

1992 - Bang

RISC-Bang(Booker).jpg Cy Booker (England)
1992-07-11
Download: Bang 1.10
Levels are 10x10 (10 mines), 16x16 (40 mines) and 16x32 (90 mines). Highscore list saves 10 scores for each level. Flags and Questionmarks but no chording. It is possible to lose on 1st click. New games are started with a Right click ('Adjust') which opens the menu. Game has 5 sets of graphics, depending on how large you want the cells. Game times out after 999 seconds.

NOTE: Clone of Bang! (for the Atari) by Mike Coupland.

1992 - Flag Day

Main Article: Flag Day

RISC-FlagDay(Hallas).gif KeyNote
Richard Hallas (England)
1992-08-06 (First Release)
Download: Flag Day 4.02 2001-08-28
Link: Homepage
Four difficulty levels with 20% mine density, ranging from 8x8 to 27x27. Custom allows up to 99x99. Highscore list saves best 5 scores for each level (as of version 5.00). You can create skins and graphics for the game (as of version 4.00) or choose from skins that come with the game. Hint feature flags or opens an unknown square, but is can only be used once per 50 mines on a level. You can use standard mouse control or the original Search & Flag modes (where you alternate between 'Search' mode, with a magnifying glass cursor to open squares, and 'Flag' mode, with a flag cursor to flag mines). There are many options such as making corners or edges always safe, making squares larger, using 'uncertainty markers', showing mines at the end of the game, or using sound effects.

NOTES: First public release was 2.54 (1992-08-06) and game was sold by RISC User magazine for several years. Since 2002 the game is supplied free with RISC OS 4, 5 and 6 releases. Current version is 5.05. More details available in main article.

1992 - Mine Hunt

Main Article: Mine Hunt

RISC-MineHunt.jpg
RISC-MineHunt 1.06.jpg
Paul LeBeau (New Zealand)
1992
Download: Mine Hunt 1.10 1994-04-11
Download: Mine Hunt 1.06 1992-12-20
Game has 5 difficulty levels and allows custom games up to 64x64 (limited by your screen resolution). Levels are Beginner (8x8, 10 mines), Better (16x8, 20 mines), Intermediate (16x16, 40 mines), Good (24x16, 60 mines) and Expert (30x16, 99 mines). Highscore list saves best 5 scores for each level. You place flags and questionmarks in the standard way, but to chord you left click ('select') and press the Shift key. If you click a mine the game ends and the exploded mine is highlighted in red, while correctly marked mines are highlighted green. Instead of a Smiley Face, you click on a Man to start new games (which becomes a Skull if you lost). You can change the colour of the Timer and Mine counter by clicking on them. It is possible to lose on the 1st click, and you must flag all mines to win. Sound effects include funny messages when you lose. First public release was 1.04.

NOTE 1: Game came bundled with RISC OS 3.5 to 3.711. First public release was 1.04.

NOTE 2: There is a Cheat, announced by LeBeau on 19 Mar 1998 in comp.sys.acorn.games: "If you want to impress your friends with your MineHunt prowess, hold down Ctrl when you click on the 'man' to start a new game. Then keep Ctrl held down while you clear the board with a frenzy of seemingly random clicks."

1. According to New Features of RISC OS 3 Version 3.5 written on 1994-04-18, the OS having been released two days earlier. After 3.71 the OS was sold to RISCOS Ltd who released OS 4.02 in July 1999 without Mine Hunt, then replaced it with Flag Day.

1993 - MineHunt

RISC-MineHunt(Ellis).jpg Michael Ellis (England)
1993-10-05
Download: MineHunt
Standard 3 levels and Custom but also includes 'Impossible', which is Expert but with 160 mines. You chord with both buttons as usual, but if a number that already touches the correct number of flags is opened, the game automatically chords on it too. You need to flag all mines.

NOTE 1: The "Auto Click" chording method was first used earlier in 1993 by GMines for the Atari computer. It is unclear if Ellis invented the idea seperately.

NOTE 2: Ellis states he was only aware of 2 minesweeper games for RISC OS, both called Mine (one by Liger Software, the other by Walters & Fawcett) when he wrote his game. A few months later a different minesweeper game Mine Hunt, which had been circulating since 1992, was released with RISC OS 3.50.

1993 - Mine Sweeper

RISC-MineSweeper(Williams).jpg S. J. Williams
1993-11-19
Download: Mine Sweeper
There are 60 mines hidden in a 20x20 grid. Your job is to flag the mines. When you think you have found all of the mines, click the "Reveal" button to see if you have won. There is no timer or Highscore list. Flagging a square turns it yellow, mines are simply the letter "M" and there is no chording. There is a small explosion sound effect when you lose.

NOTE: Filename is Sweeper, but Helpfile calls it MineSweeper and game window calls it Mine Sweeper.

1994 - Minesweeper

RISC-Minesweeper(Bellon).jpgRISC-Minesweeper(Bellon)-Mission.jpg Stefan Bellon (Germany)
1994
Download: Minesweeper 1.20 1997-11-04
Link: Homepage
There are 2 modes each with 5 grid sizes, and each size has 10 density levels. In Minesweeper mode you find and flag all the mines. In Mission mode you start at the top left corner, and must collect men before nagivating to the bottom right corner. Mission mode only allows you to move ("walk") to adjacent squares, flags are optional, and there are brick walls you must circumvent. Both modes let you save a game and load it later. Highscore list saves best 3 times for all 100 levels.

NOTE 1: Mission mode is essentially a clone of Relentless Logic with a few extra features. Game is also known as Minesweep due to its filename.

NOTE 2: The game will work on Iyonix according to Bellon if you make some changes:
1) Delete all lines in the !Run file that refer to the sound modules EXPLOSION and WellDone
2) Find the two occurrances of EXPLOSION and WellDone in !RunImage and replace the string EXPLOSION and WellDone with the strings 9 and 1 respectively.

1994 - Minesweep

RISC-Mines(Borcherds).jpg Murklesoft (England)
Michael Borcherds (program)
Anne Lloyd (graphics)
1994-01-23
Download: Minesweep 1.01 1995-06-23
Link: Homepage
Standard 3 levels and mouse control for Flags and Questionmarks, but you doubleclick the Right button ('Adjust') to chord. You have the option to make the corners safe, and the Hint feature puts a '!' on a square you can solve without guessing - but using hints prevents making a Highscore.

NOTE: Game is usually called Minesweep, but the Helpfile calls it Minesweeper and the game window calls it Mines. Game was one of 2 programs on the software disc in the August 1994 edition of Acorn User magazine.

1994 - Minesweeper

RISC-Minesweeper(Drakard).jpg Keith Drakard (England)
1994-04-11
Download: Minesweeper 1.41
Levels are 10x10 (17 mines), 12x12 (25 mines) and 12x16 (35 mines). You can have Custom grids from 2x2 to 12x16. Highscore list saves best 5 scores for each level. You must flag all mines to win. Timer starts as soon as you select new game.

NOTE: Game is also known as Minesweep due to its filename.

1995 - Mines

RISC-Mines(Pickering) 1.00.jpg Julian Pickering (England)
1995-04-01
Download: Mines 1.00
Levels are 10x10 (10 mines), 15x15 (45 mines) and 20x20 (80 mines). Highscore list saves best 3 scores for each level. Clicking on an empty cell does not open surrounding cells, so every cell not a mine needs to be opened individually. Flags and Questionmarks but no Chording. You must flag all mines to win.

1997 - MineSweep

RISC-MineSweep(Boura) 1.00.jpg ARMage Software
Andrew Boura (England)
1997-05-24
Download: MineSweep 1.00
Link: Author Homepage
Five levels rangng from Rookie with 10 mines to Veteran with 100 mines. Timer accurate to 2 decimal places and Highscore list saves best 5 scores for each level including Custom. Sound effects, and the option to start game with an opening. Flags and Questionmarks, you Chord by pressing SHIFT and either the Select (Left) or Adjust (Right) mouse button. You can pause or save games to restart later. The Hint feature shows the location of all mines that can currently be solved but this costs 1s per mine revealed. The Cheat feature shows all mines and safe squares adjacent to solved areas at a penalty of 2s per square revealed. The Mistake feature shows all incorrect flags at a penalty of 3s per flag corrected.

NOTE: Game stalls when played in the RedQuirrel emulator.

1998 - Automine

RISC-Automine 1.61.jpg Andrew Holdsworth (England)
1998-02-18
Download: Automine 1.61 1999-04-07
Link: Homepage
Standard 3 levels plus 'Psychic' (Beginner with 16 mines). Options to make corners always safe, play in monochrome, use questionmarks, use 'auto clear', and to save solving stats for the Autoplay solver. Stats include number of moves, guesses, won games and lost games. You can start new games with a Left ('Select') or Middle ('Menu') click. You must flag all mines. After you win, mines become Smiley Faces and safe squares become something that looks like flowers. There are 4 sets of graphics and you can save and reload games. First public release was 1.59 in 1998-02-18 but game first written in 1997. Graphics are optimised for 2, 16, and 256 colour modes.

2003 - Minen

RISC-Minen(Weiss).jpg Niklaus Weiss (Switzerland)
2003-04-09
Download: Minen German
Download: Minen English
Link: Homepage
You can play "Small" with 256 squares and 16 to 64 mines, or "Big" with 512 squares and 16 to 128 mines. Highscore list saves 5 best scores, sorted by mines and time. Games automatically end if not finished in 10 minutes. At end of won games, unmarked flags are highlighted with green flags.

NOTE: Game was written for training purposes and inspired by Mine Hunt by LeBeau. (AMS contacted author in August 2011).

Help Wanted

If you can provide missing versions or pictures, please Help.

Mine

D. Walters
A. Fawcett
A popular version listed in the APDL catalogue that inspired other versions. Trying to find a copy.