5 ms·

The most successful game ever: a history of Minesweeper

chrisacky 14y ago
I'll start with "the moral of the story" for me... I need to stop taking articles so seriously and taking all of the fun out of an otherwise highly nostalgic blast from the past. -------- This is an old article (2009). Even so, I can't imagine that this is true: "Click-for-click, nothing has wasted more time than Minesweeper...." It's probably just hyperbole to get the point across, but to then come out and say that "The most successful game ever made isn't World of Warcraft"... really can't be said without saying by what qualifications you are saying a game is successful. - If it's pure mouse clicks, I'm sure a gazillion percent sure that WoW has had more clicks. - If it is $$$ than that's an easy one too. - If it's time wasted... then I'm sure it's not Minesweeper either. --------
- kds 14y ago
  http://www.claymath.org/Popular_Lectures/Minesweeper/ http://www.claymath.org/Popular_Lectures/Minesweeper/ "It's not often you can win a million dollars by analysing a computer game, but by a curious conjunction of fate, there's a chance that you might." -- prof. Ian Stuart, in a lecture on Minesweeper and P-vs-NP
- yread 14y ago
  - If it's time wasted... then I'm sure it's not Minesweeper either. Do you have any data for it or should we just trust you because you are also gazillion percent sure? Lot more people play minesweeper and solitaire than WoW..
- debacle 14y ago
  Have you read Drew Curtis's book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_News,_It%27s_FARK:_How_Mass_Media_Tries_to_Pass_off_Crap_as_News http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_News,_It%27s_FARK:_H... This is a filler piece, and nothing more.
- bookwormAT 14y ago
  Another metric for success is reach. For an artist, how many people actually saw your work and judged it is very important.
klez 14y ago
Vista? Actually I remember seeing flowers instead of mines in Windows ME already... Am I remembering uncorrectly?
- zer 14y ago
  Are you Italian? The Italian versions of Windows ME and Windows 2000 were shipped with flower versions. Source: http://www.minesweeper.info/wiki/Windows_Minesweeper#Windows_2000 http://www.minesweeper.info/wiki/Windows_Minesweeper#Windows...
  - klez 14y ago
    Yep, Italian. So we were the 'lucky' ones. I find this rather absurd, but maybe if I had to live in real minefields I would think in a different way... who knows...
bad_user 14y ago
To most of us, mines are just a handy framework to wrap the deductive gameplay around. This isn't the case elsewhere in the world, where they remain a threat, and a symbol of pain and suffering. In 2001, a group calling itself the International Campaign to Ban Winmine attempted to make Microsoft choose something less controversial as its subject matter, and there have been other similar protests over the years. Is this for real? Wow!
jdkilby 14y ago
I've never played BeTrapped, but here is an interesting game that is literally Clue / Cluedo combined with Minesweeper. It's not perfect, but it still works surprisingly well. http://www.kongregate.com/games/nerdook/cluesweeper http://www.kongregate.com/games/nerdook/cluesweeper
joeld42 14y ago
It's a fun game. I've build a Minesweeper varient that works on a spherical planet with hexes rather than a square grid. http://bit.ly/ycjiGQ http://bit.ly/ycjiGQ It's true that it's a huge timewaster. Since I've released it in Dec. of last year people have played over 600,000 games and spend a combined total of over 8.7 years playing it.

I'll start with "the moral of the story" for me... I need to stop taking articles so seriously and taking all of the fun out of an otherwise highly nostalgic blast from the past. -------- This is an old article (2009). Even so, I can't imagine that this is true: "Click-for-click, nothing has wasted more time than Minesweeper...." It's probably just hyperbole to get the point across, but to then come out and say that "The most successful game ever made isn't World of Warcraft"... really can't be said without saying by what qualifications you are saying a game is successful. - If it's pure mouse clicks, I'm sure a gazillion percent sure that WoW has had more clicks. - If it is $$$ than that's an easy one too. - If it's time wasted... then I'm sure it's not Minesweeper either. --------

kds 14y ago
http://www.claymath.org/Popular_Lectures/Minesweeper/ http://www.claymath.org/Popular_Lectures/Minesweeper/ "It's not often you can win a million dollars by analysing a computer game, but by a curious conjunction of fate, there's a chance that you might." -- prof. Ian Stuart, in a lecture on Minesweeper and P-vs-NP
yread 14y ago
- If it's time wasted... then I'm sure it's not Minesweeper either. Do you have any data for it or should we just trust you because you are also gazillion percent sure? Lot more people play minesweeper and solitaire than WoW..
debacle 14y ago
Have you read Drew Curtis's book? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_News,_It%27s_FARK:_How_Mass_Media_Tries_to_Pass_off_Crap_as_News http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_News,_It%27s_FARK:_H... This is a filler piece, and nothing more.
bookwormAT 14y ago
Another metric for success is reach. For an artist, how many people actually saw your work and judged it is very important.

klez 14y ago

Vista? Actually I remember seeing flowers instead of mines in Windows ME already... Am I remembering uncorrectly?

zer 14y ago
Are you Italian? The Italian versions of Windows ME and Windows 2000 were shipped with flower versions. Source: http://www.minesweeper.info/wiki/Windows_Minesweeper#Windows_2000 http://www.minesweeper.info/wiki/Windows_Minesweeper#Windows...
- klez 14y ago
  Yep, Italian. So we were the 'lucky' ones. I find this rather absurd, but maybe if I had to live in real minefields I would think in a different way... who knows...

bad_user 14y ago

To most of us, mines are just a handy framework to wrap the deductive gameplay around. This isn't the case elsewhere in the world, where they remain a threat, and a symbol of pain and suffering. In 2001, a group calling itself the International Campaign to Ban Winmine attempted to make Microsoft choose something less controversial as its subject matter, and there have been other similar protests over the years. Is this for real? Wow!

jdkilby 14y ago

I've never played BeTrapped, but here is an interesting game that is literally Clue / Cluedo combined with Minesweeper. It's not perfect, but it still works surprisingly well. http://www.kongregate.com/games/nerdook/cluesweeper http://www.kongregate.com/games/nerdook/cluesweeper

joeld42 14y ago

It's a fun game. I've build a Minesweeper varient that works on a spherical planet with hexes rather than a square grid. http://bit.ly/ycjiGQ http://bit.ly/ycjiGQ It's true that it's a huge timewaster. Since I've released it in Dec. of last year people have played over 600,000 games and spend a combined total of over 8.7 years playing it.