I can't tell you guys how many times over the last few years I've had to tell someone in a thread, a PM, or an email, "I do comics about the games I'm playing".

Well there you go! Now it's completely true.

Every night before I go to bed, I play some quick game (usually Minesweeper) that requires just enough concentration to take my mind off of everything else. Otherwise I go to bed and just lay there and think about everything I accomplished during the day, and everything I need to accomplish tomorrow. If I distract my brain, I can go to bed and go to sleep without much effort.

Last night though, I was struck by a revelation and a challenge: I've never made a joke about Minesweeper. How the hell do you make a joke about Minesweeper? And that was that. Actions were set into motion. Ideas were formed and discarded. "Keep it simple" was mentally mandated. And thus was the world changed. **rolls eyes** The truth is in there somewhere. I'll go get you the bullshit shovel for anyone that needs to dig their way out.

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For those of you scratching your heads wondering what the hell Minesweeper is, Minesweeper is this little game that has been packaged with the last few iterations of Microsoft Operating systems. You're given a grid of boxes and told how many mines are present within the grid. Then, using numerical clues as to how many bombs are touching a given square, you decipher which squares are bombs (marked with little flags) and which ones are not. As you uncover more squares, you're given more numerical clues. And, as per the comic, there are instances where it's completely obvious where the bombs are hiding. BUT... accidentally uncover a square hiding a bomb, and BOOM, the game is over.

And there you go... an explanation that takes longer than the game itself.

Originally Posted by Woody:

And there you go... an explanation that takes longer than the game itself.

Depends on the difficulty you play on.

My Dad introduced this to me when I was 10 or 12, and I've been semi-hooked ever since. Basically there's one big tip most people need to know: READ THE MANUAL. What probably virtually everybody that isn't a fanatic doesn't know is that if you put your mouse on a number that has enough mines marked around it, then press BOTH buttons, it will clear all of the non-marked squares near it (though if you marked incorrectly, it will hose you of course). If there aren't enough marked squares, it won't clear anything, but it's a really fast way to clear a lot of "safe space" without having to actually click it all, and thus possibly make errors. And it's right there in the manual, though few know about it, as most free implementations don't do it.

Anyways, I'm a fanatic about it. Play it whenever I need to "re-focus" my mind. Gets me back to the "no-mind" state pretty good.

Ahh the hours I have wasted on that little game. There are sometimes where the clues just are not enough and you have to just cross your fingers and guess. A personal favorite thing to do is the custom design games with the minimal number of bombs and the maximum grid size. Seeing all those boxes disappear at once is fun and makes me happy...

Sometimes the simple games are the most satisfying. Lately I have found myself passing on playing Wow and instead playing Solitaire set to Vegas play.

VwVanMan

Haha, another great comic, keep up the good work

Minesweeper, Tetris... what is with those level designers and their reliance on crates?

Ah minesweeper... the hours I used to waste on that in High school and University.

At first I thought the numbers were wrong in the comic, then I realized that there's a mine covered up by the word bubbles there.

Good comic

(And I knew of the 2 button click method too; found it the same way you did; by reading the manual though I think I stumbled on it once or twice before then. )

For me, it is Spider Solitaire; and I use it for the very exact reason.
It is just mind numbing enough to let me go to bed and get to sleep.

Great comics Woody. I know you here it a lot, but thanks, seeing your comics each day is a cherished part of my day.

Be safe!
Botnee

Long time reader, first time poster...purely for the reason that I'm exactly the same, if I don't find something fairly simple and easy to do just before bed then I get the effect where your body's absolutely shattered but your mind is in 6th gear and going a mile a minute.

Great comic as always, thanks for keeping me amused for all these years!

Cheers

Ricky

OMG ROFL. was about to hit the bed myself and my tired brain found that tremendusly funny. thanks for the laugh.