Minesweeper Game

Welcome to the Minesweeper Game! Test your logic and luck as you uncover cells on a board while avoiding hidden mines. The game becomes progressively more challenging as you advance through the levels.

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Game Rules

1. The game is played on a square board.
2. Click on cells to uncover them. Avoid the ones hiding mines.
3. If you click on a cell with a mine, you lose.
4. If you uncover all cells without mines, you win.

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Game Levels

The game has three levels of difficulty:

• Beginner:

  • Board: 9 x 9
  • Mines: 10
  • Probability of a mine: 10/81 (0.12)

• Intermediate:

  • Board: 16 x 16
  • Mines: 40
  • Probability of a mine: 40/256 (0.15)

• Advanced:

  • Board: 24 x 24
  • Mines: 99
  • Probability of a mine: 99/576 (0.17)

The difficulty increases with the number of tiles and mines, making the game more challenging as you progress.

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Winning Tips

1. Use Clues:

   • Clicking on a cell adjacent to one or more mines reveals the count of adjacent cells containing mines.
   • Use this information to logically deduce the locations of mines.

2. Chain Reactions:

   • Clicking on a cell with no adjacent mines automatically clears all surrounding cells, saving you time and effort.

3. Strategic Clicking:

   • You don’t have to uncover all non-mine cells to win. Prioritize cells with no adjacent mines for quick progress.

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Game Implementation

Two versions of the game are provided:

1. User-Input Version:

   • The user selects their moves manually using input prompts.

2. Automated Version:

   • The user’s moves are selected randomly by the program.

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Flow of the Game

1. Boards:

   • Two boards are used:
     • realBoard: Stores the location of the mines.
     • myBoard: The board on which the game is played.

2. Initialization:

   • Choose a difficulty level using the chooseDifficultyLevel() function.
   • Initialize realBoard and myBoard based on the selected level.
   • Mines are placed randomly on realBoard.

3. Game Mechanics:

   • Assign moves using the assignMoves() function.
   • In the user-input version, moves are entered during gameplay.

4. Game Progression:

   • The game continues until the user either wins (by uncovering all non-mine cells) or loses (by clicking on a mine-containing cell). This is implemented using a while() loop that runs until the game is won or lost.

5. Move Execution:

   • The makeMove() function inside the while loop gets a move randomly from the pre-assigned moves.
   • In the user-input version, this function prompts the user to enter their own move.
   • To ensure fairness, the first move is always safe. If the currentMoveIndex == 0, the replaceMine() function guarantees the user does not lose on the first move.

6. Recursive Gameplay:

   • The core gameplay relies on the recursive function playMinesweeperUtil(). This function:
     • Returns true if the user clicks on a mine (loss).
     • Otherwise, it calculates the count of adjacent mines using countAdjacentMines().
     • If there are no adjacent mines, it recursively clears all safe adjacent cells, speeding up gameplay.
     • If adjacent mines are present, the count is displayed as a hint for logical deduction.

7. Efficient Clicking:

   • Clicking on a cell with no adjacent mines clears all its neighboring cells automatically.
   • Winning doesn’t require uncovering all non-mine cells, as luck and strategic clicking can lead to quick victories.

8. End Conditions:

   • The game ends when:
     • The user clicks on a mine (loss).
     • The user uncovers all safe cells (win).

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Enjoy the game and good luck!