Space Themed Minesweeper Casino Game

The minesweeper game is build using Phaser.io Community Edition 2.16.1. Graphics are all produced by the awesome Kenney.nl with some slight modifications by myself. I first came across this gameplay in the Cryptocurrency scene on a standalone site called Satoshimines.com. That game no longer exists, but many clones have come since then.

This type of game is fairly simple from both a design and math point of view. This is a casino game and as such, there are no "strategy" on how to win or how to optimize your play style to the point where you beat the house edge. This implementation has a generously low rake of 0.5% and although there are small rounding errors in this specific implementation the odds cannot be beaten. The RTP (return to player) varies a bit depending on the ratio between bombs and fields.

Description

The game is setup using an oldschool slotgame UI where you can change the number of coins to stake (ANTAL MØNTER) as well as the value per coin (MØNTVÆRDI) on the right side of the `Start` button. The left side of the `Start` button has options to change the size of the playing field (ANTAL FELTER) and change the number of bombs (ANTAL BOMBER). Pressing `Start` will place your bet and generate a new playing field. Each selected field will have an increasing prize value and the coin value of selecting the next field can be seen on the left side of the playing area. Withdraw your winnings at any point by clicking the `Stop` button. But you will lose it all if you hit a bomb.

Math details

The math is fairly simple and prizes are calculated based on 2 variables: The number of bombs and the number of available fields. Starting a game with 5 bombs and 25 fields will give the below caluclation from the start of the game:

RAKE = 0.005
BOMBS = 5
FIELDS = 25

f(stake) = stake * (((100 / (BOMBS / FIELDS)) * (1 - RAKE)) / 100)

For every selected field the number of valid fields are reduced. So the prize of the next field will increase since the ratio between valid fields and bombs have changed. The interactive graphs below shows the prize progression with a stake of 100 coins for every available field.

Total prize before clicking any fields will always be equal to the stake, since a player can always stop the game. The interesting part about this game reveals itself once we start comparing the total win with the compound odds of getting any specific prize.

Intuitively, it feels like having lower bomb count and clicking more fields would yield a bigger prize. However, this is absolutely not the case. The better option to double your stake is in fact to play as close to 50-50 odds as possible by having half the playing area filled with bombs and clicking only 1 field before withdrawing.

Certainly one of my favorite kinds of chance based non-slot casino games. The game is very quickly understood and once you grasp the fundamentals, you quickly start to fantasize about different strategies that just might beat the odds. But judging from the charts above clearly there is no beating the odds here.