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Minesweeper (Part 1)
by: Alex Anderson

SPECIAL REVIEW DISCLAIMER:  This review of the game Minesweeper is not intended for all users.  This review is specifically for Minesweeper Version 5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp2 050301-1526; Service Pack 1).  If you happen to be using a different version of the program, then you may not want to read on, as the any and all information from this point on will most likely be obsolete.

Now, getting down to business.  Shall we start with a couple of useless questions to fill out this review?  Shall we also come up with a bogus history of the program?  OKAY!

Minesweeper and History:

Many people first saw and used the program Minesweeper with early versions of Windows on their over-priced first computers.  For the most part these people had absolutely no idea how to use the program and it ended up becoming a source of entertainment.  Creators Robert Donner and Curt Johnson were originally very upset by this, as they had first developed the client as a means of training for the United States military.  They had seen that both government spending on war and technology was on the rise during the 1980's and sought to take advantage of this by creating a simple code program that would revolutionize the way that the U.S. trained it's minesweeping specialists.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you're a sweepin' addict like me), the training device was quickly leaked into the private sector.  Before you knew it, a man who seemed destined for puberty sooner or later (later as history would show), snatched it up and packaged it with his brand new humble IBM compatible operating-system.  This man's name: William H. Gates.  Or as you may know him: Bill Gates.  Oh, and that humble operating-system that I mentioned: Windows 3.xx, where x  and x  are numbers.

Minesweeper Through the Years:

Many people using Minesweeper on a new age computer system know the game to look very sleek and refined.  With little to no loading time when starting a new game.  These people probably see something like Figure 1.1 when opening up their client.

Figure 1.1

Needless to say, the interface has come a pretty frickon long way from it's gritty 3.1 roots, shown below by Figure 1.2 in all of it's dreadfully homely 3.1-ish attire.

Figure 1.2

Ugh.  And no.  Figure 1.2 is all real, like Girls Gone Wild real.  That's how real it is.  No Photoshop, no scam. REAL.

Playing the Game:

"You play to win the game. Hello?"

Herman Edwards might have been on to something there.  According to the help file for Minesweeper:

     The object of Minesweeper is to locate all the mines as quickly as possible without uncovering any of them. If you uncover a
     mine, you lose the game.

Well, that should tell you a lot right there.  Those two little tidbits could provide us with a compass for success!  But how exactly are we going to navigate around treacherous mine occupied fields?  Tune in a few weeks from now when I might feel like finishing this!!!