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Exposed! Minesweeper Caught Cheating

subversity.net — Hacker debugs good ol' Minesweeper and finds that it actually cheats. Apparently it only spawns about half the bombs, and moves bombs mid-game.

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  • guyro, on 07/01/2008, -4/+37Okay okay, before you all kill me for blowing this out of proportion -
    This probably doesn't really matter and is a simple issue of the original programmer preferring lazy evaluation. But I still found it quite amusing! :-)
  • nadavs2, on 07/01/2008, -3/+341That's definitely the most important scientific discovery of the 21st century.
    • TheInformer, on 07/03/2008, -0/+12It's running neck and neck with the Miley Cyrus story.
    • 1randomguyO8, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4yeah ***** water on mars.
    • lichmicro, on 07/03/2008, -0/+0Its funny because its true
    • spanglegluppet, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6That and the revelation that the clouds in Super Mario Bros. were actually the bushes.
      • Brew, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Yeah finding that out was a total mind blower.
      • ed54, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2It finally sets in. I spend way too much time on digg.

        I still can't believe I didn't notice that while playing it.
    • geoken, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1My entire existence is being called into question.
    • Balath, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2I don't really care how Minesweeper allocates bombs, it's never screwed me over, and I mean. . . it's just Minesweeper. It's been out for SIXTEEN YEARS and no one has cared enough to hack it until now. That's got to be some kind of godamn record.

      The original programmer kept us out for sixteen years. Not by virtue of writing unhackable code, but by writing a game so lame and boring that no one even bothered.
      • RoboB0b, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I don't know when the article was updated but I am just reading it now and he says he was wrong. He was reading the memory incorrectly and the bombs don't actually change. The only time they do move is if you click on a bomb the first click. They move it so you don't instantly fail. Also, plenty of people have reverse engineered Minesweeper it seems.
      • CKnight, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Actually, I wrote a Minesweeper clone in Pascal about 10 years ago in college. It was an interesting exercise then and I'm sure it would still be today.
  • yourpalchris, on 07/01/2008, -5/+49What an awesome story. I love digg.
    • alexforcefive, on 07/03/2008, -8/+4That's great and all, but the article was posted to reddit first AND the description here is innacurate
      • Yez70, on 07/03/2008, -3/+7Oh boy, aren't we so lucky to have you let us know that. Our lives may go on now. Can you teach us more, oh worthy one?
      • alexforcefive, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I'm just saying - yourpalchris says he loves digg, but he might love reddit even more if he gave it a chance
      • wsuBobby, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1^^ Then why are you here and posting this comment?
      • championchap, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2^^ because he said yourpalchris might like reddit more.
        and liking one thing more does not mean you stop using or having the other does it?

        I like peanut m&ms more than plain ones.. but I'll still buy the plain ones from time to time.
  • Kent767, on 07/01/2008, -17/+176title is a lie, this is a bug in his code.

    only time the mine is moved is at the beginning of a game, since it gives you the first click guaranteed.
    • StormyAaron, on 07/03/2008, -14/+64Then why do I die so many times on my first click?!
      • demeteloaf, on 07/03/2008, -6/+57Because you have a bad memory and actually die on your second click.

        I just set up a 9x9 grid with 64 mines. Assuming I click randomly, i should die about 7/9 of the time. I just played 30 straight first clicks without hitting a single mine. Odds of that happening are so low that you can pretty much conclusively say that (unless there are different versions of minesweeper out there) you can't die on your first click.
      • shortyjacobs, on 07/03/2008, -2/+59Vista minesweeper does not have 1st click protection.

        All other minesweepers do.
      • paulsabo, on 07/03/2008, -0/+11How do you know these things?!
      • xNaquada, on 07/03/2008, -9/+28Another reason why Vista sucks. Like we needed more.
      • Kormiku, on 07/03/2008, -0/+16Confirmed: XP minesweeper has first-click protection.
      • al13n, on 07/03/2008, -0/+13Actually, vista has first click protection, I just tried it. If you die and restart the game, then there is no protection, because the mines stay in the same place as they were in previous game. You must always start a new game if you want the protection.

        PS: vista minesweeper sucks.
      • pe5t1lence, on 07/03/2008, -1/+15Lol, with all of Vista's "protection" I would have thought it would ask you if you wanted to allow an action every time you clicked the board, and again if you were about to click a mine.
      • directedition, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5I don't know, I saw the movie, and it definitely happened.
      • brisbin33, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3yeah, am i missing something? i had always assumed first-click-protection was a _feature_ of the game, not a bug in his code.
      • hx219, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2It's still Microsoft code...
    • rgodfrey, on 07/03/2008, -2/+21Don't bury him. He speaks truth!
    • Louis11, on 07/03/2008, -2/+19I don't know why you're getting dugg down, it clearly states that his code is flawed in the post itself.
  • grepgav, on 07/01/2008, -5/+10it must be a conspiracy!
  • estvir, on 07/02/2008, -0/+92This is huge news. I expect it to be a breaking story on CNN.

    But to be serious, it seems like it's false, there's some bugs in his code and once fixed it reads all the grids correctly. It was discovered by a Reddit user:

    http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/info/6pqb0/com ...

    Yes, Reddit, the arch-nemesis of Digg or whatever but get over that for a moment. What could have been a huge conspiracy has now been foiled. :( I will sadly bury this as inaccurate.
  • M724, on 07/02/2008, -10/+4When I read the title, I went, "How in the world can anyone do this?"
  • poprocksandsoda, on 07/02/2008, -12/+35I blame the Bush administration for misleading us about there being Mines hidden in the game, only to then move them around from under us to increase the odds that we'll actually find them. All the more reason to vote Democrat in 2008.
    • ConceptJunkie, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2Yeah, but the Democrats will let you click on the mine and then blame the Republicans.
  • fluidfoundation, on 07/02/2008, -1/+27Those bastards.
  • XombieRobot, on 07/03/2008, -12/+1Will I never!!!
  • Owwmykneecap, on 07/03/2008, -0/+23I knew It!

    Serenity Now!
    • BoneStamp, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1Pretty much what I was thinking... except I had "*****" in front of "... I knew it!"
    • htan, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3insanity later
  • proficient, on 07/03/2008, -9/+2What is this I don't even.
  • Zeyph3r, on 07/03/2008, -5/+13Damn Microsoft.
  • fearziz, on 07/03/2008, -8/+3***** mindsweeper!
    • dynelol, on 07/03/2008, -3/+1Worse than Solitaire.
    • thailand1972, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4"***** mindsweeper!"

      Fair enough, but what are your thoughts on minesweeper?
  • thetenthlisten, on 07/03/2008, -20/+15Wow digg is like the day late Reddit!
    • ogre2112, on 07/03/2008, -2/+38Yea except Digg doesn't look like ass.
  • GamerVer05, on 07/03/2008, -2/+21Buried as inaccurate rtfa
  • tama00, on 07/03/2008, -7/+10There is no god :'(
  • JakeBC, on 07/03/2008, -1/+9There is no site. :(
  • demeteloaf, on 07/03/2008, -2/+26Even if this were true, I don't really see how it's "cheating," just a different way of implementing things.

    We're just so used to thinking of a square as having a bomb or not having a bomb. So the fact that not all the bombs are placed right away seems weird. However, when you think about it, why does it matter at all if the bombs are not set before you start. What matters is that when you click near a bomb, the numbers work out right, and that always is true. So just think of the unplaced bombs as Schrodinger's bombs or something. Their location is up in the air until you click a square near them, then they get a definite location.
    • ConceptJunkie, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I had a "Schrodinger's bomb" reply all ready to post after your first sentence...
  • marksands07, on 07/03/2008, -1/+8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CH-Kx2sl9c&NR=1
    • PhrosTT, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2im assuming you're posting that KNOWING that trick is bogus and just wastes peoples time?
  • solrac214, on 07/03/2008, -2/+10RTFA!!! buried. The coder finds a bug and all the bombs are placed at the beginning. no lolh4x
    • zxcasd, on 07/03/2008, -3/+1and also, theres a cheat for minesweeper on old systems (some code that u type, and the top left pixel on your monitor would change to white/black depending whether your cursor is hovering over a mine or good spot)

      original post buried
  • zirkle2007, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1What's with all the sites dying off so quickly today?
  • Smashure, on 07/03/2008, -5/+0you mean Microsoft's programmers aren't what we thought they were?
  • MendotaLee, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1Bill Gates has always been up to no good...
  • tedrock, on 07/03/2008, -0/+10This description is wrong. Read his final conclusion at the end. Buried.
  • kombat1337, on 07/03/2008, -6/+55***** IT. WE'LL ADD MINES WHILE IT'S LIVE.

    ***** THING SUCKS!
  • ajv570, on 07/03/2008, -7/+2Microsoft......cheating.....noooooooo
    ~_~
  • iezugod, on 07/03/2008, -8/+13Have you ever noticed that you NEVER get blown up on the first click of Minesweeper? Perhaps the code is designed to help the player? Just a thought!

    OMG HE SAID SOMETHING NOT NEGATIVE ABOUT MICROSOFT! FLAME HIM!
    • brisbin33, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1stop yelling, that's why your getting flamed/buried
  • Ex3poo, on 07/03/2008, -4/+1Stupid game...making me look stupid.
  • Exact0, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2I love how he say it cheats, and then when someone fixes his code, he says he was joking.
    • natastna2, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1Where does he say he was joking? Or did you just make that up.
  • TheMachine1, on 07/03/2008, -4/+1Its a dirty secret of a lot game programming. The only way for a computer to compete against human intelligence is to cheat. I figured that out several years ago playing Risk on the PC. The game was giving the computer better dice rolls.
  • ertw1, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1Twenty years of my life...gone. I had a system dammit!
  • Lunarbunny, on 07/03/2008, -0/+15xyzzy
    • strictnein, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3Sound Effects
      For sound effects, add the line "SOUND=3" to WINMINE.INI

      never knew there were sounds
    • ed54, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1I think that comment was more interesting than the article itself. Went and checked it out. Had to adjust my monitor's setting to see the pixel, though,
  • monkeyrun, on 07/03/2008, -2/+2lol, nobody said that the position of the mines are fixed to begin with.
  • bigdubbz, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1hax for sure
  • Herv3, on 07/03/2008, -0/+17"And you're going to keep going until that timer hits 999"

    "What happens then?"

    "Nothing, you just really suck."
  • zeroflake, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2i have been slowing switching to reddit, because this story was on there a week ago, and the same day it was explained that his method of checking this had a bug in it and its not even freaking true! digg has lost its cool user base it once had. sad, sad, sad
  • withears, on 07/03/2008, -6/+1ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGANCE!
  • WraTH017, on 07/03/2008, -4/+1No wonder i could never beat expert. The game was CHEATING. Yes! Cheating... that's why i never won.

    ARRGH... I hate when you get to a point where your only option is guessing... I always guess incorrectly. Damn Minesweeper on Expert! Mocking me since Windows 3.1
  • dwninjungleland, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3WTF HAX?!!!?
  • soccerman90, on 07/03/2008, -0/+41schrodinger's bomb
  • PittPanthersFan, on 07/03/2008, -1/+28Best Minesweeper video EVAR!
    http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1770138
  • Badfish, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3I don't think he deserves his sunglasses anymore.
  • MercFox1, on 07/03/2008, -4/+2OMG, the uncertainty principle applies to Minesweeper!
  • hansolo007, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1Now I know why I hated the game.
  • jerrycurley, on 07/03/2008, -6/+2So, by the time this makes it to the front page, it was already bombarded by reddit readers (who got this first) and corrected.

    Black eye for digg. Front paging not only a late story well after reddit, but a story that was already deunked by reddit readers.
  • Canadian0207, on 07/03/2008, -1/+9if you guys read the bottom of the post, you'd see his update. All the bombs are generated, and are only moved AWAY from where you click. In essence, this helps you, not hurts you.
  • shade45, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1Its funny cause I've always expected this was the case.
  • Ortheos, on 07/03/2008, -6/+1Who the hell plays minesweeper anyway? This hacker needs to hack into a chick's juicy vagina.
  • welliwonder, on 07/03/2008, -1/+0heh, so using CheatEngine is now hacking? Jesus...
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