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Boss Fight Books #31
Minesweeper
If you had some free time and a Windows PC in the 1990s, your mouse probably crawled its way to Minesweeper, an exciting watch-where-you-click puzzle game with a ticking clock and a ton of “just one more game” replayability.
Originally sold as part of a “big box” bundle of simple games, Minesweeper became a cornerstone of the Windows experience when it was pre-installed with every copy of Windows 3.1 and decades of subsequent OS updates. Alongside fellow Windows gaming staple Solitaire, Minesweeper wound up on more devices than nearly any other video game in history.
Sweeping through a minefield of explosive storylines, Journalist Kyle Orland reveals how Minesweeper caused an identity crisis within Microsoft, ensnared a certain Microsoft CEO with its addictive gameplay, dismayed panicky pundits, micromanagers, and legislators around the world, inspired a passionate competitive community that discovered how to break the game, and predicted the rise of casual gaming by nearly two decades.
Originally sold as part of a “big box” bundle of simple games, Minesweeper became a cornerstone of the Windows experience when it was pre-installed with every copy of Windows 3.1 and decades of subsequent OS updates. Alongside fellow Windows gaming staple Solitaire, Minesweeper wound up on more devices than nearly any other video game in history.
Sweeping through a minefield of explosive storylines, Journalist Kyle Orland reveals how Minesweeper caused an identity crisis within Microsoft, ensnared a certain Microsoft CEO with its addictive gameplay, dismayed panicky pundits, micromanagers, and legislators around the world, inspired a passionate competitive community that discovered how to break the game, and predicted the rise of casual gaming by nearly two decades.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 3, 2023
This book tells the surprisingly interesting story of an overlooked cultural touchstone. We've all played Minesweeper, probably more often than we want to admit. Turns out the history of the game is more entertaining than I would have expected.
The book is well-researched (the author spoke to a lot of the people at Microsoft who were involved in Minesweeper) and well-written. Interesting bits include the text (that didn't make it into the public release) of the "plot" of the game - yes, there is a plot - and the story of Bill Gates' addiction to the game and obsession with getting good times.
Of particular delight, of the eye-rolling sort, is the section on the moral panic around the game and horrible specter of office workers not being 100% productive 100% of the time.
Fun and easy to read, this book is an entertaining and informative diversion perfect for anyone who was there when computers became ubiquitous.
The book is well-researched (the author spoke to a lot of the people at Microsoft who were involved in Minesweeper) and well-written. Interesting bits include the text (that didn't make it into the public release) of the "plot" of the game - yes, there is a plot - and the story of Bill Gates' addiction to the game and obsession with getting good times.
Of particular delight, of the eye-rolling sort, is the section on the moral panic around the game and horrible specter of office workers not being 100% productive 100% of the time.
Fun and easy to read, this book is an entertaining and informative diversion perfect for anyone who was there when computers became ubiquitous.
June 17, 2023
Some of the best books in the Boss Fight series are written about games that you wouldn't expect someone to give the full length book treatment to. Bible Adventures, Soft & Cuddly and ZZT are all games that most people have little experience with, yet their stories (and the talented authors that told them) are fantastic reads. Minesweeper is by no means an obscure game but it certainly seemed like an odd choice to write a book about. Who knew that such a simple game, a game most everyone of a certain age is assuredly familiar with, has such an interesting history? From its uncertain origins, to the panic it created, to its competitive side, Minesweeper turns out to be much more than what we all thought it was.
Kyle Orland's extensive research on one of the most widely played yet sparsely lauded computer games ever is impressive. There are times when the book drifts into what feels like academic writing, but Orland never lets the narrative get too far out of sight and his well timed quips keep things light. This is the book you didn't know you needed, but you do.
Kyle Orland's extensive research on one of the most widely played yet sparsely lauded computer games ever is impressive. There are times when the book drifts into what feels like academic writing, but Orland never lets the narrative get too far out of sight and his well timed quips keep things light. This is the book you didn't know you needed, but you do.
May 25, 2023
I had no idea there was a competitive Minesweeper scene for decades.
The origins and predecessors to Minesweeper were fascinating to me, as I enjoy learning about the foundations of our modern video game art and entertainment. But the author made even the ins and outs of competitive Minesweeper interesting to me, and I would have thought that would not be of interest at all. Kudos to Boss Fight and the author for publishing a deep dive on an often-played but rarely-celebrated part of PC gaming.
The origins and predecessors to Minesweeper were fascinating to me, as I enjoy learning about the foundations of our modern video game art and entertainment. But the author made even the ins and outs of competitive Minesweeper interesting to me, and I would have thought that would not be of interest at all. Kudos to Boss Fight and the author for publishing a deep dive on an often-played but rarely-celebrated part of PC gaming.
August 28, 2024
It is very well researched and links well with the context of its creation and release, especially how people were worried about it killing productivity. It's a look at super-early tech and computer games. Microsoft was scared to branch into games when now it's a huge part of their company, the video game scares before GTA and the like and also a look at speedrunning before AGDQ and things like that. This book is a portal that uses Minesweeper as a lens to the tech world decades ago.
I feel the author explored every angle of this book extremely well. I will say I didn't find it fun, but I did find it interesting. Maybe it's because I'm not a minesweeper player.
I feel the author explored every angle of this book extremely well. I will say I didn't find it fun, but I did find it interesting. Maybe it's because I'm not a minesweeper player.
July 31, 2023
With the possible exception of Solitaire, Minesweeper might be the most-played computer game of all time. In this Boss Fight Books entry, author Kyle Orland tells the story of the quirky little PC pack-in that showed the world computers can be fun!
This book is basically broken down into three parts...
First, the creation of the game and how it was basically a skunkworks project at Microsoft that no one much gave the time of day. Very interesting to see how little the concept of fun or games had on machines that were viewed as "100% business".
Then, we see the "fallout" of Minesweeper and how addicted some people became in a pre-Internet era. It also caused a mini "efficiency panic" amongst corporations worried that their employees were spending their entire day frittering around with a game instead of doing the "serious business" of work. The parallels to all individuals now having phones in their pockets is rather startlingly and enlightening, truth be told.
Finally, the competitive underbelly (filled with slightly-hilarious controversies) of the game is explored. This section can perhaps get a little tedious and is largely the reason I can't give "Minesweeper" the full 5/5 ranking.
Overall, though, this Orland installment into the Boss Fight canon was both entertaining and enlightening for the way it showed how Minesweeper truly enlightened society that PC machines did not have to be all business all the time.
This book is basically broken down into three parts...
First, the creation of the game and how it was basically a skunkworks project at Microsoft that no one much gave the time of day. Very interesting to see how little the concept of fun or games had on machines that were viewed as "100% business".
Then, we see the "fallout" of Minesweeper and how addicted some people became in a pre-Internet era. It also caused a mini "efficiency panic" amongst corporations worried that their employees were spending their entire day frittering around with a game instead of doing the "serious business" of work. The parallels to all individuals now having phones in their pockets is rather startlingly and enlightening, truth be told.
Finally, the competitive underbelly (filled with slightly-hilarious controversies) of the game is explored. This section can perhaps get a little tedious and is largely the reason I can't give "Minesweeper" the full 5/5 ranking.
Overall, though, this Orland installment into the Boss Fight canon was both entertaining and enlightening for the way it showed how Minesweeper truly enlightened society that PC machines did not have to be all business all the time.
May 26, 2023
Without Minesweeper, we don’t have Xbox
I, like most of you who approached the mysterious, pack-in Microsoft Windows game Minesweeper in the early 90s, had no idea how to play the game. Most of us had no idea how to even use a computer mouse. Clicking the right mouse button to plant a flag? What? That was a pro-strat. Naw. We, the uninitiated, just sort of clicked around on random squares until the game informed us that we had lost. We put up with Minesweeper as we dreamed of future Dooms, Duke Nukem: 3Ds, and Half-Lifes.
But despite the prevalent ignorance about how to play Minesweeper (prevalent from my dumb pre-teen brain, at least) the game caught on in a big way. In fact, we have Minesweeper to thank for the entire existence of Xbox as a video game ecosystem.
Kyle Orland’s new book, Minesweeper, provides us with valuable context to highlight just how important Minesweeper was to Microsoft specifically and to video gaming at large. But beyond the obvious creation landmarks we’d expect from a book about a game’s development and cultural history, Orland leverages Minesweeper to explore the broader tension within Microsoft regarding the value of video games within a historically very business-oriented (ie, “professional”) software company. The story of Minesweeper’s struggle for acceptance is the story of video gaming’s struggle for acceptance, a struggle which despite the industry’s pervasiveness and overall dominance among other, already-accepted entertainment mediums (music, movies, and TV), is only just now cresting the mountain.
Orland even digs into the early Minesweeper competitive scene. This was a time that lacked the screen-capture tech we have now, relying instead on an honor system in lieu of insufficient tech. Unfortunately, the honor system, especially in the world of competitive video games, is also too often inadequate. Thankfully, Orland’s perspective on the early Minesweeper competitive scene is witness to a generally compassionate and supportive community, a community-style that modern speedrunning historian Summoning Salt often chooses to highlight over any toxic side of the community. Summoning Salt, if you are reading this, Orland’s Minesweeper will be critical if you ever want to make a video about the Minesweeper "speed run" community (if one still exists, that is). To my mind, Minesweeper might be the earliest example of heated debate about the ethics of using exploits—predictable algorithms, specifically, in this case—to achieve a speed record. As the speedrunning community would mature over the coming decades, such runs would be valid under separated rule sets, but in Minesweeper's heyday, such separate rulesets didn't exist. There was no such division between a glitchless run and a glitch run.
Video game history fans need to read Minesweeper by Kyle Orland. For some of us, our earliest taste of PC gaming was Minesweeper. Kyle Orland reveals that those early tastes were precursors to the huge video game smorgasbord that we enjoy today.
I, like most of you who approached the mysterious, pack-in Microsoft Windows game Minesweeper in the early 90s, had no idea how to play the game. Most of us had no idea how to even use a computer mouse. Clicking the right mouse button to plant a flag? What? That was a pro-strat. Naw. We, the uninitiated, just sort of clicked around on random squares until the game informed us that we had lost. We put up with Minesweeper as we dreamed of future Dooms, Duke Nukem: 3Ds, and Half-Lifes.
But despite the prevalent ignorance about how to play Minesweeper (prevalent from my dumb pre-teen brain, at least) the game caught on in a big way. In fact, we have Minesweeper to thank for the entire existence of Xbox as a video game ecosystem.
Kyle Orland’s new book, Minesweeper, provides us with valuable context to highlight just how important Minesweeper was to Microsoft specifically and to video gaming at large. But beyond the obvious creation landmarks we’d expect from a book about a game’s development and cultural history, Orland leverages Minesweeper to explore the broader tension within Microsoft regarding the value of video games within a historically very business-oriented (ie, “professional”) software company. The story of Minesweeper’s struggle for acceptance is the story of video gaming’s struggle for acceptance, a struggle which despite the industry’s pervasiveness and overall dominance among other, already-accepted entertainment mediums (music, movies, and TV), is only just now cresting the mountain.
Orland even digs into the early Minesweeper competitive scene. This was a time that lacked the screen-capture tech we have now, relying instead on an honor system in lieu of insufficient tech. Unfortunately, the honor system, especially in the world of competitive video games, is also too often inadequate. Thankfully, Orland’s perspective on the early Minesweeper competitive scene is witness to a generally compassionate and supportive community, a community-style that modern speedrunning historian Summoning Salt often chooses to highlight over any toxic side of the community. Summoning Salt, if you are reading this, Orland’s Minesweeper will be critical if you ever want to make a video about the Minesweeper "speed run" community (if one still exists, that is). To my mind, Minesweeper might be the earliest example of heated debate about the ethics of using exploits—predictable algorithms, specifically, in this case—to achieve a speed record. As the speedrunning community would mature over the coming decades, such runs would be valid under separated rule sets, but in Minesweeper's heyday, such separate rulesets didn't exist. There was no such division between a glitchless run and a glitch run.
Video game history fans need to read Minesweeper by Kyle Orland. For some of us, our earliest taste of PC gaming was Minesweeper. Kyle Orland reveals that those early tastes were precursors to the huge video game smorgasbord that we enjoy today.
June 6, 2023
Without Minesweeper, we don’t have Xbox
I, like most of you who approached the mysterious, pack-in Microsoft Windows game Minesweeper in the early 90s, had no idea how to play the game. Most of us had no idea how to even use a computer mouse. Clicking the right mouse button to plant a flag? What? That was a pro-strat. Naw. We, the uninitiated, just sort of clicked around on random squares until the game informed us that we had lost. We put up with Minesweeper as we dreamed of future Dooms, Duke Nukem: 3Ds, and Half-Lifes.
But despite the prevalent ignorance about how to play Minesweeper (prevalent from my dumb pre-teen brain, at least) the game caught on in a big way. In fact, we have Minesweeper to thank for the entire existence of Xbox as a video game ecosystem.
Kyle Orland’s new book, Minesweeper, provides us with valuable context to highlight just how important Minesweeper was to Microsoft specifically and to video gaming at large. But beyond the obvious creation landmarks we’d expect from a book about a game’s development and cultural history, Orland leverages Minesweeper to explore the broader tension within Microsoft regarding the value of video games within a historically very business-oriented (ie, “professional”) software company. The story of Minesweeper’s struggle for acceptance is the story of video gaming’s struggle for acceptance, a struggle which despite the industry’s pervasiveness and overall dominance among other, already-accepted entertainment mediums (music, movies, and TV), is only just now cresting the mountain.
Orland even digs into the early Minesweeper competitive scene. This was a time that lacked the screen-capture tech we have now, relying instead on an honor system in lieu of insufficient tech. Unfortunately, the honor system, especially in the world of competitive video games, is also too often inadequate. Thankfully, Orland’s perspective on the early Minesweeper competitive scene is witness to a generally compassionate and supportive community, a community-style that modern speedrunning historian Summoning Salt often chooses to highlight over any toxic side of the community. Summoning Salt, if you are reading this, Orland’s Minesweeper will be critical if you ever want to make a video about the Minesweeper "speed run" community (if one still exists, that is). To my mind, Minesweeper might be the earliest example of heated debate about the ethics of using exploits—predictable algorithms, specifically, in this case—to achieve a speed record. As the speedrunning community would mature over the coming decades, such runs would be valid under separated rule sets, but in Minesweeper's heyday, such separate rulesets didn't exist. There was no such division between a glitchless run and a glitch run.
Video game history fans need to read Minesweeper by Kyle Orland. For some of us, our earliest taste of PC gaming was Minesweeper. Kyle Orland reveals that those early tastes were precursors to the huge video game smorgasbord that we enjoy today.
I, like most of you who approached the mysterious, pack-in Microsoft Windows game Minesweeper in the early 90s, had no idea how to play the game. Most of us had no idea how to even use a computer mouse. Clicking the right mouse button to plant a flag? What? That was a pro-strat. Naw. We, the uninitiated, just sort of clicked around on random squares until the game informed us that we had lost. We put up with Minesweeper as we dreamed of future Dooms, Duke Nukem: 3Ds, and Half-Lifes.
But despite the prevalent ignorance about how to play Minesweeper (prevalent from my dumb pre-teen brain, at least) the game caught on in a big way. In fact, we have Minesweeper to thank for the entire existence of Xbox as a video game ecosystem.
Kyle Orland’s new book, Minesweeper, provides us with valuable context to highlight just how important Minesweeper was to Microsoft specifically and to video gaming at large. But beyond the obvious creation landmarks we’d expect from a book about a game’s development and cultural history, Orland leverages Minesweeper to explore the broader tension within Microsoft regarding the value of video games within a historically very business-oriented (ie, “professional”) software company. The story of Minesweeper’s struggle for acceptance is the story of video gaming’s struggle for acceptance, a struggle which despite the industry’s pervasiveness and overall dominance among other, already-accepted entertainment mediums (music, movies, and TV), is only just now cresting the mountain.
Orland even digs into the early Minesweeper competitive scene. This was a time that lacked the screen-capture tech we have now, relying instead on an honor system in lieu of insufficient tech. Unfortunately, the honor system, especially in the world of competitive video games, is also too often inadequate. Thankfully, Orland’s perspective on the early Minesweeper competitive scene is witness to a generally compassionate and supportive community, a community-style that modern speedrunning historian Summoning Salt often chooses to highlight over any toxic side of the community. Summoning Salt, if you are reading this, Orland’s Minesweeper will be critical if you ever want to make a video about the Minesweeper "speed run" community (if one still exists, that is). To my mind, Minesweeper might be the earliest example of heated debate about the ethics of using exploits—predictable algorithms, specifically, in this case—to achieve a speed record. As the speedrunning community would mature over the coming decades, such runs would be valid under separated rule sets, but in Minesweeper's heyday, such separate rulesets didn't exist. There was no such division between a glitchless run and a glitch run.
Video game history fans need to read Minesweeper by Kyle Orland. For some of us, our earliest taste of PC gaming was Minesweeper. Kyle Orland reveals that those early tastes were precursors to the huge video game smorgasbord that we enjoy today.
June 8, 2023
These books are a cute little walk down memory lane and I end up learning a thing or two in the process.
I'm not a huge gamer, though I played a little bit when I'm younger (and I got a Switch not too long ago, so I've been starting to play more), but when they release one of these books about a game I remember fondly, I don't regret reading it.
Minesweeper is an extremely simple game and I wasn't sure what to expect as a result, but there's more than enough here to keep my interest. In addition to describing the origins of the game, this book goes into the background of competitive Minesweeper and how it nearly broke when players discovered a bug that resulted in the predictable reoccurrence of an easy board, which should have been virtually impossible if the maps were generated in a "true" random fashion.
The book ends on something of a sad note. Mac users, like myself, may not know this, but Minesweeper no longer comes preinstalled on Windows PCs and, though it's free to install (and there are a million clones), the official version is covered in ads, asking users to upgrade to a premium version.
I know there are a billion bigger problems in the world than needing to pay for Minesweeper, but, I dunno, it just rubs me the wrong way that this free bonus that was included with Windows is now just another way for Microsoft to get money.
I'm not a huge gamer, though I played a little bit when I'm younger (and I got a Switch not too long ago, so I've been starting to play more), but when they release one of these books about a game I remember fondly, I don't regret reading it.
Minesweeper is an extremely simple game and I wasn't sure what to expect as a result, but there's more than enough here to keep my interest. In addition to describing the origins of the game, this book goes into the background of competitive Minesweeper and how it nearly broke when players discovered a bug that resulted in the predictable reoccurrence of an easy board, which should have been virtually impossible if the maps were generated in a "true" random fashion.
The book ends on something of a sad note. Mac users, like myself, may not know this, but Minesweeper no longer comes preinstalled on Windows PCs and, though it's free to install (and there are a million clones), the official version is covered in ads, asking users to upgrade to a premium version.
I know there are a billion bigger problems in the world than needing to pay for Minesweeper, but, I dunno, it just rubs me the wrong way that this free bonus that was included with Windows is now just another way for Microsoft to get money.
May 2, 2024
Boss Fight Books continues to prove that every game is interesting. Most people of a certain age know what Minesweeper is, and probably never understood it, myself included. This would put the book at a disadvantage for most people looking to read any book about video games, however Kyle Orland's book provides fascinating context for Minesweeper's history and the communities that sprung up around it.
Kyle's writing style is fairly straightforward with some personality for flavor. This is great for the book, because it adds some nice little moments, but really allows the great details he got from interviews and research to really shine. Hearing about Microsoft's internal debate about how selling an entertainment product would soil their professional image was fascinating. All the anecdotes of Bill Gates's addiction to the game, the competitive fans trying to come up with a fair metric of measuring Minesweeper supremacy, and that communities reaction to a glitch in the Intermediate Minesweeper board are fun and compelling to read.
If you're interested in video games, game development, and devoted communities this is an easy recommendation. I may not play Minesweeper, but I'll always respect it.
Kyle's writing style is fairly straightforward with some personality for flavor. This is great for the book, because it adds some nice little moments, but really allows the great details he got from interviews and research to really shine. Hearing about Microsoft's internal debate about how selling an entertainment product would soil their professional image was fascinating. All the anecdotes of Bill Gates's addiction to the game, the competitive fans trying to come up with a fair metric of measuring Minesweeper supremacy, and that communities reaction to a glitch in the Intermediate Minesweeper board are fun and compelling to read.
If you're interested in video games, game development, and devoted communities this is an easy recommendation. I may not play Minesweeper, but I'll always respect it.
December 29, 2023
I have read many in the boss fight series and I don't play video games. This game, I played a lot of, so I was sure I was going to love. I liked it. The history of the development of the causual games was interesting and so was the history of a mine sweeping game. But the book bogged down for me in a lengthy discussion of speed players fighting over something they call "the Dreamboard." this was just too much. I know you want a full book, but this digression took up a lot of the second half of the book and after a while, I was not involved. With that said,. it is a good book and interesting to see how this game was used as marketing and how many people played it during the early years of PCs.
September 16, 2024
File this under “things I didn’t realize I was super interested in learning about.” I thought the history of the Windows Entertainment Pack history and the competitive scene were both very interesting. It’s especially interesting to hear the concerns the competitive Minesweeper community had and compare them to the modern speedrunning community at large.
My only nitpick would be that sometimes there’s jargon used with no definition. I’m a pretty big dweeb so I could get by with most of it but occasionally I had to look up a term.
I really enjoyed this though and I’m happy Orland wrote it.
My only nitpick would be that sometimes there’s jargon used with no definition. I’m a pretty big dweeb so I could get by with most of it but occasionally I had to look up a term.
I really enjoyed this though and I’m happy Orland wrote it.
August 1, 2023
Overall good history of a game style that does not get a lot of attention in most game design histories.
September 5, 2023
I enjoy these but for certain games. This one may have pushed it. Ha! Didn’t like the authors own opinions sprinkled in I guess. Fine.
November 5, 2023
It drags a little bit, but the talk about the competitive Minecraft scene is pretty interesting
April 11, 2024
One part about high scores goes on a bit too long, but other than that a great read and fascinating insight into a forgotten classic that started it all for Microsoft
September 29, 2023
I love that someone wrote a book on Minesweeper. That said, there's two things that bugged me about it. Pretend I'm speaking in Simpson's Comic Book Guy voice, 'cause I'm about to get nit picky.
1) Pages 13-25 (perhaps more), author Kyle Orland credits the 1983 ZX Spectrum Mined-Out as the first home computer game that resembled Minesweeper, going so far as to quote the author as being annoyed that Microsoft had copied his idea. I was reading that and thinking, I'm sure I played minesweeper on my VIC-20 before that, and that it more closely resembled the final Microsoft version than Mined-Out did. Turns out I do still own it, it's Minefield, and was sold by Creative Software in 1982 (flip side of their City Bomber) tape. Here's gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMDu6...
2) I would have loved a discussion on the Minesweeper XYZZY cheat (was it mentioned and I missed it??). If you typed "XYZZY" and shift-enter on an XP version of Minesweeper, the top lefthand pixel would toggle when you moved over a mine. Very subtle, my friends watching me play didn't catch it, but I always just somehow knew where the mines were. :) Details: https://minesweepergame.com/history/x...
Anyway, things for the 2nd edition.
1) Pages 13-25 (perhaps more), author Kyle Orland credits the 1983 ZX Spectrum Mined-Out as the first home computer game that resembled Minesweeper, going so far as to quote the author as being annoyed that Microsoft had copied his idea. I was reading that and thinking, I'm sure I played minesweeper on my VIC-20 before that, and that it more closely resembled the final Microsoft version than Mined-Out did. Turns out I do still own it, it's Minefield, and was sold by Creative Software in 1982 (flip side of their City Bomber) tape. Here's gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMDu6...
2) I would have loved a discussion on the Minesweeper XYZZY cheat (was it mentioned and I missed it??). If you typed "XYZZY" and shift-enter on an XP version of Minesweeper, the top lefthand pixel would toggle when you moved over a mine. Very subtle, my friends watching me play didn't catch it, but I always just somehow knew where the mines were. :) Details: https://minesweepergame.com/history/x...
Anyway, things for the 2nd edition.
April 5, 2024
(I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
Minesweeper is a history of the titular game, using it to examine, in microcosm, the evolution of video games in general over the last several decades. It began as (ostensibly) a tool designed to teach players how to use a mouse, back at the dawn of home computing; it then sparked a moral panic over lost productivity, developed a contentious competitive scene, spawned a number of imitators, and finally came to exist as just another ad-filled casual game among many (though you can remove the ads for a subscription fee).
The book is fairly short, not outstaying its welcome on a narrow topic, and the writing style is engaging, making this a quick, fun read for those interested in the history of video games. A "Notes" section at the end documents the writer's extensive research, laying out sources (including his interviews of key figures in the history of Minesweeper) chapter by chapter.
Minesweeper is a history of the titular game, using it to examine, in microcosm, the evolution of video games in general over the last several decades. It began as (ostensibly) a tool designed to teach players how to use a mouse, back at the dawn of home computing; it then sparked a moral panic over lost productivity, developed a contentious competitive scene, spawned a number of imitators, and finally came to exist as just another ad-filled casual game among many (though you can remove the ads for a subscription fee).
The book is fairly short, not outstaying its welcome on a narrow topic, and the writing style is engaging, making this a quick, fun read for those interested in the history of video games. A "Notes" section at the end documents the writer's extensive research, laying out sources (including his interviews of key figures in the history of Minesweeper) chapter by chapter.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews