gemini://gem.acdw.net:1965/page/2020-08-17-Minesweeper

I learned something new today, namely, that Minesweeper was used to teach ... MOUSE!

> If you're around my age, you'll remember Windows Minesweeper. It was one of several games included with Windows back in the day to try to train users in the use of the then-newfangled ‘mouse’. It doesn’t come with Windows any more. You can get Minesweeper for Windows 10, but the developers have… made some choices.

Let me tell you, as someone who grew up with the Windows operating system: Minesweeper was The Game.¹ I assume that my evolving relationship with it was fairly typical: I was initially flustered and confused, like a Linux neophyte accidentally running `ed`; then I fell absolutely in love and played nearly every day, trying (and failing!) to work my way to Expert level solving; and yes, bitterly disappointed when I found it in Windows 7. It's a totally different and much stupider game.

One of the great joys of O.G. Minesweeper is the minimalism of the game. You have a board. There's squares and a smiley face (the smiley face was the most important part!). You click. Things happen. You figure out how to solve the damn thing. You finally solve it. The smiley face puts on his sunglasses, proud of your efforts. You click him, like a fist bump. You play again.

The new thing is .... well, you're a child of some kind? In an actual mine? I don't know; I played it for a few minutes before rage-quitting. The eponymous mines from Minesweeper are of the land- variety, of course--why would you need to sweep (the floor? I suppose?) an in-ground mine? Had the devs of the new version even *played* the original? The more I'm thinking of it the more baffling it's become, actually. Who thought people wouldn't notice a completely changed game??? Why include it at all????

Anyway, you can play the original version online in a few places. You could, if you wanted, write something for Gemini to play minesweeper. Anyway.

2020-08-17-Minesweeper

Minesweeper

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