Controls — Better Minesweeper Docs

Mouse Controls

Action	Input	Notes
Reveal a tile	Left Click	Uncovers the tile. If it’s a zero, flood-fills all adjacent zeros.
Place / remove flag	Right Click	Marks a tile as a suspected mine. Right-click again to remove.
Chord	Middle Click	If a number has exactly that many adjacent flags, reveals the rest. Also bound to Left Click by default.
Restart	Click the header bar	Anywhere in the top strip restarts the game — not just the smiley.

Optional Mouse Features

Enable these in Settings > Options.

Feature	Setting	What It Does
Drag to reveal	`drag_reveal`	Hold left click and drag across tiles to reveal them.
Drag to paint flags	`drag_to_paint_flags`	Hold right click and drag to place flags across multiple tiles.
Fast reveal preview	`fast_reveal_preview`	Press and hold to preview a tile before releasing to reveal.
Left+Right chord	`chord_left_right_click`	Hold right and press left to chord (classic-style).

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts are rebindable. See Rebinding below.

Action	Primary	Alt	Notes
Beginner	`1`	`B`	Switch to 9×9, 10 mines
Intermediate	`2`	`I`	Switch to 16×16, 40 mines
Expert	`3`	`E`	Switch to 30×16, 99 mines
Restart	`F2`	`R`	New game, new seed
Replay seed	`Ctrl+R`		Restart with the same seed
Options	`Tab`		Open settings dialog
Stats window	`S`		Toggle per-game stats
All-time stats	`Alt+S`		Open all-time stats dialog
Probability overlay	`P`		Toggle mine probability display
Copy seed	`Ctrl+C`		Copy board seed to clipboard
Load seed	`Ctrl+V`		Load seed from clipboard
Copy board image	`Ctrl+P`		Copy board as an image
Zoom in	`Ctrl+=`	`+`	Increase tile size
Zoom out	`Ctrl+-`	`-`	Decrease tile size
Cluster highlight	`Alt+Shift+C`		Highlight frontier cluster under cursor
Simulate left click	unbound		Keyboard key acts as left click on hovered tile
Simulate right click	unbound		Keyboard key acts as right click on hovered tile

Chording

When a revealed number already has exactly that many adjacent flags, chording it reveals all remaining adjacent covered tiles at once. It’s the core mechanic for fast play.

Chord Methods

Middle click — Default. Works on any satisfied number.
Left click on number — Also on by default. Clicking a revealed number chords it.
Left+Right click — Hold right, press left. Off by default; enable chord_left_right_click.

Chord Variants

Auto-chord on flag — Placing a flag that satisfies a number automatically chords it. Marks the run as assisted.
Continuous chord (Flood Chord) — A chord cascades: numbers satisfied by the reveal are automatically chorded in turn.

Keyboard-as-Mouse Mode

Play entirely from the keyboard. Enable via Settings > Options (keyboard_as_mouse_enabled). Arrow keys or WASD move the cursor, with dedicated bindings for reveal, flag, and chord. Events record normally for replay playback.

Combined with the Simulate left/right click hotkeys, this supports fully keyboard-driven play on any layout.

Rebinding Hotkeys

Press Tab to open the options dialog.
Navigate to the Hotkeys section.
Click the binding slot you want to change.
Press the new key or combination.
Conflicts are flagged automatically before saving.

Each action has three slots (Primary, Alt, Third). Only the Primary appears in menus and tooltips.

Supported Binding Types

Single keys
Letters (A–Z), digits (0–9), function keys (F1–F12), symbols

Modifier combos
Ctrl+key, Alt+key, Shift+key, Ctrl+Shift+key, Alt+Shift+key

Mouse buttons
MouseLeft, MouseRight, MouseMiddle, Mouse4, Mouse5

Special keys
Space, Enter, Tab, Escape, Backspace, Delete, arrow keys

Hotkey bindings are stored at:

Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\BetterMinesweeper\hotkeys.json
Linux: ~/.config/BetterMinesweeper/hotkeys.json

Cursor Lock

Enable lock_cursor_to_board in settings to confine the mouse to the board area during play — handy on multi-monitor setups.