Minesweeper Solver: CSP Backtracking with Constraint Plotting

Traditional approaches to solving Minesweeper rely on heuristics and brute-force backtracking, which often lead to exponential blowup in complexity. Com-mon enhancements, such as cutoffs and arc consistency algorithms (e.g., AC-3), canmitigate this but at the cost of increased overhead and limited scalability. In thiswork, we present a simple yet overlooked technique that reverses the usual formu-lation: instead of assigning values to variables, we plot using constraints directly.This approach generates valid combinations rather than exhaustively checking as-signments, effectively reducing the complexity from 2^n to nCr . We term this theConstraint Plotting Technique. Our method is inherently consistent, scalable, andcapable of exploring all possible solutions without cutoffs, making it a promisingalternative for optimal Minesweeper solving

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2025-09-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17182183
Primary Topic
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Minesweeper Solver: CSP Backtracking with Constraint Plotting

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
article

Minesweeper Solver: CSP Backtracking with Constraint Plotting

article en

Abstract

Traditional approaches to solving Minesweeper rely on heuristics and brute-force backtracking, which often lead to exponential blowup in complexity. Com-mon enhancements, such as cutoffs and arc consistency algorithms (e.g., AC-3), canmitigate this but at the cost of increased overhead and limited scalability. In thiswork, we present a simple yet overlooked technique that reverses the usual formu-lation: instead of assigning values to variables, we plot using constraints directly.This approach generates valid combinations rather than exhaustively checking as-signments, effectively reducing the complexity from 2^n to nCr . We term this theConstraint Plotting Technique. Our method is inherently consistent, scalable, andcapable of exploring all possible solutions without cutoffs, making it a promisingalternative for optimal Minesweeper solving

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Openalex Percentile: Top 30%
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
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