On this page
Mines lets you set your own odds, which is the attraction and the trap. It is also one of the few games where you can check all of the arithmetic yourself. This page does that, and it is frank about what the arithmetic says: no way of picking tiles gives you an edge. The decisions that count are the number of mines, the number of tiles and when you stop.
How a round works
- Pick a stake, then decide how many of the tiles will hide a mine.
- Open a tile. A safe tile raises the multiplier; a mine ends the round and the stake is lost.
- After any safe tile you may cash out your stake times the current multiplier.
Mines is one of Drem’s Originals, the in-house games the platform shows with a 99% RTP. The sums below use the standard layout of 25 tiles in a 5×5 grid. Check the grid size and the range of mines in the game’s info panel before relying on them.
The one formula
The chance that the next tile is safe is the number of safe tiles left divided by the number of tiles left. With 3 mines there are 22 safe tiles among 25, so the first pick is safe 22 times in 25, or 88%. If it is, 21 safe tiles remain among 24, and so on. Multiply the steps to get the chance of a run:
22/25 × 21/24 × 20/23 = 67.0% for three safe tiles in a row.
Odds by number of mines
| Mines | First pick safe | Three in a row | Five in a row | Fair multiplier after three |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96% | 88.0% | 80.0% | 1.14x |
| 3 | 88% | 67.0% | 49.6% | 1.49x |
| 5 | 80% | 49.6% | 29.2% | 2.02x |
| 10 | 60% | 19.8% | 5.7% | 5.05x |
| 24 | 4% | not possible | not possible | 25x after one tile |
A fair multiplier is 1 divided by the chance. A game returning 99% pays a shade under it: about 1.48x, 2.00x and 5.00x after three tiles with 3, 5 and 10 mines. The multipliers shown in the game are the ones that count.
Every tile is a fresh bet
Say you stake ₹100 with 3 mines and have opened four safe tiles. At a 99% return the cash-out stands near ₹171. Opening a fifth tile means putting that ₹171 at risk: 18 of the 21 remaining tiles are safe, so 85.7% of the time it grows to about ₹200, and 14.3% of the time it becomes nothing. The average of those outcomes is 0.857 × ₹200 = ₹171.
The next pick neither gains nor loses on average. There is no mathematically correct moment to stop, and that is exactly why you need to choose one before the round starts. A decision made with a growing number on the screen is made by nerves.
Three ways to shape a round
| Plan | Setting | Wins about | Pays about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small swings | 3 mines, cash out after 2 tiles | 77 rounds in 100 | 1.29x |
| Even money | 3 mines, cash out after 5 tiles | 50 rounds in 100 | 2.00x |
| Long shot | 10 mines, cash out after 3 tiles | 20 rounds in 100 | 5.00x |
All three cost the same on average, about one rupee per hundred staked at a 99% return. More mines and more tiles change how violently the balance moves, not what the game keeps.
What does not work
- Favourite tiles. Corners, the centre, diagonals: every unopened tile has the same chance.
- Last round’s layout. Mines are placed afresh each round.
- Raising the mine count to win back a loss. It raises the swings when the balance is already under pressure.
- Pattern tools and tip channels. They cannot see the layout, and one that wants your login is a threat to your account.
A stop rule you can keep
- Fix the stake at one or two per cent of the session money.
- Fix the mines and the number of tiles before the first round, and do not change them mid-session.
- Cash out at that number every time, including when it feels as if one more must be safe.
- End the session when the session money is gone or the timer rings, whichever comes first.
The bankroll page turns those rules into rupees. Aviator runs on the same arithmetic with a climbing multiplier instead of a grid, and the glossary explains RTP and house edge.
The Originals collection
Seven other in-house games carry the same 99% RTP label: Plinko, Dice, Limbo, Chicken, Aviator, Lottery Keno and Blackjack. One rule covers all of them: the return describes the long run, and the limits are yours to set.
