The most surprising thing about Tetrisweeper is that it took so long for someone to think of it. Once you've played this mashup of Tetris and Minesweeper, it seems virtually impossible and completely obvious.
Tetrisweeper looks just like Tetris to start, but as you play, a Minesweeper grid is overlaid on your placed tetrominoes, and your lines won't be scored until you also clear the mines. It's maddening and addictive.
From the developers description on itch.io:
You may be wondering how this horrifying amalgamation could possibly work, but it's actually very simple! Tetrominos, which are geometric shapes made of four tiles, drop one-by-one from the top of the board. Each of these tiles acts like a Minesweeper square, with hidden mines you'll have to locate. Completely fill a row and correctly flag or reveal each tile to clear it! Let the tower reach the top or click on a mine, and that's game over.
I discovered this hidden gem of a game in Ars Technica's article Ars' favorite games of 2024 that were not released in 2024. Ars also made me aware of this book about the history of Minesweeper. One fun section of the book points out that in the early 90s, people had to be taught how to use a mouse, something Solitaire was excellent for, while Minesweeper taught users the novel right-click.
The web version takes a long time to load, so be patient. A downloadable version is available for Windows only for a suggested price of $2, and a Steam release is coming soon.
Previously: Play Minesweeper in Minecraft
