It has been over 20 months since I last broke one of my records in Minesweeper. It has been over two years since I last cracked my Intermediate time.

This leap day, I have taken my own leap forward. Today, February 29, 2008, I have conquered my old record for Intermediate.

New time for Intermediate: 26.280

Yes, I added decimal points. That’s because I’m using Minesweeper Clone.

A new era has begun.

EDIT: Apparently, my weblog is still on West Coast time.

I had essentially retired from Minesweeper. For a while, I couldn’t even consider playing because of my shoulder problems. Now, however, my shoulders aren’t bothering me as much and I’ve recently picked up Minesweeper again. I haven’t been playing super hardcore like I used to, but it’s eating up more of my time.

Anyway, a few days ago, I managed to tie my Intermediate time. (I’ve been mostly playing Intermediate.) Today, I finally got a sub-100 time for Expert for the first time in who knows how long. Granted, my average for Intermediate is still hovering around 38 and I don’t play Expert enough to have a real average, so I still have a lot of work to do.

I still think that at this pace, I have a good chance of beating my Intermediate record within a few weeks.

I finally beat my old Minesweeper expert record of 88. Now, it’s 87. I am ecstatic. I have finally returned to my quest to become Minesweeper King.

My new Minesweeper intermediate time is 27 — a four second improvement over my old 31.

Finally broke my beginner record… new time: 3.

I also have a new intermediate time (this was done earlier, but I never posted it): 31.

Expert is still 88.

New Minesweeper time:

88 seconds for Expert.

Crazy 88.

I beat Delora.

Now, no one I know personally has a better time.

First, I beat my record on expert by 1 second. The new time: 96. And that was when the board was already completed, and I had to spend a bit of time hunting to find the last spot. I knew I could do better.

So I did. 94 seconds.

Oh, and I had a headache before I was playing Minesweeper, then it went away while I was playing. Now, I’m not playing, and my head hurts again. I’m neither denying nor affirming any magical healing powers Minewsweeper has.

Beat my time by 1 second. New Intermediate time for Minesweeper is 33.

Beginner is still 4, and Expert is still 97.

My new Minesweeper intermediate time is 34 seconds.

My expert time is still 103, and my beginner time is still 4.

However, hopefully, it will only be a short amount of time before I improve the expert time.

[12:50ish, PM this time] EDIT: New expert time! 97. However, the quest still continues. This would’ve only put me one second behind Delora… unfortunately, she improved her time to 94 last night.

Oh well. A six second improvement over my previous time ain’t bad.

Remember when I wanted to be Minesweeper King? Well, I finally found someone I know personally who has a better time than me. So, that quest has been reignited, the inner Minesweeper awoken, and you should expect a better time from me within two weeks.

I know I said the other day that I don’t know online people that well, but I didn’t I know it was this bad:

I learned (from someone who will remain anonymous) that Stevie has played Minesweeper successfully without knowing what the numbers are for.

Personally, I’m appalled. It’s as if I was best friends with Hitler, and then I learn from someone else that he’s been killing a whole bunch of people.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad. But really, how can people play without knowing what the numbers mean? How do they win? It boggles the mind!

I can understand not knowing how to play. Not everyone is cut out to be a Minesweeper King. But then, how do you keep on going, keep on playing, even to the point of completing the board, without ever trying to hit F1 or otherwise access help?

I can even understand hating Minesweeper. The best game in existence is just too much for some people. But that, I don’t understand.

You think you know a person…

[On a side note, I was fixing up links within this weblog today (from one entry to another), and I’m done with July 2003 through January 2004.]

08/02/04 – UPDATE: Oh my goodness! I thought I was just jesting, but then my best friend, Hitler, just told me that he’s been killing a whole bunch of people!

And yeah, Stevie, I do suck.

By the way, Stevie told me that she plays the game very easily without bothering with the numbers. I think she works on a higher level, and doesn’t even need the numbers. Note to self…

No, but really, recognizing numbers and then processing the information takes time. Pattern recognition does improve gameplay.

So far, summer has started with a BANG! I’ve added to that bang…

My new Minesweeper Expert time is 103.

To put that in context, my previous record was 119. I have destroyed my previous record.

Check it out: 119 for expert.

Yes, that new time is 122. Hooray.

Still working on Minesweeper. Eventually, I’ll get it down to where I want it.

New times:

Intermediate: 36

Expert: 124

Beginner is still 4 seconds.

People have posted comments in my Minesweeper King entry. My times have improved since then…

Expert: 130
Intermediate: 39
Beginner: 4

I’m still not Minesweeper King, but I’m better than everyone I know personally. Check out some crazy videos at http://metanoodle.com/minesweeper/. I’m not entirely convinced these are not all faked. Check out the 66 second one under Expert. Got a stopwatch? See for yourself that the seconds shown on the video don’t match with your stopwatch. At least on my computer, they don’t.

It’s got me thinking. One of my friends suggested that it would really be more likely to be real if they recorded themselves along with the computer. I’m gong to do that sometime this summer.

I’m also going to figure out how to fake one of those videos. The main gist of the idea is capturing with a slow framerate, then playing it back using a faster framerate. Then, make a movie of the timer and superimpose it. Then, edit out some extraneous movements.

Screenshots are way too easy to fake.

And when I hear people who say the first time they finished expert, they got 120 or something, I begin to wonder. Did they just get really good before doing expert? Or did they just have bad luck until finally finishing it? Or, *gasp*, could they be lying?

I bet there are people who are good, with really good times, not lying about it. But you have to have played for a long time. Think about it. To get a 1 second in beginner, you have to play a lot of times, meaning a long time, so that eventually you get a good board that arises through chance. The same applies to intermediate and expert. It also takes a long time before you can click efficiently and recognize and act on patterns.

I’ve noticed Minesweeper times aren’t exactly correct. Remember that whole, when does the new millenium start fiasco? Right when you click, it starts at one second! Your times are offset by that much. Don’t worry, I’ll still post as is shown on the high score list.

Oh yeah, and I won’t forget to work on my best times. Good job with your times, those who left comments.

This is just to inform everyone that I’m still working at being Minesweeper King.

New times:
Beginner: 6
Intermediate: 39
Expert: 130

One day, I will become Minesweeper King. I will have the best Minesweeper times in the world. Minesweeper is a simple, yet very addictive game. I have become insanely addicted to it at times. So much so, that I start to dream of Minesweeper, and whenever I close my eyes, I think of Minesweeper.

My current times…
Beginner: 7
Intermediate: 43
Expert: 142

Anyone got a better time?

As you can tell, today’s subject was less than philosophical.

EDIT: I’m not so obsessed that I’ll go for best in the world, but I’m obsessed enough just to be better than those who I know personally. Don’t bother telling me your times; I know there are plenty people with better times. Another note: my times have changed since this post.