This looks like it could integrate into Nethack somehow.<p>The minefield could be a dungeon in which the Nethack character can move around as usual. The mines blow up if stepped on. Stepping on numbers is safe, and stepping on an un-numbered square which is not a mine "opens up" the field, as usual.<p>There must be some way of placing a flag to a neighboring square in any movement direction. The semantics of dropping an item almost work; except that item dropping takes place in the current square. Throwing an item takes a direction; throwing a flag could be used, implicitly limited to a one-square range. Flags could be part of the character's inventory.<p>This version of minesweeper, of course, adds the additional difficulty that you don't have random access: you cannot click on any square you want, because you have to traverse the minefield with your Nethack character.<p>It could be a requirement that you have to cross some of the minefield to get to the spot where you can pick up the flags (you don't just get flags automagically when you enter a mine field dungeon, and they are not available at the entrance). Until you get the flags, you have to use some substitute objects in place of flags, or just rely on memory.<p>The character could be simultaneously required to engage monsters that roam the mine field. Some monsters could be affected by mines; however, they know where the mines are and avoid them; if you can remember a square where such monster has stepped, you can safely step there yourself. Other monsters could be unaffected by mines (flying creatures or ghosts).
I felt that I could maybe get better at Minesweeper with a keyboard interface, so I made this game with ncurses. The controls are inspired by nethack/vim (but arrow keys work as well).<p>When developing it, I made the game logic into a library, which was also used by a friend to create a GameBoy version! Check it out: <a href="https://github.com/rotmoset/gb-mines" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/rotmoset/gb-mines</a>