New Hat!

August 23, 2015

Hey, check it out. I was playing Minesweeper because, well, I’m me, and look what happened. I won. Well, of course I won. I’m awesome. But I won a field that had every number on it. 😀

Okay, it was on the third try, but still counts.

You may also notice something different around here. Sure, Why Not? is totally new and improved! The color scheme and whatnot are… ugly as all hell like usual.

But it’s got a new hat!

And by that I mean new header. The winning Minesweeper field with every number because why not? I was tired of the old one.

Enjoy the brand new Sure, Why Not?. 😛

This has been Day 92 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 15.

Surrounded

December 28, 2013

Alright, here is yet another mine field. Time to uncover.

One.

Not bad.

Open another square…

Two.

Watch your step!

Three.

Just don’t get into a corner or hit a wall.

Four.

Getting around another side now.

Five.

Eeep! They’re closing in.

Six.

It’s like a hallway or a ninety-degree turn.

Seven.

It’s a dead end. Or like being in a dangerous little room. Almost totally surrounded. Almost…

Uh oh… It is…

EIGHT.

Totally surrounded.

It’s like you’re in some kind of Fortress. Or something like that.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

EIGHT!

Happy 8th Anniversary, Eight Mine Fortress!!!!

What Have They Done to It?!

February 6, 2008

Whoa!

So I was at Best Buy earlier this evening and looking at this laptop I’m thinking of getting. Laptop runs Windows Vista, which I hadn’t really looked at properly before. So I stood there and moved the cursor around and checking out various stuff. Ick, I don’t use laptops much so I’m not used to the touchpad thingy for the mouse cursor.

Anyway, a mandatory stop, I went to see what the Vista version of Minesweeper is like. I already knew from a while ago that it would be different. How different?

Very.

Smilie face is gone! The squares are now blue, though it looks like you can make them green. Okay, that much is fine, though being without the smilie face is a knock.

Mine field difficulties are about the same. When you hit a mine, it shows them all like normal and then they all explode, heh. And then what happens? You have the option of restarting the exact same mine field! Weird.

And apparently you can save your game.

They ditched the high score board more or less.

And there seems to be an option of changing the mode of the game from Minesweeper to something called Flower Garden. Flowers instead of mines?! Oy.

And Sevens and Eights are kind of a maroon color. I think.

Vista Minesweeper confuses and angers me!

Or maybe it was just me being a n00b with the touchpad mouse cursor. Something like that.

But they should have kept the smilie face! :irked:

There’s a Mine Detector!

September 6, 2007

So today at work, I was bored and, thinking about that video I posted about the other day, felt like seeing what Wikipedia had to say about Minesweeper. Pretty interesting tidbits about the different versions. I had played the Linux Gnomes version last year when I was in California, since Chris Howell’s computer operated on Linux.

Anyway, then I came to the thing that blew my mind. The cheats section. Normally, I disapprove of cheats. But I was still curious. I’d seen one before that isn’t really a cheat since it doesn’t always work, but works most of the time from what I could tell. When you’re playing Minesweeper and you’re down to where you have to guess between two adjacent squares, try to click the exact middle between them, and it’ll be the number. Doesn’t always work, and might just be a myth, but something.
Continue reading “There’s a Mine Detector!”

I Win, Best Time Too

March 18, 2006

Awesome. Playing my normal Minesweeper game today. Won it! Don’t win this one that often. My custom field. Same dimensions as Expert, but with 41 more mines.

Click to see! (Opens new window. Damn thing was too wide and knocked off my sidebar items, ugh.)

Height: 16
Width: 30
Mines: 140

That’s by far my best time on it, too. I usually finish it up over 200. 😀

Would have been sweeter if there were Sevens or Eights. Meh. Some other time, perhaps. 😎

Those Crazy Eights!

January 28, 2006

Ah, it’s a lovely treat. Since I’ve swept the Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert ranks so nicely, I’ve migrated to a Custom field. My choice Custom field? Same dimensions as the Expert field but with 140 mines rather than 99.

Why do I play Minesweeper? I play it not for the high scores, although they’re a nice bonus here and there. I play for the numbers. Ones, Twos, and Threes are common. Fours, too. Fives show up here and there as a reminder of just how easily you could lose. After all, at that point there’s more mines around than not. Six! Uh oh. But then we get to the more elusive top numbers, those not so common (so long as you’re not in the Custom 435, where they are pretty much the only non-mine squares).
Continue reading “Those Crazy Eights!”

This is Eight Mine Fortress

December 28, 2005

Welcome. This is Eight Mine Fortress. I’m Katrina. You may remember me as having created such websites as Tomato World and Science Village, and I wrote every single thing on this happy little website. I like it. Serves as a nice depository for my old written gems, my new ones, and whatever the hell else I stick on here. Look around. You’ll figure it out.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering how I came up with such a name. Eight Mine Fortress. Just what is that? Well, much of what gets churned out and posted on this site took lots of thinking. When I think, I like to play a game, and that game is almost invariably Minesweeper. I play it not so much for best times, although I do sometimes. I play for the numbers. I play for the more elusive numbers trapped in squares surrounded by lots of mines. Sevens are fascinating in and of themselves. Always a treat to open one of them, particular in Expert (as opposed to the same-dimensioned but higher mine density custom fields I play). Yet the Seven always pales in comparison to the wondrous joy that is opening an Eight.

Elusive Eight. Trapped on all sides by mines, touches no other number. That’s what I play for, and that’s what I think for. Whether the pleasant occasion of seeing Eight or the light bulb in my head when I get a damn good idea, it is rare and great.

Although, perhaps a better answer in regards to why this site is named Eight Mine Fortress is because, well, I just felt like it!

Oh, did I mention that my nickname for an Eight in Minesweeper is a Fortress? Well, it is.