Rules

Our goal is to represent and formalize the community and its (not always written) rules as they already exist, not to impose new rules or enact top-down change.

You can find a list of our current decisions here.

Endorsements

However, we do want to provide standardization. For example, we want results from different events to be comparable, and we want criteria for things like event qualifications and travel refunds not to feel (or be) arbitrary.

Therefore:

• We endorse the ranking at https://minesweepergame.com run by Damien Moore as the official world ranking for Minesweeper as an e-sport due to its focus on comparability of results, expression of skill, archivability of replays, and competitive gameplay, as well as its long track record in these categories and historical significance to the community.

  We consider its rules the gold standard for competitive Minesweeper, unless explicitly specified otherwise in other decisions. Any events that do not specify a special ruleset will operate under this ruleset by default. Also, we consider its rankings a suitable benchmark to assess player skill/dedication for the purposes of qualifying players for events/travel refunds/etc.

• We endorse https://minesweeper.online/ as an alternative Minesweeper implementation, and a gold standard for non-competitive/recreational Minesweeper.

  It was and is integral in shaping the community as it exists today, being largely responsible for ushering in a new golden age of Minesweeper and bringing an entirely new generation of players to the game, while also significantly expanding its scope and casual replayability.

  It should be considered for any casual events that emphasize the player experience over competitiveness, due to its familiarity to the vast majority of the community. We consider its rankings an alternative suitable benchmark to assess player skill/dedication for the purposes of qualifying players for events/travel refunds/etc.

• We endorse https://mnsw.pro/ as an alternative Minesweeper implementation, and a gold standard for casual multiplayer (cooperative/PvP) Minesweeper, as well as an option for competitive multiplayer formats.

  It pioneered multiplayer gameplay in the modern community, and was instrumental in establishing the Chord Cup, a significant modern competitive format. It should be considered for any casual or competitive multiplayer events.

• We endorse https://scoreganizer.net/ as the gold standard for competitive/world ranking-compatible tournaments. It established the practice of hosting tournaments on a publicly accessible web platform that provides live results, and has successfully been used for all world championships (and numerous other tournaments) since 2011.