Boom or Bust – The classic mine-finding puzzle as an endless climb, cleanly designed and hard to put down

Reveal, flag, stay safe

The whole game comes down to one simple question: where are the mines? Every revealed number is a clue, and the first tap takes the fear out of it — it's always safe.

Instantly understood

Tap a covered cell and it reveals. A number tells you how many of the eight adjacent cells are mined; an empty cell opens its neighbours along with it. The very first tap — and the ring of cells around it — is guaranteed mine-free, because the mines are only scattered afterwards. No false start, no guessing from the first second.

Flag however suits you

Sure about a mine? Flag it — with a long-press, a right-click, the F key, or the flag-mode button in the top bar if you'd rather just tap. The display up top counts the mines you have left (the total minus the flags you've placed), while a timer tracks how long you've spent on the current board.

One move, many cells

Once you've placed enough flags around a number, tap the number itself — and all of its remaining neighbours open in a single move. It saves time but carries a risk: if a flag is misplaced, a mine goes off right there. If you like, you can also enable question marks as a third marking state to note the cells you're unsure about (off by default).

Familiar rules, cleanly done — after the first board you'll have everything you need well in hand.

Every level tightens the screw

There's no difficulty to choose — only the next step up. Every board you clear advances you one level, and each level is at least as demanding as the last.

Bigger and denser, step by step

You start on level 1 — a friendly 8 × 9 board with 9 mines. From there the grid grows in steps up to a portrait cap of 11 × 16, and the mine density climbs from around 12% toward 32%. So the boards get larger and more densely packed at the same time, the deeper you go.

One mine, and the run is over

There's no healing and no playing on after a mistake: hit a mine and the game shows you where it was, tells you the deepest level you reached — and the next game starts again from level 1. That's exactly what turns every tap on a dense board into a small decision.

A record to beat

Your deepest level ever reached is kept as your best, across every run. There's no currency to hoard and no shop to manage — just you, the next level, and the mark you'll want to break next time. You can restart the run from the top bar at any time, with a quick confirmation.

The same simple idea, steadily rising pressure: every run asks how deep you'll get this time.

Built to replay

Boom or Bust is deliberately uncluttered but carefully built — from three cohesive themes to sound that's generated entirely on-device, to a saved game that picks up exactly where you left off.

Three themes, one tap away

Choose between Daylight (the default), Blossom and Midnight. The theme you pick recolours the whole game, including the system status bar, so everything feels of a piece — bright and calm, soft and warm, or dark for playing in the evening.

Every sound generated on-device

Boom or Bust ships no audio files at all. Every sound is generated live on your phone — a soft blip when a cell opens, a short sparkle when a cascade opens several at once, a tick when you flag, a bright arpeggio when you clear a level, and a low noise burst on a mine. There's also an optional, generative ambient pad you can switch on independently of the effects, plus light vibration feedback where your device supports it.

Puts your board down when you leave

Your game in progress — board, flags and elapsed time — is saved automatically and restored next time you open the app; the clock pauses cleanly the moment you switch away, and a tap resumes. The game is in English and German, detected automatically from your device and switchable at any time, and every setting is remembered between sessions.

No meta-grind, no noise — just a small, clean puzzle you can pick up for a minute or follow across many levels.

The bottom line: just one more level

Boom or Bust takes a puzzle everyone knows and gives it a reason to keep going — a safe first tap, one board after another, and a climb that tightens all on its own. It's completely free, runs entirely offline, and comes with no ads, no in-app purchases and no tracking at all — just you and the next board. Available in English and German, with three themes, a clean reveal-and-flag game with chording and optional question marks, an endless climb into ever larger, denser boards, a record to chase, and a fully on-device sound design. Download Boom or Bust from Google Play and see how deep you get.