The Hurt Locker

     “If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more changes to learn and win.” – John W Holt.

    

     One of the reasons I was inspired by this year's Oscar for best movie was the concept. War veterans in the war plagued countries who swept out land mines. It got to a point when I could no longer resist the temptation of locating mines. I took the harder router, playing Windows' most distinguished game in majority of its operating systems.

The first time I played Minesweeper, the game seemed so dumb (the fox and the grapes flashes past; Ahem, don’t draw comparisons). I would randomly click across the board, and it didn’t require Einstein’s hypothesis to register my losses. In due course, a friend trained me on the objectives of the game. To locate the mines, and to flag the (locate meant “do not click” on them).

     The initial level is the simplest (profound – why would someone call it initial otherwise?). The ratio of spaces to mines is 8.1:1. The middle level, as expected has a higher amount of mines, and the ratio is 6.4:1. Both levels are easy to crack because the game allows us to automatically clear the spaces around the boxes that were open (hope the illustration helps!). The hardest level (my success ratio is approximately 1 out of every 80 attempts) is at a lowly 1:4.8 ratio. So, in short 1 out of every 6 boxes could be a mine (if this was a presentation, the room would be half empty by now).

      The rules of the game are pretty simple. Click on any square to start with. It would either be a mine or a number. The numeral in each square would depict the quantity of mines directly surrounding the square. The algorithm begins after the first square is tagged (so you could never be a golden duck). At times you might need to click on any second square as well. Move on; open the ones close to that square that logically won’t be accountable as mines. And keep clicking till all the mines are flagged (use right click to flag potential mine squares). The games isn’t all about calculated risks, it has its share of random selections. But that’s what makes it interesting. Sometimes the obvious choices aren’t the right ones.

     The biggest challenge in the game is to maintain our composure and look for the open opportunities. And therein lays the primary message. Patience is a virtue. Secondly, being instinctive people and there are a lot of instances where an alternate thought might change the game. The game is challenging because it involves a high level of concentration, and the human mind shouldn’t allow even the slightest deviation (Note: The following images might need parental guidance). There exists a viewpoint that failure by any measure is the same. But if failure and success are drawn out by such a thin line, does perfection come at such a hefty price?

     “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry