World Record History

Beginner

Beginner scores were not ranked until 2000, making anything earlier hard to verify.

Official Records

The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, was the first person to score 4 seconds on Beginner. According to its programmer, Robert Donner, an email was received from Bill claiming the score and inviting him to verify it. This was most likely in 1990 when the game was being considered for inclusion in WEP.

• 2 - Ruben Spaans (Norway) sometime before 26 May 1996. Almost certain made in 1995.
• 1 - Steven Welch (USA) on 04 Jan 1997 (3BV=2). Screenshot.

The first known 1 second game on a 9x9 XP grid was by Khor Eng Tat (Malaysia) on 10 Feb 2001 (3BV=2). Decimal scores made in a Real Time of 0.XX are hard to track because of debates about random clicking and 3BV Limits.

Possible Records

• 3 - Darko Stanicic (Austria) on 06 Jun 1992 (3BV=2). Score was not submitted to a site until 2000 so there is no independent way to verify the date. If rejected, Ruben Spaans definitely had 3 by 1995 or earlier, and several players on the original Expert World Ranking site probably had 3 but the site did not list Beginner scores.

Intermediate

The record history of Intermediate is problematic for many reasons. Records for the level were not kept until 1998 and rankings worked on the honour system. Then came the Dreamboard and a wave of UPK games, followed by the introduction of 3BV limits. This is a list of all scores that can be genuinely argued as having been the world record at the time. Not included are blatant UPK games (Roland Seibt 9, Steffen Stachna 9, Case Cantrell 10) which were listed temporarily on Bestever while the community debated them. Some former records are no longer listed on the modern ranking. Included on this list are tied integer records up until the introduction of decimal timers.

Official History

• 18 - Ruben Spaans (Norway) sometime before 26 May 1996 and most likely in 1995.
• 17 - Steve Welch (USA) sometime in 1996 (3BV=33). Screenshot. He scored another 17 on 09 Jul 1996.
• 17 - Sean Reynolds (USA) on 22 Dec 1998 (3BV=36). Screenshot.
• 17 - Paul Kerry (England) on 24 Apr 2000 (3BV=31). Screenshot. Played NF.
• 17 - Gernot Stania (Germany) had 17x3 before 20 May 2000.
• 15 - Gernot Stania on 20 May 2000 on the Dreamboard (3BV=30). Screenshot. Dreamboard not yet discovered.
• 12 - Gernot Stania on 07 Oct 2000 on his second Dreamboard. Accepted because the Board Cycles not yet discovered and current theory was each board is generated once on each computer. No UPK as videos did not exist and there were no programs that let you practice boards.
• 12 - Owen Fox (Ireland) on 12 Sep 2001 on the Dreamboard. Score no longer ranked. He made another 12 on 29 Apr 2002 but the world record had already been beaten.
• 12 - Lasse Nyholm (Denmark) on 05 Mar 2002 on the Dreamboard. Score no longer ranked. He made another 12 on 23 Jan 2003 but the world record had already been beaten.
• 10 - Matt McGinley (USA) on 27 Jun 2001. Dreamboard with some UPK. Game no longer official, removed from rankings.
• 10 (9.91) - Dion Tiu (Australia) on 13 Oct 2005 (3BV=33). Clone video.
• 10 (9.677) - Dion Tiu on 03 May 2007 (3BV=37). Clone video.
• 10 (9.293) - Roman Gammel on 01 Aug 2007 (3BV=32). Clone video.
• 10 (9.015) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 17 Mar 2008 (3BV=33). Clone video.
• 9 (8.953) - Kamil Murański on 10 Aug 2009 (3BV=37). Clone video.
• 9 (8.594) - Kamil Murański on 25 Sep 2009 (3BV=35). ViennaSweeper video.
• 9 (8.55) - Kamil Muranski on 24 Oct 2009 (3BV=36). MSX video.
• 8 (7.503) - Kamil Murański on 21 Nov 2009 (3BV=43). Clone video.
• 8 (7.27) - Kamil Murański on 05 Oct 2011 (3BV=39). Arbiter Video.
• 8 (7.03) - Kamil Murański on 11 Oct 2012 (3BV=30). MSX Video.

History Without Dreamboard

If Dreamboards are removed from the record history things change drastically until Sub10:

• 18 - Ruben Spaans (Norway) sometime before 26 May 1996 and most likely in 1995.
• 17 - Damien Moore (Canada) on 20 Jun 2000 (3BV=49). Screenshot.
• 16 - Damien Moore on 03 Sep 2000 (3BV=30). Screenshot.
• 14 - Sriram Sridharan (India) on 08 Jan 2001 (3BV=55). Screenshot.
• 14 - Damien Moore on 09 Jan 2001 (3BV=28). Screenshot. 3BV limits not invented.
• 13 - Damien Moore on 31 May 2001 (3BV=27). Screenshot. 3BV limits not invented.
• 13 - Lasse Nyholm on 08 Oct 2001 (3BV=30). Screenshot.
• 11 - Sriram Sridharan (India) on 05 Dec 2001 (3BV=37). Screenshot.
• 11 - Dan Cerveny (USA) on 03 May 2002 (3BV=28). Screenshot. 3BV limits not invented.
• 11 - Damien Moore on 20 Jun 2002 (3BV=40). Screenshot.
• 11 (10.11) - Damien Moore on 11 Mar 2005 (3BV=27). Recorder video. 3BV limits not invented at the time.
• 11 (10.30) - Roman Gammel (Russia) on 22 May 2005 (3BV=30) on Minesweeper Clone. This is the first record that meets are current rules for the world ranking.
• 10 (9.91) - Dion Tiu (Australia) on 13 Oct 2005 (3BV=33). Clone video.
• 10 (9.677) - Dion Tiu on 03 May 2007 (3BV=37). Clone video.
• 10 (9.293) - Roman Gammel on 01 Aug 2007 (3BV=32). Clone video.
• 10 (9.015) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 17 Mar 2008 (3BV=33). Clone video.
• 9 (8.953) - Kamil Murański on 10 Aug 2009 (3BV=37). Clone video.
• 9 (8.594) - Kamil Murański on 25 Sep 2009 (3BV=35). ViennaSweeper video.
• 9 (8.55) - Kamil Muranski on 24 Oct 2009 (3BV=36). MSX video.
• 8 (7.503) - Kamil Murański on 21 Nov 2009 (3BV=43). Clone video.
• 8 (7.27) - Kamil Murański on 05 Oct 2011 (3BV=39). Arbiter Video.
• 8 (7.03) - Kamil Murański on 11 Oct 2012 (3BV=30). MSX Video.

Matt's 10

Matt McGinley (USA) scored 10 seconds on 27 Jun 2001 on the Dreamboard and recorded it on video using Camtasia. His previous record was a 14 also made on the Dreamboard and he had watched the video many times. However, he had not practiced the board or manipulated Board Cycles to obtain the game. The 10 was his only sub20 of the day, and except for the 14 he had no sub16 games. It was accepted as the World Record for several years but was removed from the ranking when the Bestever moved to Planet Minesweeper in 2004. Before he retired he made an 11 on 16 Apr 2002, but it was also on the Dreamboard, with 1 mine shifted due to the first click. However, he does have 12x4 on legitimate boards (one of which is a shift of the Dreamboard).

Possible Records

Jake Warner was a talented player who submitted many world records. Due to his exceptionally quick progress and skill he was asked to make videos on Clone to support his Arbiter scores. Unfortunately, the way this was done implied he was a cheater and he quit the community in protest. As a result he was removed from the rankings. His scores are most likely legitimate and could require rewriting many of the record histories.

• 10 (9.49) - Jake Warner (USA) on 23 Jul 2006 (3BV=34). Arbiter video.
• 9 (8.89) - Jake Warner (USA) on 30 Aug 2006 (3BV=32). Arbiter video.

Expert

Expert records have been kept since 1996 but it was not until 2000 that dates were recorded. Attempts are ongoing to trace scores prior to Authoritative Minesweeper.

Official History

• 51 - Lasse Nyholm on 29 Dec 2000 (3BV=142). Screenshot.
• 50 - Lasse Nyholm on 09 Jan 2001.
• 47 - Lasse Nyholm on 14 Jan 2001 (3BV=112). Screenshot.
• 44 - Lasse Nyholm on 20 Jun 2001 (3BV=125). Screenshot.
• 43 - Lasse Nyholm on 23 Aug 2002 (3BV=109). Screenshot.
• 42 - Lasse Nyholm on 23 Oct 2002 (3BV=124). Screenshot.
• 41 - Lasse Nyholm on 07 Dec 2002 (3BV=122). Camtasia video.
• 39 (38.84) - Oliver Scheer (Germany) on 11 Dec 2004 (3BV=115). Clone video.
• 39 (38.52) - Dion Tiu (Australia) on 14 Jan 2005 (3BV=134). Clone video.
• 38 (37.589) - Dion Tiu on 09 May 2006 (3BV=143). Clone video.
• 38 (37.364) - Dion Tiu on 03 Dec 2006 (3BV=126). Clone video.
• 37 (36.775) - Dion Tiu on 12 Apr 2007 (3BV=136). Clone video.
• 36 (35.702) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 27 Mar 2009 (3BV=124). Clone video.
• 35 (34.654) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 02 Sep 2009 (3BV=130). Clone video.
• 33 (32.95) - Ian Fraser (UK) on 29 Sep 2009 (3BV=102). Arbiter video.
• 32 (31.898) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 15 Jun 2010 (3BV=103). Clone video.
• 32 (31.133) - Kamil Murański (Poland) on 3 Jul 2010 (3BV=109). Clone video.

Earlier Records

• 68 - Ruben Spaans (Norway) on 18 Nov 1994.
• 67 - Ruben Spaans on 10 Aug 1995.
• 64 - Ruben Spaans on 03 Oct 1995.
• 63 - Ruben Spaans on 03 Nov 1995.
• 61 - Ruben Spaans on 06 Dec 1995. He supplied pictures, dates and a biography to the Expert World Records site but the site hosting the pictures no longer exists.
• 59 - Scott Sukenick (USA) on 13 Feb 1997. Screenshot. Previous best was a 65. He supplied pictures, dates and a biography to the Expert World Records site.
• 57 - Håkan Lindell (Sweden) sometime before 17 Jan 1998. No evidence but was ranked on the Expert World Records site. Claimed best three scores of 57, 58, 58.
• 55 - Lasse Nyholm (Denmark) on 26 Jan 2000. Previous best was 59.
• 53 - Lasse Nyholm on 27 May 2000.
• 52 - Vincent Yeh on 15 Jun 2000 (3BV=98). 3BV limits not yet invented.

Possible Earlier Records

• 55 - Ricardo Galleti (Brazil) a few days before 07 May 1996. Almost certainly a timer error or fake as his best three scores happened to be a 55, 66 and 77. He was ranked on Expert World Records and defended his scores on the Minesweeper The Unofficial Page. Several people called for him to be removed from the ranking.
• 58 - Christer Vindberg (Denmark) sometime before 17 Jan 1998. No evidence exists but listed on the Expert World Records site. Best three scores supposedly 58, 66 and 74 which suggests either very lucky or caused by a timer error. He may have achieved this score before Håkan Lindell made 57, but considering Håkan had 58x2 before making 57 it is likely Håkan was first to break 59.
• 58 - Vincent Yeh (Taiwan) made 58 sometime in 1998. Picture has been lost and exact date unknown, but Vincent is a legitimate and proven player. He retired with 2-14-50. If the 57 by Håkan Lindell is rejected then Vincent either tied Christer or, if Christer is not accepted, then he was first to beat 59.
• 51 - Chris Paradise (USA) before 17 Jan 1998. No evidence but was ranked on the Expert World Records site. He created the Intermediate World Records site and appears to be legitimate. His best three scores were listed as 51, 54 and 63 which suggests luck or timer errors.