Minesweeper: The Movie

Minesweeper

That's right you heard me Minesweeper. For those of you who ever been bored on your computer and you had no Internet access, you know what minesweeper is. You might be saying to yourself, "No, he can't mean. . ." but I'm here to tell you yes I do mean. . . The game from the PC startmenu-programs-games-MINESWEEPER has been turned into a movie trailer! You might think who in their right mind would make a game about that? From the same people who bought us Street Fighter: The Later Years and GummiBears: The Movie, our friends from CollegeHumor, that's who!

Never Heard of Minesweeper?

Minesweeper is a computer game requiring the player to locate mines in a minefield without being blown up. The game screen is made up of gray squares. If you click on a square with nothing there, it will clear out any area where their aren't any mines. This will reveal the numbers around the game area showing you where the mines could possibly be. If you click on a mine, the game is over. You can use the right mouse button to click to where you believe the mines are. If you find them all, you win This is how I understand the game to be played; however, you can see a more detailed and clear explanation of the game at Wikipedia. I warn you though, it's kind of long.

Here's a way to try and solve the puzzle, also found on Wikipedia:

Single-Square analysis

There are two special cases that are of extra interest when solving a board that can be solved using analysis of only one square and its surrounding squares^[2]

• If the amount of unopened squares surrounding a number is equal to that number, those unopened squares must all be mines.

If, for a number on the board, the amount of mines adjacent represented by that number can all be found, then every other square that is not known to be a mine must be safe


Plot


The movie is about a particular troupe of soldiers who are, as you may have already guessed, minesweepers. It starts of showing the commanding officer addressing the unit in preparation for their mission. The soldiers are equipped with Shovels and red flags. If they think there's a bomb in an area, then they stand and wave their red flag. We get a scene with the minesweepers working around the numbers (two's and three's) trying to find a bomb. A voice over gives a brief explanation on how to play minesweeper (find a bomb) depending on what number you see, and someone asks what to do if they see the number eight. The response was: Then GOD help us all.


Criticisms


This is spoof trailer is a fun little escape from reality. They offer the promise of a good plot, dynamic characters, and an excellent setting all the things you need for a good movie. However, this trailer is truly worthy of minesweeper because it pokes fun at itself and those who play that game and realize it's just a way to pass the time. The video is less than two long but it provides hours of entertainment. Take a look and see for yourself: