Canary Strategy: Dig the Tiles the Numbers Prove Safe
In Canary every safe tile you dig adds to your pile, and a mine takes the whole pile. The habit that wins: when a number proves a tile safe, dig it, before you guess and before you bank. A player with this habit beats the same player without it in 80% of games.
1Read the numbers before you guess
A number tells you how many mines touch that tile. Mines that someone has already hit stay on the board, so you can count them. When a number already has all of its mines beside it, the rest of the tiles around it can't be mines. They're free points.
2Don't bank while a safe tile shows
Banking ends your turn. If a number is showing you a safe tile, banking hands that free tile to the next player. Dig it first, then decide.
3When no tile is safe
Then every dig is a guess, and when to stop depends on how big your pile is and how risky the guess looks. We tested banking rules too, and none was right for every player: the rule that worked best for a strong player lost for everyone else. So this page doesn't give one.
4How we know
We played 4,000 matches for each line below through our own game engine. Two players who differ only in this habit: both guess the same way and bank once their pile reaches 8, but only one digs the safe tiles first. The one with the habit took every seat in turn on the same boards.
| Players | Wins with the habit | A fair share |
|---|---|---|
| 2 (one each) | 80% | 50% |
| 3 (one with it, two without) | 76% | 33% |
| 4 (one with it, three without) | 76% | 25% |
Strong players need it too. A player who works out every safe tile on the board still beats the same player who banks while one shows in 83% of games.
Our rules: 6 × 6 tiles, 9 to 14 mines (set by a dice roll at the start of each board), one board per player. A safe tile scores 1, 2 on a lit line and 3 where the lines cross. Hit a mine and you lose your pile. Highest total wins.
Play Canary