Microsoft Treasure Hunt – General Patterns

Microsoft Treasure Hunt Strategy Guide

• Introduction and General Strategies
• General Patterns
• Row Patterns
• Corner Patterns
• Specific Patterns
• Subtraction
• Chording
• Analysis
• Level 86 Walk Through

General Patterns

You can play more quickly by recognizing patterns on the grid that you have solved before, rather than analyzing them anew each time. If traps are next to an exposed square, a count of all the traps is shown. If there is no count, then there is no adjacent trap.

Remember, if the trap count equals the number of exposed (or correctly flagged) traps plus the number of unexposed squares, then each unexposed square must be a trap. Flag them. If the number of exposed traps equals the trap count, then all unexposed adjacent squares cannot be traps. Enter and expose them.  (Note: In Tablet Mode, just tapping on the trap count, once all traps are exposed or flagged, will expose the safe grid squares.)

The pattern 1

This is the simplest and often the most powerful pattern. The rule is that if a “1”  appears next to a trap, then no other square adjacent to it can be a trap. Here’s an example:

Because there is a trap next to the 1, then no other square adjacent to the 1 can have a trap. You may safely click on these two squares to expose them. (Note: In Tablet Mode, just tapping on the “1” will chord the region and expose the adjacent squares.)

After exposing the two indicated squares in the preceding example, the board looks like:

On this part of the grid, one can observe that there are two traps next to the 2, so the other two adjacent squares are safe to expose. Keep in mind that counting works “around corners” as in the following example where the indicated square can be safely exposed.