1.1.18 Guide

> Special Thanks to the previous guide made 1 year ago by [shellymek](https://www.speedrun.com/users/shellymek) and a few YouTube tutorials I'll share here that helped me understand all the hidden rules of the game, this game is fun to play before you know all the rules as well and I recommend players try at least 20 attempts before looking up any help, just to see what you can learn on your own.
> New version:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyK02-4iQx8
> 
> Old version :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZScvWZ35A

# Step 1: Playing the game

All versions of the game are playable at: [https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper](https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper)

You can also play just the older version of the game here:

- [Dragonsweeper.com](https://dragonsweeper.com/)
- [DragonSweeper.org](https://dragonsweeper.org/)

The itch.io page gives you the option to play older versions or the most current version and it gives you the option to download the game or play it on the website, I'd recommend starting with the web browser since you might not want to keep the game on your PC taking up any space or whatever.

Fun fact, the actual name is "Dragonsweeper" with no space between the words, and if you web search "Dragon Sweeper" actually an entirely different game will pop up that you can play for free on itch.io as well.

# Step 2: The Basic Rules

If you click on the purple book on the bottom right of the game screen, it will give you a brief explanation of the rules, along with a picture to demonstrate how the numbers calculate the value of the squares it touches.

The most important rule the game doesn't explain well- is the fact you can level up once you claim enough Gold. In order to level up you must collect enough Gold to fill in every diamond shaped space beneath your HP. Once all of them are full the character "Jorge" with play a special animation to indicate he is ready to level up. When clicking on him to level up you get a special animation and all your HP restores back to full.

Every 2 levels your HP increases by +1, which is indicated by a small heart that will show up during the level right before your HP will increase. Note that using a heart scroll to heal does NOT count as a level up, and does NOT increase max HP, only restores HP back to full.

The Purple Book has your "Monsternomicon" and will also keep track of how many of each monster is left per game but doesn't show the following:

- Beholders x 2
- Walls x 6
- Dragon Egg x 1
- Starting Blue Orb x 1

# Step 3: Special Rules

This is a list of all the special rules the monsters follow. I listed them from what I believe is the simplest rules to the most complex rules:

- There are 12 Bats [2] and 10 Skeletons [3] that appear to have no special rules about them and spawn randomly across the grid.
- There is only 1 Dragon [13] which always spawns in the exact same spot near the center of the grid.
- There is only 1 Dragon Egg [0] which always spawns touching the Dragon [13] and when claimed gives 3 Gold.
- There's only 1 Bomb Wizard [10] which can only appear in 1 of the 4 corner tiles.
- There's 9 Bombs [100/0] that are deactivated once the Bomb Wizard is claimed [10] becoming worth 0 instead of 100. Unless flagged, the deactivated mines that have not been revealed by a blue orb [0] will take on the appearance of an unidentified tile. While Bombs [100/0] become worth 0 points after deactivated, if you claim a deactivated Bomb [100/0], it still gives 3 Gold similar to the Dragon Egg [0]
- There's only 1 Mimic Chest [11] appears as a normal treasure chest upon first clicking it and is still properly accounted for in the surrounding numbers touching it.
- There are 5 Minotaur [6] that will always guard their chests facing away from them at first but then reacting with a surprised look at their chest when you claim their chest. Also, the Mimic Chest [11] doesn't follow this rule since it isn't a normal chest. 
- The 4 Knights [7] always spawn one in each quadrant of the grid. Quadrants are determined by drawing a line through the Dragon [13] horizontally and vertically.
- Romeo and Juliet [9] always spawn horizontally mirrored from each other. The Mirror is determined by the exact middle 7th column- which is the same column as the Dragon [13].
- There are 6 Walls [1/1/1] and they always spawn in adjacent pairs. However, any given pair will NEVER touch another pair of walls. Walls can be damaged incrementally and cost 3 total Hearts to destroy but they only give 1 Gold when claimed. 
- There are 8 Gargoyles [4] and they are always in adjacent pairs. They ALWAYS appear facing the other one in the pair- which is indicated by their red eyes. Looking down is 2 red eyes, looking up is 0 red eyes, looking left is 1 red eye on the left, and looking right is 1 red eye on the right.
- There's 13 Rats [1] which all hint to the location of the Rat King [5], assuming he is not yet slain.
When in the same column as the Rat King [5], the rats stand at attention. When in a different column, the rats will face their King.
- There is only 1 Rat King [5]. After claiming the Rat King, the position of all remaining rats is revealed, and they all stand up.
- The 5 Purple Slime [8] always appear in a 5-tile wall touching the Slime Wizard [1] and at least 2 (sometimes 3) are always touching the edge of the grid.
- There's only 1 Slime Wizard [1] that follows very specific rules since Purple Slime [8] only appear in tiles touching to the Slime Wizard [1].  It will always appear "trapped" against an edge and cannot appear on a corner.  Claiming the Slime Wizard [1] reveals the location of all remaining Green Slime [5], and Purple Slime [8].
- There's 2 Beholders [5] that create question marks on any tile in a crosshair pattern centered on a Beholder [5]. Initially the question marks only appear on empty tiles, but they will appear on more tiles you clear near a Beholder [5]. Any time you claim one, all the nearby question marks will disappear unless there is another Beholder [5] close by, in which case you'd have to clear both in order to remove all the question marks.
- There's only 1 Gnome [0] when clicked always escapes to any unclaimed empty tile. While the game doesn't track empty tiles for you in the "Monsternomicon" the number of empty tiles is 28 and once you claim the final one it will force the Gnome [0] to be able to be claimed on that final empty tile- giving you 9 Gold.

# Step 4: Other Rules

- There is no monster worth [12]
- SHIFT + D for debug mode
- The game grid is 130 squares 10 x 13 with no exact vertical center square, but the exact horizontal middle is the 7th column, and the Dragon [13] always spawns on the 7th column and the 5th row from the top.
- Knights [7] will never spawn on the same row or column as the Dragon [13] since the Dragon [13] is the center that divides the quadrants of the grid.
- Romeo and Juliet [9] can NEVER be in the middle 7th column since they must always be facing each other horizontally and must be mirrored horizontally across the grid. 
- The starting Blue Orb [0] revealing crosshair never contains the other Blue Orb Scroll [0], Minotaur Chests [0], Mimic Chest [11], Bombs [100/0], Rat King [5], Beholders [5], Bomb Wizard [10], Purple Slime [8], Slime Wizard [1], Dragon [13], or Dragon Egg, BUT it will always contains exactly 1 Heart Scroll [0] and can reveal anywhere between 0-6 empty tiles.
- The other Blue Orb Scroll [0] reveals a 3 x 3 area touching a random Bomb [100/0] and by leaving only 1 Bomb [100/0] left unclaimed it will be forced to reveal the area near that one (if there are no bombs left it appears to select a spot touching where a bomb used to be) also sometimes if a bomb is on the edge of the grid when revealed by the blue orb is only reveals a 2 x 3 area instead of a 3 x 3.
- Minotaur [6] NEVER have a chest on the space above or below them, (unless it's a mimic) and are always 3 gold chests [0] that reward 5 Gold each, and 2 heart chests [0] with a heart scroll. Also, the only time I've seen chests ever touch each other is when there is a mimic present. I'm 90% sure chests will never naturally spawn touching each other. 
- The "Monsternomicon" counts the 2 Minotaur Heart Chests [0] plus Romeo and Juliet [9] in the total for the amount of Heart Scrolls [0], so really there 5 default Heart Scrolls [0], plus 2 Minotaur Chest Heart Scrolls [0], plus 2 more Heart Scrolls [0] from Romeo and Juliet [9] to give the total of 9 Heart Scrolls [0] that it shows.
- It's impossible to reach level 16 and the Gold required to level up caps off at 25 during level 11. Every level the amount of Gold required to level up increases as follows:
- level 5 (4/5)
- level 6 (7/9)
- level 7 (9/10)
- level 8 (12/12)
- level 9 (12/15)
- level 10 (18/21)
- level 11 (21/25)
- level 12 (25/25)
- level 13 (25/25)
- level 14 (25/25)
- level 15 (25/25)

Basic Patterns / Hints

While I do consider part of the charm of this Minesweeper variant to be figuring the nuances out for oneself, guides save time and offer insight.  I posted this soon after this page was created on speedrun since nothing had been posted yet, and may update later. I did not include rules and basic gameplay.

You are viewing guide version 1.2.
Edited guess about how the gnome's placement works.  Also revised assumption regarding purple slime placement rules.


# Dragonsweeper by Daniel Benmergui

Browser game is playable at

https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper

- The Mimic[10] appears as a normal treasure chest, but is still properly accounted for in the surrounding numbers (indicator tiles).

![](/static/blob/5nggjx4n.png)

- The Rats[1] hint to the location of the Rat King[5], assuming he is not yet slain.  
When in the same column, the rats stand at attention.
(The rat on the left In the image is standing on its hind legs.)
When in a different column, the rats will face their King.

- The Rat King is one of the leader tiles.  After claiming the points of a slain leader, the position of related enemies are revealed all at once (assuming there are any left to be revealed) with the exception of the Mines[100].  
- In the case of Mines, they are deactivated once the Mine Wizard's scroll is claimed[11].
Since only active threats are represented in the numbers of adjacent indicator tiles, claiming their scroll subtracts their value from all revealed totals.  Unless flagged, the deactivated mines that have not been revealed by a blue sphere will take on the appearance of an unidentified tile.
Claiming a deactivated Mine is worth 2 diamonds.

The Slime Wizard follows specific placement rules. It will only appear on an edge.  The slime Wizard will not appear on a corner (at least not that I have ever seen).  It is always surrounded by the higher level Purple Slime[8]. Purple Slime only appear in tiles adjacent to the Slime Wizard and CAN include a corner of the board.
Claiming the Slime Wizard's scroll reveals the location of all Green Slime[5], as well as any remaining Purple Slime.
![](/static/blob/qzppk6rz.png)

In this picture, I have enough information to deduce the location of both the Slime Wizard[1] and the Bomb Wizard[11].

*Side Note:*
*Why can we see them in this screenshot?*
*By coincidence, one of the blue sphere's happened to spawn by a corner.*
*I had planned to use that run for screen captures when I started it.  I kinda wished I had been using it for a speed run because that would have been a sweet setup.*

![](/static/blob/oeo0oq0e.png)

## Other placement rules

- The Bomb Wizard[11] can only appear in a corner tile. There is only 1 per game.
- Purple Slime[8] only appear in a halo around the Slime Wizard[1].
- Skeletons[4] are always in pairs (can be vertical or horizontal).
In the image below, the marked 4 and the tile to the left are both
4 point tiles.  The tile above the Bat[2] has nothing in it.
Even though different number combinations can add up to 10, since the tile
above the brick wall that is just left of the 9 indicator tile has to be
worth 4, and tiles that are worth 4 ALWAYS appear in adjacent
pairs, the tile above the 10 is also worth 4.
![](/static/blob/1n7jxk5n.png)

In this second example,

![](/static/blob/7n63yoxn.png)

Since tiles worth 4 points ALWAYS appear in adjacent pairs, thanks to the 6, the 2nd 4 has to be above the Gargoyle[4].

- I originally thought (as posted in version 1.0)
The Gnome[0/rewards diamonds] is the only tile that does not exist in the beginning of the game. It can only appear on a tile with no indicators.  There is a limited number of those.
It can only be 'caught' after a certain number are revealed.
The game keeps track of how many tiles without indicators there are when the game is generated.  Upon revealing an empty tile there are occasions where 'the gnome is running' sound effect is played. You may have heard it play and wondered why since nothing happens, but that's the game playing with you ;) Alternatively, perhaps the gnome really is on the board and it really is moving, since the player is prevented from catching them until it is 'cornered', but from a programming perspective, this is less likely.  At some point, I may actually look at the code and update.

![](/static/blob/rnq20dmn.png)

After having a gnome revealed when clicking a blue sphere in a treasure chest with a large portion of the board left, I have to assume the gnome really is moving around.
![](/static/blob/yzrmwlre.png)

The order in which tiles are claimed combined with the use of leveling up Jorge vs using a heart scroll is the factor that determines whether the player will have enough available health for a full clear.  The final points at the end are determined by how much is completed before slaying the Dragon.  Timing of speed runs may not be related to a 'perfect' clear since the game can be completed as a win as soon as the player accrues 15 hearts necessary for slaying the Final Boss.

Max Stamps (Tips)

Note: I am not an experienced speedrunner. I casually speedrun this category for this game, and these are things I've picked up on personally and strategies that I've picked up on.

General (not entirely specific to Max Stamps, but still good to keep in mind for this category)

- Avoiding using Heart Banners when you could instead find gold or detonated mines to level up with. You get more out of each Heart Banner if you use them once you have more hearts.
- Making the best of your hearts is important, but try not to prioritize that over speed. Using two remaining hearts on attacking a wall is better than spending several seconds trying to find a bat to attack if you can’t find one right away. (Do as I say, not as I do.)
- If it’s not a 1 or 9, don’t waste too much time marking the specific numbers of unknown tiles, especially if it’s easy to figure out what the amount is at just a glance. (Do as I say, not as I do!!)
- Especially once you’ve used the Mines Banner, if you have enough Heart Banners, you should try to level up to 13 hearts as fast as possible and not worry much about being “suboptimal” with how you use your hearts. (Just be careful not to die in the process!)

Advice specific to Max Stamps:

- Try to find the Rat King as quickly as possible. It’s very easy to attack a rat on accident when they’re only worth one point (compared to Romeo and Juliet, who are always going to have a high amount of points for tiles to detect, and the egg, which will always be a tile adjacent to the Dragon). Having a good run killed by a rat is agony.
- Finding the Slime King and using the Slime Banner can be useful for finding the Rat King, since the Rat King is the only enemy worth 5 points that is not a slime. After using the Slime Banner, if an unknown tile is worth 5 points, that’s the Minotaur.
- If you’re like me and you struggle to remember to avoid the Dragon Egg, mark the Dragon’s surroundings with a few question marks or 12s as a reminder to yourself.
- When you haven’t used the Rat Banner yet, try to avoid spaces that you don’t know the amount of if they could be rats.

Ideal Starts

With the amount of trial-and-error needed for this run, you might want to just go forward with games that look promising after clicking the crystal ball (Though it's not the best to stop and judge that before playing, more that if you've been clicking around a bit and haven't come across anything great, you may as well reset. I hope that makes sense). Here’s how I judge that:

- If a rat is pointing up, that’s great since it shows you where the Rat King is right away. If a rat is looking towards a side of the screen where there aren’t many tiles (e.g. a rat is on the third column and is looking left), that’s pretty good too. If the rats are looking away from a side of the screen where there aren’t many tiles (e.g. a rat is on the third column and is looking right) or if your starting area has no rats at all, that tells you very little about where the Rat King is, and means rats could be a big problem, so it’s probably more worth skipping.
- One or more Minotaurs in the starting area is great, since they guide you towards chests right away. Heart Banners are also handy.
- Romeo or Juliet being visible right away is handy, but not the most important thing, as they’re not too hard to find and avoid as the game goes along.
- Optimizing your use of hearts isn’t the most important, but if the start is extremely suboptimal (e.g. you only see skeletons and rats, so you only use 3 of your 5 hearts for the first two level-ups) that’s probably not the best start and could come back to bite later, so it might not be worth going forward with.

Here's some examples.

![](/static/blob/7e9go65n.png)![](/static/blob/ynl7k13z.png)![](/static/blob/qnyk943z.png)

Hopefully some of this is useful! If any mods want me to change something or move this over to a thread instead, just let me know.

Running old versions locally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itw7PBYqlqE

Biksel

eqp8wpk5

shellymek

TTurbo

mikeshark

Dragonsweeper

Lyren

errorpaint

1.1.10 1.1.13/1.1.15

1.1.16

1.1.17

1.0.0

1.1.18

1.1.12

The version the game was played on, as major changes happened between v1.0 and v1.1.

Name	Autor
1.1.18 Guide	TTurbo 2 months ago
Basic Patterns / Hints	shellymek 1 year ago
Max Stamps (Tips)	mikeshark 1 month ago
Running old versions locally	Biksel 1 year ago