To you, Minesweeper may be a casual gaming relic, but to a small band of hardcore fans, it’s a competitive scene as hotly contested as any Call of Duty or StarCraft leaderboard.
Despite being a game synonymous with Windows 3.1 and XP, and one that hasn’t exactly been culturally relevant for a while now, Minesweeper retains a community focused on the site minesweeper.info, which acts as a high score keeper for players around the world.
Poland’s Kamil Muranski, for example, is currently the world’s top-ranked player, and also holder of most of the game’s world records. It’s also the place for competitive Minesweeper players to meet, hang out and discuss tactics. Fittingly for the scene, this isn’t done via Facebook or even a forum; it’s done via a Guestbook, as though 1997 had never ended.
There have even been tournaments held in Eastern Europe, with top players all sitting in the one room and facing off against one another.
There’s a fascinating interview up on the subject over on Second Person Shooter if you want to learn more.
The little-known world of competitive Minesweeper [Second Person Shooter, via PC Gamer] [pic: matsch-klon]
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