CellSweeper

BY PYTHON & VBA

A little break, one cell at a time.

CellSweeper brings the classic minesweeper puzzle to real Excel worksheet cells. No account, subscription, macros, or external service key is required.

Start a game

  1. Open the CellSweeper add-in in an editable Excel workbook.
  2. Choose Beginner (9 × 9, 10 mines), Intermediate (16 × 16, 40 mines), or Expert (30 × 16, 99 mines).
  3. Select Create new worksheet. Each board gets a separate worksheet. Existing sheets are preserved.
  4. Click a covered tile in the worksheet. Your first reveal and its neighboring cells are safe.

Read the board

A number counts mines in the eight surrounding cells, including diagonals. Empty areas open automatically. Reveal every safe cell to win. Boards are random and may require a guess.

Switch to Flag in the pane to mark suspected mines. Clicking a flag again in Flag mode removes it. You can place up to the board’s mine count. Right-click retains Excel’s normal menu.

For keyboard play, move the Excel selection using arrow keys, then use Actions for selected cell in the pane. Selecting a cell alone does not reveal it. Open around reveals neighbors of a number when the adjacent flag count matches; incorrect flags can trigger a mine.

Start over or restore

New game resets the current worksheet at the same difficulty. Confirm Start over to replace a game in progress. To choose another difficulty, select it and use Create new worksheet.

Restore saved board repaints the current board from its saved state and keeps saved progress. It does not start a new puzzle.

Save and resume

Keep the pane open while playing. Moves are stored in the board’s worksheet metadata. Save the workbook as .xlsx or .xlsm to retain the game; CSV cannot store game state. Select a saved board’s worksheet and reopen CellSweeper to continue. Use one Excel session per board.

The timer keeps running when you close the pane or switch worksheets. Use Pause to stop the clock. Creating a new board pauses the previous active game automatically. Best completion times are stored locally on this browser/device and may not persist if local storage is disabled.

Requirements

Excel on Windows, Mac, or the web with ExcelApi 1.12 support. A current Microsoft 365 version is recommended. An internet connection is needed to load the add-in. After loading, game logic runs locally; Excel on the web still needs its normal connection.

Troubleshooting

If Excel is busy, finish editing a cell or close any open dialog. If a move fails, use Restore saved board to restore the display from saved game state. A reload may discard the last move if it did not save. Workbook structure protection and read-only mode prevent creating boards.

The game sheet is protected without a password to prevent accidental typing. Do not change its layout or add your own sheet password while playing. To remove a game, delete its worksheet using Excel. CellSweeper never deletes worksheets itself.

For help, contact Python & VBA and mention CellSweeper, your Excel version, and what happened. Please avoid sharing sensitive workbook data.

Local preview

Try the browser preview. It simulates the worksheet for demonstration; install the add-in to play in real Excel cells.