Ember Mines

How to play

A little further. Or enough for now.

1. Choose 10, 20, 50 or 100 simulated FORTY and start a round. Your practice units are taken once. Three of 25 tiles contain mines, chosen uniformly and saved at the start.
2. Open one tile at a time. A safe tile reveals an amber crystal. After at least one safe tile, Collect FORTY ends the round with the displayed total return.
3. A mine ends the round with zero returned. Finding all 22 safe tiles automatically settles that accepted round at the final return. A new round never starts automatically.

There are no hints, adjacent-mine counts, bonus tiles or changed layouts. Every unopened tile has the same risk. With k safe tiles open, the next tile has (22−k)/(25−k) chance of being safe. The first is 22/25 (88%).

Total return includes the original FORTY. With k safe tiles, it is the whole-number floor of FORTY played × 24/25 × C(25,3)/C(25−k,3). Fractions are rounded down once at collection; no intermediate rounding. For example, one safe tile with 10 FORTY returns 10, net 0. A displayed offer is only available if you choose Collect before a mine.

There are C(25,3)=2,300 equally likely layouts. For any fixed stopping count, the theoretical average return is at most 96% of FORTY played after rounding. This describes the mathematics across all layouts, not a session guarantee or a fairness audit. Your balance and previous results do not change the next layout.

Check board or reload reads your saved layout and choices without opening another tile, collecting or taking FORTY again. If a response is unclear, check before another action. Keep the essential game cookie; clearing it can lose access. End new rounds blocks future starts for that session, while an already accepted board may still be finished. There is no automatic refill.