A HexSweeper grid, with flags on all but one mine.
HexSweeper is a minigame that can be played on the Darkmoon Arcade Console at the Darkmoon Faire.
When the game is launched, a grid of hexagons will appear on the ground behind the console. A number of hexagon tiles, as indicated by a counter at the top of the grid, are "mined" and will explode if the player runs over them, resulting in instant death (and a subsequent corpse run).
Running over any other tile will cause it to display the number of mines adjacent to it. The goal is to use these number hints to find the locations of the mined tiles and click on them to place a white flag. Once all the mines are flagged and all the safe tiles are revealed, you win.
Console text[]
Note: Initially, only level 1 can be chosen. The first time each level is completed, the text displayed on the console will progress and the next level will be added to the available options.
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LEVEL 1
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This mysterious arcane console lights up under the touch of your hand. Page after page of instructions flitter across the central panel. The language is unclear, but the iconography is self-apparent: Lots of skulls.
This is HexSweeper, a most dangerous game wherein one must traverse an arcane mind field and identify all of the booby-trapped areas. Instant death rewards the slightest misstep.
You wonder why anyone would want to do this for fun.
(Level 1) Begin the game.
Decipher the rules
Return to main console.
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LEVEL 2
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The console beeps and chirps, recognizing you by the touch of your hand. The rules appear to have changed, and the pictographs now indicate that there is a timer involved.
Penalty for not completing the puzzle in time seems to be pain rather than death. That's nice.
(Level 2) Begin the game. (5 min time limit)
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LEVEL 3
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The console greets you warmly, despite its repeated attempts to murder you.
The symbols related to the next level of challenge seem to indicate that you should be expecting fewer hints, less time, and more mines.
(Level 3) Begin the game. (4.5 min time limit)
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LEVEL 4
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The console responds to your familiar touch, lighting up a series of hexagonal patterns and playing happy music.
It is difficult to interpret the ancient symbols that crawl across the central display, but your understanding of the next difficulty level is that the majority of players who attempt it are mercilessly killed.
(Level 4) Begin the game. (4 min time limit)
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MAXIMUM DIFFICULTY
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The console hums and whistles as you place your hand on it. The central display flashes with a never-ending cascade of glyphs, most accompanied by skulls or faces with "X"s over the eyes.
Happy music plays. Is the console wishing you good luck with the most difficult challenge? Or is it saying goodbye?
(Level 5) Begin the game. (3.5 min time limit)
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HEXSWEEPER CHAMPION
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The console's central display winks, flashes, and whirrs. Two eyes and a smile appear where once there was promise of certain death.
A cheerful tune plays. It sounds like that song you can't get out of your head. For a single frame, the image flashes. Was that a skull and crossbones? Unlikely. The activation console is your friend.
Choose your difficulty. Enjoy the game.
(Level X) Do not press button. (3 min time limit)
Decipher the rules[]
You do your best to interpret the pictographs and ignore the persistent warnings about instantaneous death.
The HexSweeper console will generate a hexagonal grid, sensitive to one's footsteps. Several of the hexagons are "mined" and will obliterate the player. Alternatively, stepping on a "safe" tile will reveal the count of adjacent mines.
The object is to "clear" the field by revealing all of the safe tiles and by marking all of the dangerous ones with the little white flags provided.
It's unclear why the game feels it necessary to murder players who step on the wrong tile.
Trivia[]
- HexSweeper is based on Minesweeper.