Mines — Stake Original Guide

Overview

Mines is a 5×5 grid of tiles. You set the number of mines (1–24) before each round. You then click tiles one at a time; each safe tile reveals a gem and increases your multiplier. Click a mine — you lose your bet. Cash out at any time.

The math is exact and elegant: the multiplier after revealing g gems with m mines on a 25-tile grid is multiplier = (1 − house_edge) × C(25, g) / C(25 − m, g), where C(n, k) is the binomial coefficient. Probability of safely revealing g gems is P = C(25 − m, g) / C(25, g).

The "best" Mines strategy

There is no optimal stop point that beats the house edge. Whether you stop at gem 1 or gem 20, your EV is identical: −1% × bet. The math identity is exact. Strategies are about variance management, not edge.

Lower mines + lower gem target = higher hit rate, lower payout, lower variance. Higher mines + higher gem target = lower hit rate, higher payout, higher variance. Same EV.

The most popular setup — 3 mines, cash out after 4–5 gems — gives a hit rate around 60–67% with a multiplier around 1.94×–2.43×. It feels good because wins are frequent and payouts decent. But every other setup gives the same long-run loss rate.