[SamBam]

I'm still a little confused. A monster of strength X seems to make me lose X HP and gain X gold.

The first level is easy. I have 5 HP, and I need 5 gold to level up, so I kill monsters worth 5 and I gain enough gold to level up.

But after that I need more gold than I have HP to spend. There's the odd heart, which gives me more HP, but there don't seem to be enough hearts to make up the difference.

Edit: Ok, I got it now. Like minesweeper, it requires careful exploration of safe areas in order to gain those hearts and chests that are needed to bridge the gaps between HP and XP.

I got to level 13, then misclicked.

[Arnavion]

There are enough hearts. Hint: You have to prioritize revealing squares to find those hearts over killing enemies whose strength you've already identified. Also make sure to pace out your level ups and heart usage because they always heal you to full.

[o11c]

* Scroll of HP (use these only after exhausting other ways to level up)

* Treasure chest (beware of mimics) containing the above or XP directly

* Walls cost a random amount of HP (despite registering as 0 for adjacent counts) but grant a random amount of XP. I suspect that getting a good score requires getting lucky and hitting a low-HP high-XP wall early, to stretch your score just a little bit further

* There's a gnome(?) that costs 0 HP but gives 10 XP

* Once you find the scroll of anti-mine, you get a lot of XP from picking up the leftover mines

But yes, many games are unwinnable.

[h0l0cube]

Observing patterns when dead is also useful for subsequent games (a cryptic clues in the monsternomicon on the bottom right of the screen)

> But yes, many games are unwinnable.

Below the game: "Yes, the board can be cleared."

[Arnavion]

Yes if you play optimally every game is winnable with a full clear. If you make some mistakes you can still win but not get a full clear. If you make too many mistakes it may become unwinnable.

[o11c]

It's impossible to play optimally, because you have no way of knowing which combination of monsters for the first 5 and 6 HP will reveal a scroll of HP to let you continue. You're dependent largely on luck.

[Arnavion]

There is an optimal way to play even for the first 11 XP as well as onwards and will always give you enough health scrolls / level ups to continue.

FYI I've played probably a couple of hundred games at this point (since a week ago when I found it) and have not found any unwinnable one.

[unsnap_biceps]

So what is the optimal way for the first 11 XP? I've found that I'm often left with a 50/50 on which one is which.