[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.

[o11c]

I've found I have at least 75% success with the following strategy:

* if at any point the rat king becomes visible (directly or via using the warlock scroll to identify all other 5s), activate it as soon as possible

* don't worry about leaving 1 and 2 enemies for the endgame; there's 16HP worth of walls to play with. (do however worry about leaving 1 and 2 enemies for the immediate following turn)

* if you can figure out where the warlock is, use it as one of your 1s

* make your 5 out of as many small numbers (known or constrained) as possible, even if this means not leaving a certain combination that makes 6.

* if you know "these squares must add up to N", clicking one of them is better than clicking a known N, and clicking a known N on the perimeter is better than clicking a known N that won't reveal any knowledge to you.

(for example, in a game I just started, revealed enemies are 21333 2467, but I have 16=2+4+6 + three unknowns, so I start there)

* aggressively expand toward areas with known 0s, you might get the ?gnome or a treasure chest containing XP (the mimic is no threat if you're paying attention and deal with gazers)

* whenever you use a scroll of HP, always do one that will reveal new information

* if you find the scroll of orb, use it immediately only if it's the very beginning of the game; otherwise leave it until you're lacking information and don't have any suspected 0s (if you have "100" next to 2 squares, it might choose that instead of a more useful 0 elsewhere on the map)

* work towards at least 3 of the corners so that you can kill the lich as soon as you reach 11HP. But before activating the scroll, make sure to flag (or at least constrain the position of) as many mines as you can . It's really annoying that this game "maybe" flagging (and yet, it has a useless 9).

* do not click on any walls until the endgame unless you don't know/suspect where any 1s are and you have only 1HP left

* remember that cells near the center can only be 0-7 or 10. The fact that 8s are only near the edge and there are no 9s often constrains how a large number is formed.

* with mines you have an extra level of logic, so very often you can constrain what nearby numbers are