Game file
Mines by Spribe: how the grid game works and the odds of each pick
Uncover stars, avoid mines, cash out whenever you like: Spribe's grid game and the arithmetic behind every pick.
The legal status of casino-style games offered by bookmakers is disputed in South Africa and depends on the province that licenses the bookmaker.
Try the Mines demo
The window above loads Spribe's own Mines demo when you press play, the one behind the "Play demo" button on Spribe's Mines game page. Set the number of mines, open a few tiles and watch the "Next" multiplier climb with each safe tile, then open "How to Play?" for the rules and the autoplay settings. It uses play credits, cannot pay out and predicts nothing about a real-money session.
The screenshots in the gallery on this page come from the same official demo. More on how official demos work is on the demo modes page.
Where to play Mines for real money
Provincially licensed South African bookmakers whose published game lobbies list Mines, ordered by our score. Check that the game is in the lobby of your account before you deposit.
| # | Bookmaker | Score | Welcome offer | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  GbetsWestern Cape licenceRead review | 50 Free Spins and a R50 Free Bet for new customers | Play now | |
| 2 |  YesPlayWestern Cape licenceRead review | 100% deposit bonus up to R3,000, minimum deposit R20, valid 7 days | Play now |
18+ Casino-style games at bookmakers are offered under provincial licences, and their legal status is disputed nationally since a 2025 appeal court ruling on Gauteng bookmakers. Welcome offers have terms; read them first. Set a limit and never play to win back losses. Help: National Responsible Gambling Programme, 0800 006 008, responsible gambling.
Mines by Spribe at a glance
Mines is Spribe's grid game: you uncover tiles one at a time, each star raises your payout, and one mine ends the round and takes the stake. You can cash out after any safe pick. Spribe's game page lists an RTP of 97% and a maximum possible win of x5,044,291, and the game belongs to Spribe's Turbo Games, launched in June 2019.
Spribe sums up the game in four words: "Cross the minefield to win big." Its game page describes players who "carefully sweep the grid in a bid to uncover stars while avoiding explosive mines", with "the option to cash out after each successful move". The appeal is the sense of control: you decide how many mines to set and when to stop. This file shows how that control works in numbers, because every extra pick is a fresh risk, and the risk grows faster than most people expect.
How a Mines round works
- Set the stake and the mines. Choose your bet and how many mines hide on the board. The game screen shows the board size and the payout for each step.
- Pick a tile. A star means the round continues and the payout rises. A mine ends the round and the stake is lost.
- Cash out or carry on. After every safe pick you can collect the current payout or pick again.
- Repeat or stop. Autoplay can repeat a set pattern of picks; Spribe says players can customise certain settings.
The odds, pick by pick
Mines is one of the few betting games where the odds can be worked out by hand. On a board of 25 tiles with 3 mines, the first pick is safe 22 times in 25, or 88%. The second pick is safe 21 times in 24, and so on. The chance that a whole run of picks is safe is all those fractions multiplied together, so it falls quickly:
| Safe picks in a row | Chance, 25 tiles and 3 mines |
|---|---|
| 1 | 88.0% |
| 3 | 67.0% |
| 5 | 49.6% |
| 8 | about 30% |
| 10 | about 20% |
The board size here is an example. Spribe's page does not state the grid, so enter the board and the mine count shown in the game itself into the explainer:
Tool
Mines odds explainer
- Chance every pick is safe
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- Chance of hitting a mine
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- Break-even multiplier
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- With a 97% RTP, about
- -
Enter the board size and mine count shown in the game itself. The multipliers here are arithmetic from the odds, not Spribe's paytable; the game's own screen shows the exact payout for each step.
The "break-even multiplier" is the payout at which a run of picks would neither win nor lose on average. A game with a 97% RTP pays slightly less than that, about 97% of it, which is how the game keeps its margin whatever you choose.
How the payout ladder grows
Each safe pick moves you one rung up a payout ladder. The arithmetic below shows how steep that ladder has to be for a 25-tile board with 3 mines. It is worked out from the odds, not copied from Spribe's paytable; the game's own screen shows the exact payout for each step.
| Safe picks | Chance of getting there | Break-even multiplier | About 97% of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88.0% | 1.14x | 1.10x |
| 2 | 77.0% | 1.30x | 1.26x |
| 3 | 67.0% | 1.49x | 1.45x |
| 5 | 49.6% | 2.02x | 1.96x |
| 8 | 29.6% | 3.38x | 3.28x |
Read across a row and the trade-off is plain. Stopping after one star almost always pays, but pays very little. Going for eight stars pays several times the stake, and seven rounds in ten end on a mine first.
More mines, more risk
Setting more mines raises the payout per star because each pick is far riskier. With three picks on a 25-tile board, the chance of getting through falls from 88% with one mine to about 50% with five, 20% with ten and well under 1% with twenty.
No mine count is better than another over the long run. Few mines give frequent small wins; many mines give rare large ones. The published RTP is the same either way.
Mines RTP and the x5,044,291 top win
Spribe lists Mines at 97% RTP: over a very large number of rounds the game pays back about R97 of every R100 staked. The maximum possible win on Spribe's page, x5,044,291, is the far end of a very long tail, reached only by an extremely improbable run of safe picks with a high mine count. Treat it as a mathematical ceiling, not a prize anyone is likely to see, and remember that bookmaker terms can cap payouts far lower.
What Spribe lists for Mines
Spribe marks Mines as provably fair, like Aviator and Plinko. In a provably fair design the position of the mines is fixed and locked in before you pick, and the round can be checked afterwards, which proves nothing was moved after your choice. It does not make the mines visible in advance: no app, pattern or "safe tile" trick can find them.
Mines strategy claims, checked
What your choices change
- How often you win: fewer picks and fewer mines win more often
- How much one round can pay: more picks and more mines raise it
- How long a budget lasts: a lower stake and manual play stretch it
- When you stop: cash-out rules decided in advance
What they cannot change
- The 97% long-run return
- Where the mines are
- A safe-tile pattern from past rounds
- Predictor apps or signal groups
A common habit is to always stop after two or three stars. It wins often, so it feels like a system. The numbers say it is simply the low-risk end of the same average: the rounds that hit a mine on the first or second pick take back what the safe rounds made.
Mines at South African bookmakers
Gbets and YesPlay name Spribe among their game providers on their published pages; whether Mines itself is live in a lobby on a given day is shown on the bookmaker's site. Lobbies usually file it with crash games, next to Spribe's Plinko and Aviator; the crash games page compares them.
The legal status of casino-style games at bookmakers is disputed and depends on the province: a 2025 Supreme Court of Appeal ruling bars Gauteng bookmakers from casino games, while the Western Cape board says its licensees are not affected.
A budget for a fast game
A Mines round can take a few seconds, and autoplay removes even that pause. Decide the money and the time before you start:
Responsible gambling
Mines budget planner
- Rounds if nothing comes back
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- Staked per hour
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- Average cost per hour
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- Stop-loss to set
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- Set the deposit limit in your bookmaker account before you start, not during a session.
- Use a timer: the clock runs faster than it feels when rounds take seconds.
- Never raise the stake to win back a loss.
Averages only: a single session can lose the whole budget much faster. Free, confidential help: National Responsible Gambling Programme, 0800 006 008. 18+ only.
Mines is for adults aged 18 and over. If it stops being fun, the responsible gambling page explains limits, self-exclusion and free counselling.
Mines screenshots
Game images: Spribe, from the official demo. Screenshots show demo mode with play credits, not real-money play.
Listed in the game lobbies of
Names only, from the bookmakers' published game lobbies. Not a recommendation to play.
Questions and answers
Who makes Mines?
Spribe, the studio behind Aviator and Plinko. Mines is one of Spribe's Turbo Games, launched in June 2019.
How does the Mines game work?
You set a stake and the number of mines, then uncover tiles. Each star raises the payout; a mine ends the round and the stake is lost. You can cash out after any safe pick.
What is the RTP of Mines?
Spribe's game page lists 97%: about R97 back of every R100 staked over a very large number of rounds.
What is the maximum win in Mines?
Spribe's game page lists a maximum possible win of x5,044,291. It is a mathematical ceiling reached by an extremely unlikely run of picks; operator terms can cap payouts lower.
What are the odds of three safe picks?
On an example board of 25 tiles with 3 mines, about 67%. With 5 mines it falls to about 50%, and with 10 mines to about 20%.
How many mines should I choose?
No number is better over the long run. Fewer mines win more often and pay less; more mines pay more and rarely get through. The RTP stays the same.
Can Mines be predicted?
No. The mines are placed and locked before you pick, and the game is provably fair. Safe-tile patterns and predictor apps do not work.
Where is the Mines demo?
On this page: the demo window loads Spribe's official Mines demo when you press play. It is also on Spribe's own Mines page and in demo mode at some licensed bookmakers. Demo rounds use play credits only.