Stake Mines Strategy Guide
Mines is a 5x5 grid of 25 tiles. You choose how many bombs to hide (1 to 24), then reveal tiles one at a time. Every safe tile raises your multiplier, and you can cash out after any reveal. Hit a bomb and the bet is lost. The house edge is a flat 1%, and because the payout comes from a single clean formula you can know the exact multiplier and survival odds of any position before you click.
The exact payout formula
With m bombs, after revealing g safe tiles the multiplier is 0.99 times the product of (25 - i) / (25 - m - i) for i from 0 to g-1. The 0.99 is the 1% house edge. The product is simply the inverse of the probability of clearing that many tiles in a row, which is why the multiplier is just "fair odds minus the edge."
The chance your next tile is safe is (25 - m - revealed) / (25 - revealed). It rises as the board clears, so each successive safe tile is more likely than the last, and the multiplier accelerates the deeper you go.
How mine count sets your starting multiplier
The number of bombs is the single biggest lever. More bombs means a higher multiplier on the very first safe tile, but a lower chance of getting there. This table shows the multiplier and survival chance for the first reveal across common bomb counts.
| Bombs | First-tile multiplier | Chance it is safe |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.03x | 96.0% |
| 3 | 1.13x | 88.0% |
| 5 | 1.24x | 80.0% |
| 10 | 1.65x | 60.0% |
| 15 | 2.48x | 40.0% |
| 24 | 24.75x | 4.0% |
Full multiplier and survival table (3 bombs)
Three bombs is the most common grinding setup. Here is the complete progression, with the cumulative chance of reaching each step. Notice how survival collapses long before the multiplier becomes large.
| Gems | Multiplier | Chance to reach |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.13x | 88.0% |
| 2 | 1.29x | 77.0% |
| 3 | 1.48x | 67.0% |
| 5 | 2.00x | 49.6% |
| 10 | 5.00x | 19.8% |
| 15 | 17.52x | 5.65% |
| 22 (all) | 2277x | 0.0435% |
Reaching the same target across bomb counts
Want a 2x cashout? You can get there with 3 bombs and 5 gems, or 5 bombs and 3 gems, or 10 bombs and roughly 2 gems. The multiplier is similar; the survival chance is not. This table holds the gem target at 3 and varies the bombs so you can see the trade directly.
| Bombs | Multiplier at 3 gems | Chance to reach |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.12x | 88.0% |
| 3 | 1.48x | 67.0% |
| 5 | 2.00x | 49.6% |
| 10 | 5.00x | 19.8% |
Bomb count strategy
- Few bombs (1 to 3): slow multiplier growth, high survival. The grinding setup, lowest variance, longest sessions.
- Mid bombs (5 to 10): multipliers build quickly over the first few reveals while survival is still reasonable. The balanced zone.
- Many bombs (15 to 24): huge multiplier on the first one or two tiles, but the chance of surviving even a few reveals falls off a cliff. Pure lottery play.
- No bomb count beats the 1% edge. Higher counts only trade hit rate for ceiling; the expected value is identical.
Cashout timing and the myths
Because the game is provably fair, every reveal has the same expected value as cashing out, minus the edge. There is no mathematically "correct" tile to stop on, only a risk preference. Decide your target multiplier before the round and stick to it instead of re-deciding mid-board, which is where most discipline breaks down.
A heatmap of past bomb positions is descriptive only. The grid is reshuffled every round and each tile is independent, so a tile that "has not been a bomb lately" is exactly as risky as any other. The only honest use of history is reviewing your own play, which is what the tracker is for.
These guides are educational. Stake Originals are provably fair and every result is independent, so no strategy changes the house edge. Track your real results with the extension instead of chasing patterns.