Rust Mines 3 vs 5 vs 24: Full EV Table
Mines carries the same flat house edge across every mine count from 1 to 24. The number you pick changes the ride, not the destination.
The flat-edge claim, with receipts
On a 5×5 grid with N mines, the probability of K consecutive safe clicks is the product of (25-K-N)/(25-K) for K from 0 to K-1. Fair multiplier is the reciprocal. RustSnowball pays a fixed fraction of fair, banking a small, constant cut on the dollar regardless of the mine count or where you cash out.
The CI script verify-mines-rtp asserts this every build by simulating millions of synthetic rounds across every mine count. The measured return stays within tolerance of the target on every count. Any drift away from the modelled edge fails the deploy. The exact math is provably fair and independently verifiable at /provably-fair.
Three mines is bankroll-preservation mode. Twenty-four mines is a lottery ticket. The long-run expected value per dollar is the same either way.
3 mines: the cushion
22 safe tiles in 25. First click wins 88% of the time. Second 87.5%. Fifth 85.7%. The multiplier ramps up slowly, which means individual wins are small but they come often.
If you're trying to make a small bankroll last across a long session, this is the config. Expected runtime of $100 on $1 first-click bets is roughly ten thousand clicks before half-bankroll. Most players never play that many rounds in their lifetime.
5 mines: the default
20 safe tiles, first-click win rate 80%. The multiplier ramps faster than 3-mines so most players stop somewhere between three and five safe clicks, taking 2x to 3x.
This is the variant most other operators ship as "the" Mines config. It hits a recognizable rhythm: a few good clicks, decision time, cash out or push. Moderate variance, recognizable shape.
24 mines: the binary
One safe tile. 4% chance of winning. If you win, the payout is 21.25x — the fair 25x reciprocal trimmed by the house's constant cut. Long-run, the expected value per dollar is the same as every other count.
What it isn't: a strategy. It's a single-shot lottery, mathematically identical to every other config but with all the variance dialed to maximum. Bankroll dies fast here. Use it when you want fast variance, not when you want long-term play.
Frequently asked questions
- Which mine count has the best EV?
- All of them. The same flat house edge applies across the board. Pick by how much variance you want.
- Does picking tiles in a specific order help?
- No. Mine placement is randomized per round via HMAC-SHA256. Whatever pattern you choose, the result is independent of your pattern.
- What's the max payout?
- Per-game payout cap is around $2,500. Theoretical maximum at 24-mines/1-click is 21.25x. At lower counts it requires clearing every safe tile, which is exponentially improbable.
- Why won't Mines refund me if I disconnect?
- Auto-refund would be a free option — quit whenever the next click looks bad. Active rounds persist across process restarts via Redis. Only cashout or explicit forfeit end a round. Forfeit pays zero.