12 Year Old Kid Destroys Minesweeper's Oldest World Record! 

« 40% OFF GMG Performance Blue Light Glasses: gmg-performance.com/pages/karl-jobst for the next 48 hours! » Minesweeper competition rules: docs.google.com/document/d/1E1VmjBsvjUo5Zj_SC4birVWDdN-xuJvCY5wIpnebNk4/edit?usp=sharing Big thanks for all of the support I received after my last video as well. You're a bunch of legends.

I still remember randomly pressing the blocks hoping it's not a mine

I appreciate that Karl actually plays the games he makes videos about, rather than just reading about them. It sets him apart from some other creators.

That old record holder is just mad he can't use being the best Minesweep player as a pick up line anymore.

See, getting accused of cheating when you're not has always been gaming's most satisfying compliment, but getting accused of cheating by the world record holder because you're so many level above him is just a whole different beast.

"Start>Programs>accessories>games" That sentence filled my heart with warmth

I spoke with Melanie Griffith yesterday, she was terrific. I didn't expect to see a Minesweeper video.

Honestly, when you think about it, it makes sense kids are gonna break games, especially ones who's mechanics are simple but execution is complex and precise. You grow the most at that age. I wonder how much some kids these days could destroy some records if they only had the same focus as this one

Minesweeper is so fun. The little smiley face was an ingenious addition since it makes the game feel more inviting and less lonely.

I was the “minesweeper guy” in my school with people always asking to see me play it etc. Best I ever got was 68 seconds on expert and I can’t imagine getting lower. Now I would probably be around 2 mins since I don’t play much. Getting sub 30 is truly one of the most amazing gaming feats IMO.

The 12 year did not "start in 2nd gear" or grow a horrendous mullet for 30+ years, so he's already a winner in my book.

I've been on that website for Minesweeper daily because of this video. So happy to be able to play it on a computer again. One thing I noticed that JZE did that is even more impressive to me than beating the world record for the expert time at 29.46 seconds is his NF (No flags) time of 34.72. There is only 1 other person with a sub 40 at 39.19 and everyone else is at 43s. The kid is just a prodigy

This brings " No matter how good you are at something, there's always an asian kid who is better than you" to a whole new level

It took me a while to realise JZE’s gameplay wasn’t being sped up with video editing.

FYI, according to experts, eye strain is not caused from blue light, but from blinking less when looking at a screen, so the glasses won’t help with that. Instead, it’s recommended to take breaks while gaming. Some small studies have indicated blue light blocking glasses may help with sleeping, but ultimately, it’s not something the experts recommend, rather they say to get off screens 2 hours before bed. And because of that, they are not classified as medical devices, so there’s no FDA regulations, health claims do not need to be backed up by science. Feel free to try them out, but be warned they may not be as great as they claim, and make sure you get them from a reliable company because many “blue light blocking glasses” are just scams and block little to no blue light. Also, if you do need to be on screens before bed, most operating systems now just offer their own blue light filters, pretty much eliminating the need for glasses. Not sure if I’m allowed to link stuff here but all the sources can be easily googled.

Considering how fast the runs can be, making risky calls at times to play extra aggressive makes sense. Plus the luck to get the boards needed to get the records with the skill kinda creates an interesting balance.

Makes sense for a 12y/o to hold the top position if he's been grinding for a few years before. The micro reminds me a lot of top level marine control in starcraft, which also peaks around 13-16 years old (12y/o dominators have occasionally happened in the SC scene when players are ultra talented).

I remember when I first realized how Minesweeper worked, I felt like a god damned genius. Then I promptly went ahead and failed over and over again, but at least I understood why I failed.

A mere threat of a lawsuit can’t put down this absolute legend

I remember the time I got top 50 in the expert category, now it has fallen to 96th place. To have a better time it's not even about figuring out the mines anymore, and more about mouse precision

Man, I wish I had a way to record myself when I was younger. I played SO MUCH minesweeper before bedtime at my grandparents house as a kid. Double digit times were my goal and I had a couple under 100 expert times. It really is playing with enough risk for long enough and you'll get those times.

2:58 "I need to minimize blue light in the evenings as much as possible" Also Karl: has a blue light in the background to keep his audience awake

Billy Mitchell will likely claim he holds the highest score in minesweeper and try to sue over it

*In the 1990’s* -Why hasn’t anyone beat expert minesweeper in under 30 seconds yet? -Because JZE’s parents haven’t met each other yet.

Out of all the speedrunning videos I've seen of Karl's, this one for me, utterly melts my mind. To take a game as accessible as Minesweeper and dominate it at 12 years old is amazing! Seeing that brief glimpse of him demonstrating his skills in other puzzle games that require no shortage of dexterity is also inspiring. I wonder if this kid as ever been introduced to a table top game called Stratego. That was one of my favorites when I was little and still love to play it today. I'm sure he would be an amazing adversary in that game as well. If you're not familiar, Stratego is a two player game in which a fog of war element, just like in Minesweeper is present. Both you and your opponent in this classic game have the same number of pieces of each military unit that have their own unique qualities and abilities, some bombs that could be laid down that act as mines, killing a unit that contacts it with the exception of the Miner unit and one flag. These are set up in an arrangement that is only visible to the player controlling that side of the battlefield. The goal is simple, contact the opponent's flag. Achieving this goal is not however. I still admire this games balance and design as an aspiring game designer myself and marvel at how good this gem of a board game really is! Sure, there's more going on then in Minesweeper, a lot more actually from beginning to end. The big fog of war element that happens right from the start, coupled with this kid's ability to notice patterns/cues that go over the heads of most and how fearlessly he will take a risk for the greater good, tells me that he would excel at this classic game as well!

That day we all realised HOW to properly play minesweeper what a milestone in early 90's life, haha Thanks for the video Karl, you absolute legend!

Kids nowadays are built different when it comes to getting good at older games I swear

On the leaderboards, Kamil is now in the third place with another Chinese player beating him, but not by sub 30. So this kid truly is in a league of his own.

14:45 Casually following SM64 speedrunning, like the various setups (or lack thereof) for cannonless Whomp's Fortress, it is hilarious that anyone could think that a 30-second run isn't worth taking some risks in.

I believe it's more about neural plasticity considering his young age and less about genetics, many games have young players at the very top.

"I need to minimize blue light in the evening as much as possible" Then maybe you should start with that led in the back lol

I would never doubt a 12yr old breaking the record. In middle school most of my classmates would play this in the lab all the time and finish their game 2x before most are seated.

As a Minesweeper player myself, I had been waiting for this record to be broken for years.

Played this a ton when I was a teenager. Best time I ever clocked on expert was 93 seconds and it was a PB by at least 30 seconds when it happened. Not sure I could replicate that today, but to hear that my all time best is a full MINUTE behind is incredible. Nice work JZE!

I was today years old when I learned that you can "chord" in minesweeper. I feel like I just learned a new skip in a Speedrun or something.

I just want to give quick props for your pronunciation of the Danish name. I don't think I've ever heard an English speaker honestly try and get it so close to perfect before.

I'm so impressed! Can't wait to see where he goes from here. Thanks for making a video informing us on this absolute legend!

It's pretty neat that Karl will spend some time learning to run games he talks about. Even if nowhere near the top level, it means he has a feel for the gameplay and strategies

Karl isn't joking about how good of a time 119 is. I played the game casually throughout my high school years and the best time I ever had on Expert was 105 seconds. There is no possible way I could get close to that time anymore with how much my mouse accuracy has went down since then

I thought I was pretty good at minesweeper back in the early 2000s. My personal best was something in the high 60s. I got curious and looked if there was some kind of world record leaderboard online. The record in the website that I found was something like 41-42. I saw videos or some kind of recording of those games and realized that I would never ever ever be able to achieve nothing close to that. I haven't played in 15 years or so, but maybe I'll enter your *tournament*. I think I still can do sub-100 with a little practice! Great video 👍🏻

3:00 “I need to minimize blue lights in the evenings as much as possible” Karl in the evening editing his video with the blue light in the background: AAAAAAAAAA

I must admit I was kind of shocked how blind clicks are not utilized more. When I clicked on the video I was expecting some ridiculous rng clears

This is one of kids that would get recruited for an Ender's game type scenario

I remember how cool it was to find a glitch that would freeze the timer on Windows 3.1, and then others would expand upon it by finding a method that worked on 95 and up. This basically lets you get a 1 second score on any difficulty (obviously not applicable for competitive purposes) but still fun nonetheless.

I love dives into games like this that have a rich and old history, but you just wouldn't realize it until you look. Very respectable game choice, and what a great video!

Finally this timeless classic gets some mention! That feeling when you push beyond surface-level play and start racing through logic patterns... Amazing how deep a trance such a simple game could put you in.

I still remember finishing minesweeper on expert in 61 seconds back when I was a kid, I felt like a gaming superhero. Turns out, real gaming superheroes are twice as fast.

What an honour it would be for Karl to refer to you as a genetic freak! Absolute Legend!!

Wow, I've been watching you videos for a while now and never felt I would see a day that I would be on the top level of any game you would be discussing. Got back into Minesweeper 4 months ago. (Started on my Mac trackpad... so many misclicked flags!!!). Now I have a mouse my time has improved a lot! Now this is a real quest! Will definitely be submitting

Keep in mind that brain plasticity at this age is enourmous, so with the right predispositions and a ton of hard work it's not entirely surprising one can become such a monster of a player at such a young age.

Working with Karl with this video was such an amazing experience, hope y'all enjoy the video!

Loved this video Karl, been a fan for a long time but don't comment much, keep up the great work! Also love the glasses! might get a pair for myself!

"I need to minimize blue light in the evenings as much as possible" - Karl says with a blue light in the back of his room. Very plausable. much logic.

I think people underestimate how good a child can be at something when they've developed from an early age with something as a central point in their life. Becoming good through experience as an adult is one thing, but being molded by an activity is entirely different.

Huh... after playing mine sweeper for 25+ years I learned that I can lose faster by 1.5 clicking. Thanks karl!

love your videos brother!ty for all your hard work

Glad to see you're doing well amidst the parasites going after you. You are a true legend.

And here I am trying to figure out what the numbers mean or if they’re paid actors for the pros

The craziest thing about these insane times was that the 3BV got progressively higher for each new WR!

I love how you always play Uncharted Worlds on your videos. It is one of my favourites and undoubtedly one of the best gaming soundtracks ever created.

Thanks for the ad. Reminded me to set the included blue light filter on my phone.

Perfect time to start making Ski Free Speedruns

In high school, me and my friend held a competition to see who could program the best version of minesweeper on our graphic calculators. I'm now in my fourth year of Computer Science and that competition was a big part of why I pursued it.

I LOVE minesweeper. So happy to see a video from you about it !

I believe this for one significant reason. In September 2020 most kids were at home, locked down, bored out of their minds. Odds were in favor of this happening by a young kid.

I taught myself how to play expert minesweeper at age 8. Can totally see someone aged 12 beating records in this. My fastest expert time was long before I really took it seriously, but about the time it stopped appearing on every computer. I was 16 with a 72. Finally you post a video where I can contribute lol

14:01 wow. INCREDIBLY dishumble. Even if he was cheating, that is not an adequate way to phrase that, and grinning at the end on top of it...

I love the way that you cover all sorts of different records and genre's not just FPSs which are obviously your personal preference. Makes it really interesting to watch. Do you have any plans to cover the record succession of Zelda OOT?

fun fact: Lasse Nyholm is a 3-time Danish national poetry slam champion, and is also an expert woodworker, and he once grew his own tobacco on his farm on Fyn (don't know if he still does).... the only time I can remember beating him is the one time i became champion myself back in 2013... it was also only a few years ago I found out he also played minesweeper,,,,

Without knowing the scene well, my guess is he has implemented a more effective MS approach than was typical before. From the critique, it could well be as simple as just being more risk tolerant than people usually are, basically programming himself to go for those risky moves which others would avoid. While this may result in failures, when it doesn't it will likely pay off in cut time, and potentially also make the mental calc's easier. Add in that natural talent and the combo may well be the key.

Kids are more malleable when it comes to refining skillsets, be it physical or mental. Doesn't mean adults are done for, it just take much more effort to disable the distraction that is the mind.

only you, karl, only you, could make a video about minesweeper absolutely riveting. You really are an absolute legend.

As a child speed runner this video touches my heart. People unfortunately will never initially respect the success of a kid. Looked down upon, your credibility instantly suspected or even outright rejected, and it is a shame that some may have gotten ashamed or lost passion due to people’s perspective on children and not knowing what they went through. Btw I love you content Karl.

Hi Karl, hope you’re having a day

Thanks for setting the barrier at 200 seconds so that us "advanced casuals" can have a chance to enter too.

This video was awesome. I didn't expect minesweeper to have such a fierce competition. The story of this young kid is mind blowing!

The problem with the old minesweeper was getting into a situation where the logic ended with you having to take a 50/50 click.

One of the things I liked about minesweeper was you could never lose on the first click. This must mean the board was generated after the first click rather than before

Minesweeper is timeless masterpiece. It's amazing that even until know people still playing and speedrunning the game. Especially when the fastest record is from 12 years old 😂

i just cannot fast-forward or click through these videos of yours. big talent man ! God bless !

You're a really cool guy. I like the way you dive into these kinds of things

About recent evolutions in speedruns, I would encourage you to get a look at the Golden Sun games speedruns, a lot of new techniques and breakthroughs have been found this past months. including code editing (cartridged proved), complete progression change in the 3rd game and so on. The first' game's speedrun is below 2h now (for a Jrpg)

"This technique is known as a 1.5 click" A click is a click! You can't say it's only half

Great Video! I remember playing this game! I think my best time ever on the big board on expert was somewhere around 250 so I was nowhere near the record holders. One thing that turned me off to the game which you did not mention was the fact that most (I would say about 60%) expert level Minesweeper puzzles cannot be solved with logic and deduction. More times than not you end up just having to guess between two possibilities and if you guess wrong (which seems to happen more times than not)…BOOM!

The Mass Effect 2 "planet probing" soundtrack in the background is amazing while you explain minesweeper

"It's called 1.5 click" - oh no, not again with the half presses

1:48 the ad on the top right 💀

Everyone in comments claiming 60s times on expert when they were kids. That's top 0.03% in minesweeper online. Channel is indeed full of absolute legends.

This is both impressive and bums me out, I used to speed run the game more than 25 years ago, and from what's said here I would have held the World record for some time if my teenage mind had known there were online leaderboards for that sort of thing. Still, my personal record of 43 seconds is no where near the current record, these guys are amazing.

Waiting for Billy Mitchell to claim he set the real world record back in 1987, confirmed by Twin Galaxies.

There used to be an old hack (windows 98 days)… where a _single_ pixel on your screen would change color if your mouse was over a mine. Very difficult for anyone to catch.

Man, I haven't thought about this game in years. Nice video

Love minesweeper. You'll find me on the difficulty rankings. 2nd best Aussie apart from scar. I find high difficulty boards super calming to play and currently my Pb is around 400k difficulty.

Wow, there's speedruns for this? Minesweeper's really hard. I was shocked when I cleared an expert board when I was playing classic mode on Demoncrawl awhile back. That's a game that fuses minesweeper with roguelike/lite elements.

OMG what a rabbit hole!! Spent so much time on minesweeper after. Watching your video 😁 at least now I'm better than when I last played on win 95 :)

The music in the beginning is Ecco the Dolphin - Home Bay. So good.

Karl: "And he hasn't even reached-" Me: "PUBERTY!" Karl: "... His peak"

All of my favorite minesweeper players in one video! Thanks for bringing attention to our small community :)

This really makes me sick that the youtube algorithm kept your channel out of any recommends for me... Love your videos and I'm a recent subscriber... Also.. my best minesweeper time was done on my windows 2000 machine a long time ago of 64 seconds in 2004. I have no proof of this anymore, I just remember. I tried it again and I can't do it nearly as fast as I once could. I spent hours upon days upon weeks upon YEARS playing to get that good. I still contend that if you can find 1 mine every second, that's pretty damn good and definitely achievable by nearly everyone. Great video again and I'm sorry I missed out on your competition. Thank you for all your effort on your videos!

I have never used flags while playing. For the first decade I didn't know it was a thing. Also, your pronunciation of "Lasse"'s name gave me joy.