How to play Grimlings
Updated July 2026
If you've ever played minesweeper, you're two rules away from fluent. If you haven't, there's a refresher below — and an in-game tutorial that teaches by doing.
The rules
1. Numbers are fangs, not counts. Grimlings hide under tiles, and each one has 1, 2, or 3 fangs. A revealed number is the sum of the fangs around it. A "3" might be one three-fang Maw, a two-and-a-one, or three little Nibs — deciding which is the game.
2. Bites cost hearts, not the run. Dig up a grimling and it bites for its fang value. Your hearts are a shared pool for the whole descent; they only run out if you spend them. Flag tiles you've deduced are monsters, dig the ones you've proven safe.
3. Clear the floor, go deeper. Uncover every safe tile and the stairs open. Floors grow bigger and denser — three-fang Maws arrive at depth 3, and deeper floors bend into diamonds, crosses, and octagons. Depth is your score.
No guessing, ever
Every board is certified no-guess before you see it: a solver proves there's a pure-logic path from first dig to cleared floor. If you feel stuck, the move exists — you haven't found it yet. (More on that here.)
The two ways to play
Daily Delve — one shared seed per day, a bounded five-floor gauntlet the whole world plays alike. Completing it banks your streak; freezes bridge a missed day.
Endless — a fresh random run, as deep as your hearts and logic carry you. Best depth is the number to beat.
Classic minesweeper, in thirty seconds
For the uninitiated: tiles hide mines; a revealed number counts the mines in the eight tiles around it; use overlapping counts to prove tiles safe or mined. Grimlings keeps all of that muscle memory and adds one twist — monsters have ranks, so the numbers say more than they used to.
Honest tips
Start from satisfied numbers. If a clue's fangs are fully accounted for by flagged monsters, every other neighbour is provably safe. That's the bread-and-butter move.
Mind the minimums. A "4" touching only two hidden tiles means at least one monster is rank 2+ — fang math cuts both ways, and rank information is as useful as location.
Spend hearts on purpose, never on hope. Sometimes eating a known one-fang bite to open information is right. Guessing a maybe-Maw never is.
Corners first on dense floors. Fewer neighbours, tighter constraints — same as classic.
Frequently asked
Do I lose my streak if I fail the Daily?
The streak counts completion, and an earned freeze bridges one missed day.
What fills the bestiary?
Every species you meet — by clearing its floor or by getting bitten. Around thirty to collect; the rarest take weeks of play to appear.
Does it work offline?
Yes — boards generate on the device.
The tutorial teaches by doing — two tiny floors and you're in.
