Runescape Guide: Vinesweeper Minigame Tips

Vinesweeper is a Runescape members-only minigame based on the popular PC game, Minesweeper. The game is played out on a farm field covered by several mounds of dirt. The goal is to figure out which mounds contain seeds by digging up the areas that don’t contain seeds and placing flags on the ones that do.

To make the game a little more interesting, there are rabbits running around the field looking for seeds to dig up and eat. If you’re not careful, they can dig up the seeds that you’ve marked with the flag, causing you to lose the points you would have gotten for finding those seeds and the flag you used as a marker.

You can access the Vinesweeper minigame from any farming plot area in Runescape. Just talk to the Tool Leprechaun at the plot and ask him about Winkin’s Farm.

Other than being a member, there are no prerequisites for playing Vinesweeper. However, you do need a couple of items which can be obtained at the game itself.

Supplies Needed:

 

• Spade – If you don’t have one, you can buy one from Mrs. Winkin at the farm for 5 gp.

 

• Flags – You can only obtain these at the farm. The first time you play the game, you can get your initial set of 10 flags free from Mrs. Winkin or Farmer Blinkin. However, if you lose any of the flags, they will cost 500 gp (or 50 Vinesweeper points) each to replace. It’s important to note that you do not need a full set of 10 flags to play the game. As long as you have 1 flag left, you can still start the Vinesweeper minigame. (We’ll talk more about the flags later in the article.)

 

• Ogleroot (optional) – You can either find ogleroot while playing Vinesweeper or you can buy it from Farmer Blinkin for 10 gp each. While this is completely optional for the minigame itself, you’ll need it if you plan on protecting your flags and seeds from the rabbits that hop around. Also, feeding ogleroot to the rabbits will give you hunting XP.

When you exit the Vinesweeper minigame, any leftover flags and ogleroot will be removed from your inventory. You'll be compensated 10 gp for each piece of ogleroot (so if you bought some from Farmer Blinkin, you won't lose any money), and you'll be able to pick up your flags from Farmer Blinkin or Mrs. Winkin the next time you play the game.

Basically, you can obtain three things from the Vinesweeper minigame: farming XP, hunting XP, and seeds. You get hunting XP by feeding ogleroot to the rabbits and chasing them away from the field. While this is an optional part of the game, it’s a quick and easy way to build up your early hunting levels.

Each time you dig up a hole that doesn’t contain seeds or a farmer digs up seeds from a spot that you’ve marked with a flag, you receive points. These points can be traded in to Mrs. Winkin for seeds or farming XP. You don’t get any farming XP for playing the game itself – only for trading in points gained by

playing.

Vinesweeper moves quickly though, and it doesn’t take much time to build up a lot of points. You can either spend those points right away or save them up to make bigger purchases at a later date. Another nice thing is that you can play the game for just a couple of minutes if you don’t have a lot of time to spare. This way, even if you’re just taking a little break out of your day to play Runescape, you can do something productive with your time without having to worry about planning and preparation.

• If the main reason you’re playing Vinesweeper is to build up your hunting level early on, don’t worry about marking areas with flags. Instead, just try to dig as much as possible for the chance of finding free ogleroot. Then, when you have gathered up several pieces of ogleroot, you can run around the farm and feed it to the rabbits for hunting XP.

• If there is no number floating above an area of the farm that has been dug up, then it is understood to be a “0” – that is, no surrounding mounds will contain seeds. So, you can dig up those mounds without any risk.

• Instead of buying seeds with your Vinesweeper points and storing them in the bank to plant later, wait to buy your seeds until you are ready to plant them. Since the minigame and the seed trading area can be easily reached from any farming plot area, you can use the minigame as a “storage” facility for seeds. That is, you won’t have to worry about carrying seeds around since you can get them from the minigame with your points whenever you need them.

• When you’re not sure where to dig, you can try using the Inspect option. Sometimes it will give some helpful information and tell you if a seed is present in the mound or not. This is probably not something that you want to depend on too often though, since it takes awhile to inspect the mound and many times, you’ll end up with no additional information.

• Even if you don’t plan to be actively trying to gain hunting XP, it’s good to have some ogleroot on hand before you begin to place flags so that you can protect them from the rabbits. If a rabbit makes it to your flag before the farmer does, not only will it dig up the seed, but it will cause you to lose that flag. So be prepared to chase rabbits away with the ogleroot while waiting for a farmer to arrive.