Hormuz Minesweeper – Are you tired of winning?

https://hormuz.pythonic.ninja/

by PythonicNinja • 4 months ago

662 364 4 months ago

hormuz.pythonic.ninja

seydor2• 4 months ago

Hormuz is not a minefield though. According to sources, ships are moving near the coast of Iran, according to other sources they are being charged $2M per passage. According to other sources only Yuan paid oil is allowed.

jonplackett• 4 months ago

I’m not sure this is intended to be factually accurate

diath• 4 months ago

You can see for yourself if anything is passing: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:57.7/cente...

mmmwww• 4 months ago

I've seen reports of ship turning off their AIS before attempting the strait, not sure if this is still valid but Marine Traffic only shows AIS signals that are turned on, which is as simple as flipping a switch.

Also something Chinese fishing ships do around the galapagos and other regions to fish illegally.

oxfeed65261• 4 months ago

A small number of ships are crossing with AIS off (and without the benefit of GPS, because it is jammed) by coordinating with Iran. For example: https://gcaptain.com/iranian-navy-guided-indian-tanker-throu.... These will not show up on Marine Traffic as they are transiting the strait.

raincole• 4 months ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4geg0eeyjeo

Before the war, about 138 ships passed through the strait each day according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, carrying one fifth of the global oil supply.
The data provided by shipping analysts Kpler shows 99 vessels passing the narrow strait so far this month, an average of just 5-6 vessels a day.

I mean, it's bad, but it's factually not a minefield. The threat isn't coming from mines anyway.

sbuttgereit• 4 months ago

As others have mentioned, that's simply not going to tell you anything. AIS can and is often times turned off in such situations and it ships can spoof their location by sending false AIS... something that situations like could encourage, at least one could well imagine.

I find Sal Mercogliano's "What's Going on With Shipping?" to be a better source to understanding what's happening in the Strait. Here's a link to yesterday's episode "Strait of Hormuz 3-Week Recap | What is the Status of the Ships, Transits and Escort Mission?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q64cOs7GN_4

0dayman2• 4 months ago

correct

beloch• 4 months ago

It might not be. It might be. Uncertainty is the point of what Iran is doing.

There might be mines in the straight that are sophisticated enough to be armed, disarmed, or moved on command, or there might not. There might be artillery emplacements* hidden and not found, ready to pop up... or there might not. There are probably still plenty of drones and missiles all over the country that can be called down on Hormuz at will. Iran might choose to save them for something else... or they might not.

If a few oil tankers get through without Iran's permission, one might conclude everything Iran has in place has been found and that the straight is safe. Then again, it might not be. The Iranians might save a few choice surprises for the first aircraft carrier that gets too close. They might also choose to actually sink a large ship**, blocking the straight long-term. The Iranian regime has been planning specifically for a U.S. invasion since it's inception*** and they probably have some very well hidden and nasty surprises as well as plans to use them to maximum effect.

Merchant vessels can't get insurance to go through because of all this uncertainty. The U.S. Navy has completely refused to go in there because losing a multi-billion dollar military vessel along with hundreds or thousands of sailors for a war that's already unpopular would likely knock the U.S. out of it completely. This is why Trump is desperate for other nations to come in and clear the straight. He doesn't care if they lose ships, but he can't afford to lose even one American ship for a "Wag the Dog" war that's already exploded the budget.

-------------------

*The straight is narrow enough that artillery can actually cover it. Even the most sophisticated anti-missile defence systems aren't meant to deal with artillery shells fired from nearly point blank range.

**The straight has only a couple of channels deep enough for large vessels to transit. One or two well positioned wrecks could block the works.

*** They rebelled against a Shah installed by a CIA backed coup after all.

donalhunt2• 4 months ago

Lloyds who are one of the biggest players have indicated cover is available.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/20/risk-london...

noduerme2• 4 months ago

So what's left of the Iranian regime is basically like the Houthis now, reduced to getting world attention by committing random acts of piracy and firing at random ships off their coast. To make whatever point they were trying to make. Seems like a win to me. Declare victory, say the straight is open, just like the Red Sea is open. If anything moves at shipping, destroy its source. They don't have a right to attack merchant vessels, and there's no reason to negotiate with them either.

donalhunt2• 4 months ago

Iran has indicated they will only target ships tied to countries that are involved in the conflict.

That likely means US and Israel. Unclear if countries like the UK that are facilitating the US through use of their bases would be considered legitimate targets (likely yes).

lukan12• 4 months ago

Unfortunately Iran's leadership is in a bit of distress and communication disrupted, and "involved in the conflict" is a very broad term - so they do make some effort to get chinese oil out, but any ship not asking for explicit permission from Iran - will have some great risk of being targeted.

Remember, the strait is not Iranian property, but International waters. So no one would have to ask them for permission, but that is the way it is and most do not risk it (insurance won't cover).

Pay0814• 4 months ago

That's not how mines work. They don't only explode on people you want them to explode on.

ginko• 4 months ago

So is the message here that demining the strait of Hormuz will be fairly easy?

I was expecting some curve balls at the end with undecidable constellations but it was all quite straightforward.

FerretFred• 4 months ago

Someone leaked this to POTUS and he based his whole strategy on it!

amelius• 4 months ago

What strategy?

samus6• 4 months ago

There are undecidable situations in Minesweeper.

jimnotgym• 4 months ago

Very very good satire. Well done

0dayman2• 4 months ago

and missiles too, not just mines

kentwistle• 4 months ago

Looks good but can’t play on iPad due to lack of right click.

notrealyme1233• 4 months ago

You win if there are no more fields without mines.

CraftThatBlock• 4 months ago

Long press flags on touch screens

sandworm1012• 4 months ago

The tie-in with Apple is what doomed the littoral combat ship program. Things got better once they shifted to xbox controllers.

PythonicNinja3• 4 months ago

added support for ipad using long press for flags

simonw• 4 months ago

Doesn't seem to work on iPhone. I suggest having a button to toggle between mine marking mode and regular mode - I used that on my own little vibe-coded minesweeper clone here: https://tools.simonwillison.net/minesweeper

seydor2• 4 months ago

sounds like it's more realistic that way

galad87• 4 months ago

It's missing the double click on a number feature from minesweeper.

fbcpck• 4 months ago

chording is available only during peace times

sandworm1012• 4 months ago

Clearing more than one sector at a time requires allied support.

PythonicNinja3• 4 months ago

Added double click feature

pimlottc4• 4 months ago

Double clicking on a tile doesn't seem to do anything different than a single click (Firefox on macOS)

alexwebb22• 4 months ago

It's still middle-click in my muscle memory from the Windows XP days!

God, I used to be _really_ into Minesweeper.

One of the earliest games I made back in college was a 3D Minesweeper cube. I remember being really proud of one little detail – the detection and automatic resolution of ambiguous clues that would require guessing, which always annoyed the heck out of me in every other version of Minesweeper.

lukan12• 4 months ago

Oh, me too. Do you have your game still available somewhere?

us321• 4 months ago

The missile feature is missing.

abdusco• 4 months ago

Wonderful! Now make another app that lets you pick which children are ok to kill

general_reveal• 4 months ago

Trump is trying to prompt the Straight like it’s ChatGPT.

roysting• 4 months ago

I have not finished a game, but I would be very disappointed if I didn’t get credit for stopping a war once I’ve won.

ChristianJacobs• 4 months ago

Next FIFA peace price for you!

tclancy• 4 months ago

Do not fix this perfect Freudian slip!

stevenwoo• 4 months ago

The Apple gold and glass plaque of kowtowing and subservience was first.

frou_dh• 4 months ago

We have to settle for the smiley face changing slightly.

justintiime• 4 months ago

Missing feature where you blanket nuke the whole area to destroy mines.

specproc3• 4 months ago

WHO is currently doing readiness for a nuclear attack in the region.

This is America, the country willing to do the unconscionable when they're not winning fast enough.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

anonymars2• 4 months ago

Other than that, of course, WWII was perfectly civilized

pestatije• 4 months ago

poor kids... they had a new toy couldn't resist trying it out

Pay0814• 4 months ago

WHO was also preparing for Covid turning people into zombies. It's their job to prepare for anything that has an above 0.5% chance of happening.

nutjob23• 4 months ago

Also little boats coming out to drop more mines.

seboapps• 4 months ago

Great

lukan12• 4 months ago

Ok, I did win. Do I get cheaper gasoline now?

axegon_• 4 months ago

Probably not. Afaik only the Dutch have eaten their leader in a time of desperation and while I'm not saying that other nations should have taken notes, we are probably all thinking it...

tyre• 4 months ago

I don’t think it was in desperation but to disrespect him for his crimes

fluidcruft• 4 months ago

idk prions are a concern

flyinglizard5• 4 months ago

That's it? Momentary gasoline price is all that matters now? Not geopolitical interests, alliances, _Doing The Right Thing_? If that's the only angle you care about, then US subduing the Iranian regime would go a long way to de-facto dissolving OPEC and bring much more flexibility to oil prices.

ericmay• 4 months ago

Plus if gas prices rise more people might switch to EVs, drive less often, and/or hopefully begin to understand the fragility of our car-only infrastructure and mandatory car ownership and demand better urban planning and transportation options.

lukan12• 4 months ago

Oh, now worries, I can take my bicycle or train whenever possible (like right now). And since I am european, I do not just worry about gasoline, but also that the US actually might attack us at some point, Trump did threaten again over greenland and the last time - it was not just words, danish troops took it serious and were ready to shoot.

"https://www.euractiv.com/news/denmark-considered-destroying-..."

Unpleasant if this escalates.

Also, the gasoline prices are only "momentary" up, if the whole area does not burst into flames. Then it doesn't matter if the trait is closed, as no more oil is being produced.

The only bright side is, this is a great push for renewables.

RealityVoid7• 4 months ago

None of which is being handled by the current admin with a modicum of professionalism or competency, so I guess at times you just have to pick _one_ from the laundry list of complaints here.

malfist3• 4 months ago

What part of "doing the right thing" is bombing an all girls school?

user39393822• 4 months ago

We robbed S Korea of a radar system they paid for which they found highly insulting. We’re causing an energy crisis in Japan. We repealed the sanctions on Russia to try to level oil prices which is the last straw for Ukraine. Europe refused to participate. Fascinating you see this as doing the right thing and motivated by alliances plural.

10xDev4• 4 months ago

-Sent from Tel Aviv.

DeathArrow• 4 months ago

Oy, vey! You mean Epstein first policy instead of America first?

austin-cheney2• 4 months ago

I would say gasoline is not all that matters. This has also made clear Israel is not a US ally. They are a disobedient client state.

Given how much money the US has given Israel compared to how tiny their GDP is it is also clear the US financially owns Israel. If I were US president I would annex Israel so that they no longer determine US foreign policy. Of course Israel would agree to be annexed because otherwise they can be easily isolated like the way they isolate Gaza.

ekjhgkejhgk3• 4 months ago

The purpose of this war is to do the fighting for Israel. Is that what you mean by "doing the right thing"?

znort_• 4 months ago

good point. i'm more than happy to pay 10x for my diesel and electricity and even change my whole lifestyle for the foreseeable future in support of iran doing the right thing: kicking the murderous usrael regime out of western asia where it should never have been in the first place, if it weren't for their god damned blood soaked petrodollars.

bambax• 4 months ago

Trump is now threatening to destroy Iran's power plants if the straight isn't reopened. Is this "doing the right thing"? And doesn't this show he cares more about oil prices than regime change?

But the most important question is, what's next? If depriving tens of millions of people of energy doesn't work, what will he do next?

One hypothesis is he'll threaten Iran with a nuclear strike. In response, either China or Russia or both, will say that's a line that cannot be crossed.

And then, we will either all die, or be living in a world saved by authoritarian regimes from the irresponsibility of the US.

It will be interesting! But probably extremely unpleasant.

pjc502• 4 months ago

So .. the plan is Big Afghanistan, to install a puppet regime at massive expense which evaporates the moment the US ground troops leave?

hypeatei• 4 months ago

That's it? Momentary gasoline price is all that matters now?

Did you not see the lead up to the 2024 election and all the whining about how Biden, specifically, caused gasoline prices to go up? This is a very important issue to Americans because we use gas cars to go everywhere and all our food is transported using vehicles that consume gas. GP is obviously being rhetorical here because MAGAs wouldn't stop railing on Biden for global COVID inflation (mostly out of his control) but they're now making excuses for Trump starting a war that's spiking gas prices.

samus6• 4 months ago

East Asian economies are severely affected by high fuel prices. People need it to fuel their boats, to get to work, and to heat their homes. And it's the input to many critical industries, most importantly to make fertilizer. Not all countries's stockpiles are large enough to sit this out.

diego_moita• 4 months ago

That's it?

Yes, that's it. The only reason for imperialism is "what's in it for me".

All the rest is bullshit.

Source: I am not American, therefore I know American Imperialism when I see it.

lpapez• 4 months ago

All of those matter, making this whole situation even more unjustified.

pron• 4 months ago

Is that the goal, though? "Subduing the Iranian regime"? If so, shouldn't they explain that so that the war gets support and so better chances of achieving its goals? How is that goal to be achieved? Because so far it seems like the goal is some personal achievement for Trump, and that shapes the perspective.

squibonpig4• 4 months ago

What's the point?

Say the goal is to get rid of the regime by giving the protesters an opening to rebel. Then Trump blew the metaphorical load too early by encouraging the protesters on truth social. Tens of thousands of them being killed destroyed the momentum. Smarter people would have tried to arm them first, or discouraged the protests until we could hit them at the same time.

Say the goal is to "do the right thing." Then we shoudn't be tag-teaming with a country doing a genocide, clearly. We'd probably be hesitant to help them destroy their enemy or realize their interests in general. We've had endless opportunity to reign them in and done nothing about it. "Oh, but we need them to project force in the middle east for us." Well then why the fuck are we starting a war? Let's force that ally to reform before starting the war. There was no fucking rush man.

Say the goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Well, Iran isn't (wasn't) run by stupid people. They knew we could likely set back their nuclear program before it completed and they knew the best-case-scenario in building nukes would be to get some leverage. They therefore opted to take a deal, using the threat of becoming armed to have some leverage. For us this is a great deal because we don't need to pay the costs of fighting Iran and we don't need to give them a better deal at nuke-point, and for them it's pretty solid because it's less risky. There's no evidence the terms were violated before WE ripped up the deal.

"Well however we got into this situation, we're here now and they could have nukes within seconds, I mean minutes, I mean hours, I mean days, I mean months, I mean years..." Maybe before creating an international energy crisis, just bomb the damn nuclear program again. Worst case scenario they get a nuke and what? The whole point of a nuke is leverage, when you use it you lose the leverage. We would be forced to cut another deal with better terms for Iran. Whatever dude, maybe that's not worth fighting another middle eastern war idk maybe I'm crazy.

I'm not a big war guy who just loves killing for the fun of it or whatever but even a war of aggression can be competent. I can admit when competence is exhibited and when something I otherwise dislike at least works out well. This shit is the most monumental blunder in decades. It wasn't planned, it has no goal, it will either end in a pointless withdrawal or (most likely) a Vietnam-esque quagmire. Every single problem was foreseeable and foreseen, that's why we didn't do this before. But some fucking moron pedophile gets blackmailed hard enough by a genocidal war criminal to say "what's one more, for old times sake?" and I'm supposed to want to shout hurrah and put my goddamn body and soul on the line for absolutely literally jack shit? Utterly ridiculous.

mlinhares• 4 months ago

So much bullshit. The best way to dissolve the OPEC is to stop buying oil from them. Period. A country like the US should not be burning oil or any kind of fossil fuel for its electricity, we're rich in rivers, sunlight and have tech enough to build as many nuclear power plants as we want.

This is all being done to prop up oil prices, but China is going to be the silent killer here, helping the world move to renewables and OPEC won't be a thing anymore. Its to see a country committing suicide like this.

chasd00• 4 months ago

Ok, I did win. Do I get cheaper gasoline now?

Yes, in 10 years. Because even though gas prices go up hour by hour they take years to ever so slowly drift down.

tpm2• 4 months ago

In 10 years you should be driving an EV anyway.

alecco• 4 months ago

https://sweepthestrait.com/ This one was made the first week of the war.

steveBK123• 4 months ago

This one looks a lot easier though, maybe I can play it during boring meetings without getting pissed off..

franze3• 4 months ago

here is my version with algo generated levels and you have to navigate a ship from left to right

https://strait-sweeper.franzai.com/

jsnell• 4 months ago

On Chrome, right-click brings up the context menu in addition to flagging a mine, which basically makes this unplayable.

Also the ship is not explained at all (the graphics, the controls, the systems). I'd recommend at least a one paragraph help section in the menu.

Induane• 4 months ago

Long press instead of right click also marks mines.

franze3• 4 months ago

fixed

onfir3• 4 months ago

Cool! But on level 10 the ship can't move further to the goal although the path is cleared. No movement forward is allowed

franze3• 4 months ago

fixed. thx for the feeback

nullzzz2• 4 months ago

Well done!

I don’t quite agree with making fun of the situation that’s deadly serious to many innocent people. Yet I’m sure the intentions of the author were good.

Hoping for peace.

Swenrekcah• 4 months ago

I don’t see it as making fun of the situation per se, rather the people responsible for it.

hakrgrl8• 4 months ago

I don't really agree with rooting against the USA just because you don't like the president. An Islamist Iran with nukes is a scary proposition. I'm glad someone is finally doing something about it rather than sending palettes of cash on an jet to radical Muslims.

pell• 4 months ago

The way you describe the alternative option seems not very good faith.

nullzzz2• 4 months ago

I don’t think I mentioned USA nor took a side.

pjc502• 4 months ago

palettes of cash on an jet to radical Muslims.

You mean the US bipartisan strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Is there any plan to do this differently to those expensive failures?

skeeter20205• 4 months ago

Comedy and satire is a long-established method of political critique, and is often the only or last available way. It's not making fun of the situation, rather pointing out the pain & sufferring in the face of absurdity.

mppm• 4 months ago

Thank you for Making Minesweeper Great Again!

baobabKoodaa• 4 months ago

MMGA

joe_mamba3• 4 months ago

We're gonna build a wall(ed garden) and have the Linux penguins pay for it.

AnimalMuppet• 4 months ago

The penguins who are running the servers for your walled garden? Good luck with that. Let me know how it works out for you.

layer8• 4 months ago

Minesweeper Achieves Greatness Again!

mentalgear• 4 months ago

MAGAGA

hakrgrl8• 4 months ago

How about you make an app about "winning" that involves flying a cargo plane loaded with so much cash to Iranian Islamists that it struggles to stay aloft. Because that was the strategy before Trump and it led to terror tunnels, terror proxies, and weapons grade nuclear enrichment.

Edit: For the record this actually happened 10 years ago under Obama.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/us-sends-plane-iran-...

Washington CNN — The Obama administration secretly arranged a plane delivery of $400 million in cash on the same day Iran released four American prisoners and formally implemented the nuclear deal, US officials confirmed Wednesday.

beepbooptheory• 4 months ago

Listen, you have posted a lot, are very passionate here about this Obama thing. You have multiple times said "how about make an app that...". Why don't you make the app? I for one would love to play a game where you are Obama the money smuggler or whatever, it sounds kind of awesome.

cyanydeez• 4 months ago

Every player action needs to be followed by a drone animation randomly crashing into the remaining tiles.

ppap3• 4 months ago

Hello folks. Some times I am afraid we are going to a place where there is only destruction and death.

No once can stop it alone But it can be stopped

torusle• 4 months ago

Yea.. having fun with war..

Most American post I have seen here since ages.

selimthegrim• 4 months ago

How do I chord with a MacBook trackpad?

tartoran• 4 months ago

Could have used hex tiles

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=155566

ReptileMan• 4 months ago

Click with both buttons to open all when cell is surrounded with right number of flags is not working or missing, which slows the game a lot.

wiseowise2• 4 months ago

Is there Ukraine-Russia DLC?

shevy-java• 4 months ago

The smiley button does not seem to be doing anything.

Good to see minesweeper is still existing today.

As for "winning" - Trump will say everything, from A to the opposite Z. It is the flood-the-zone-with-shit strategy, as explained in the 1980s by Yuri:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9apDnRRSOCk

So, rather than evaluate what Trump says, one has to evaluate what is happening.

What I see right now is the USA committing more and more to the invasion. Ground troops will come next; first as "limited range", lateron as Vietnam 2.0. Trump is kind of like Lyndon B. Johnson now, just that the country is Iran rather than Vietnam.

ndsipa_pomu3• 4 months ago

At some point, he'll release the Epstein Files to distract from losing the Iran war.

shrubby• 4 months ago

Much winning such wow.

mkl95• 4 months ago

That was only Q1! So much winning left!

pimlottc4• 4 months ago

"Mines only spawn on water" is a bit confusing; there are no clickable tiles that are fully on land, but tiles that touch land can also have mines. So I'm not sure what that is telling me.

excalibur• 4 months ago

Well done, but kind of annoying that winning and losing the game both lead to the same clip.

snickerbockers• 4 months ago

I was hoping that when i actually win i'd get a video of him doing that goofy dance he does.

Hormuz Minesweeper – Are you tired of winning?

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