
The game was originally called simply "Mine" and was created by two Microsoft employees - Robert Donner and Curt Johnson. The game was first written for OS/2, after which it was remade for Windows at leisure and sent to friends and colleagues.
When preparations began for the release of Windows 3.0, management decided to include several games. Firstly, it increased the attractiveness of the system (at that time there was no talk of Windows’ hegemony and it had to compete for consumers). Secondly, for some users, using a mouse was new, and Microsoft decided that it was better to do this with the help of games. Solitaire was supposed to train the Drag & Drop gesture, and Minesweeper was supposed to train the accuracy of the pointer and the use of the right mouse button.