MINESWEEPER

How to Embed Minesweeper in Notion

Notion pages can host a fully playable Minesweeper board, but the trick catches most people out: Notion does not accept iframe code. It takes a link. Here is the exact block to use, how to size it so the board is not cut in half, and what to do when Notion says Failed to load.

Time needed
About 1 minute
Block type
/embed
What you paste
A URL, not HTML
Notion plan
Any, including free

The embed generator hands you a block of HTML that looks like this: 

<iframe
  src="https://play-minesweeper.games/embed/?size=beginner"
  width="344"
  height="472"
  frameborder="0"
  title="Minesweeper Game"></iframe>

…followed by a short paragraph carrying a link back to the game: 

<p style="…">
  <a href="https://play-minesweeper.games/">play-minesweeper.games</a> — free Minesweeper, no download
</p>

On WordPress or Neocities you paste both of those verbatim. Notion takes neither, because it has no raw HTML block at all. So the two halves become two Notion things instead:

  • The game — an embed block fed the address from inside src="...": https://play-minesweeper.games/embed/?size=beginner
  • The credit — a Notion caption or a plain text line under the block, with the words Play Minesweeper linked to https://play-minesweeper.games/

Notion is the only platform in this series where you have to rebuild that second half by hand, which is exactly why it is a numbered step below rather than a footnote. Notion also renders every embed block inside its own frame and controls the dimensions itself, so the width and height attributes are ignored even if you try to sneak them in. You set the size by dragging.

Adding Minesweeper to a Notion page, step by step

  1. Copy the game URL, not the iframe tag

    Open the embed generator, choose a board size and theme, then take the address inside src="..." — for example https://play-minesweeper.games/embed/?size=beginner. Notion has no way to run pasted HTML, so the surrounding iframe tag is useless here. Keep the snippet on your clipboard or on screen, because you also need the credit link from the second half of it.

  2. Type /embed on a new line in Notion

    Put the cursor on an empty line in your Notion page, type /embed, and press Enter. Notion drops in an embed block with a "Paste any link..." field. You can also click the + that appears in the left margin and pick Embed from the block list.

  3. Paste the URL and confirm the embed

    Paste the play-minesweeper.games/embed URL into the field and confirm. If you instead paste the link straight onto an empty line, Notion shows a small menu asking what to do with it — choose the embed option rather than Create bookmark, which would only render a preview card.

  4. Drag the block to the size you want

    Hover over the embed block. Black drag guides appear on the left and right edges, and a handle appears along the bottom. Drag the sides for width and the bottom for height until the whole board and the smiley button are visible with no inner scrollbar.

  5. Add the credit link under the board

    The snippet includes a credit line under the game, and because Notion cannot render that HTML you have to recreate it as a Notion element. Either select the embed block, open its handle menu and choose Caption, or add a plain text line directly beneath it — then link the words Play Minesweeper to https://play-minesweeper.games/ with Ctrl+K or Cmd+K. It takes ten seconds and it is what keeps the embed free.

  6. Check it in preview and share the page

    Press Esc to deselect, then play a round to confirm clicks and right-clicks register. Share the page with Share > Publish if you want visitors without Notion accounts to be able to play it.

Sizing the board inside a Notion page

A default Notion page is roughly 700 pixels of usable width, and an embed block sits inside that column. That number decides which board you should pick:

  • Beginner (9×9) needs about 344×472 pixels. It fits in a standard page, inside a two-column layout, and inside a toggle. This is the size to use if you are unsure.
  • Intermediate (16×16) needs about 536×664 pixels. Comfortable on a normal page, tight inside a column.
  • Expert (30×16) needs about 956×664 pixels. Turn on Full width from the page ••• menu first, otherwise the right-hand columns of the board are clipped and players get a horizontal scrollbar inside the frame.

Drag the bottom handle until the smiley reset button and the mine counter are both visible. If the block is too short, Notion does not shrink the game — it just hides the bottom of it, which is the single most common complaint about game embeds in Notion.

To sit the board next to your notes, drag the block by its ⋮⋮ handle to the right edge of an existing paragraph until a blue vertical guide appears, and Notion converts the area into columns.

Notion quirks worth knowing before you publish

Right-click works, but Notion's own menu may open first. The game cancels the browser context menu so right-clicking a cell places a flag. If you right-click just outside the board you will hit Notion's block menu instead — aim inside the grey grid.

Dark mode is not inherited. Notion does not tell an embedded page which theme the reader is using. If your workspace lives in dark mode, generate the code with the dark theme so the board does not glow white on a dark page: 

https://play-minesweeper.games/embed/?size=beginner&theme=dark

The credit link is the part people forget. Everywhere else it arrives with the paste; in Notion it does not, because there is no HTML to paste. A caption on the block, or a small text line under it with Play Minesweeper linked to the game, covers it. That link is how a free, no-signup embed pays for itself, so please do add it — and it reads better as a caption than as body text anyway.

Exports lose the game. Embeds do not survive PDF or Markdown export from Notion — an exported page shows the link, not a playable board. That is expected behaviour for every Notion embed, not something specific to this one.

Published pages behave the same as private ones. A Notion Site or a page shared with Share to web loads the embed for anonymous visitors, so an internal wiki page and a public landing page both work.

Good places for a Minesweeper block in Notion

  • A team wiki's "break room" or Friday page, where a 9×9 board is a two-minute distraction.
  • An onboarding page, tucked inside a toggle labelled something like "reward for finishing this section".
  • A classroom or study page next to notes on probability and deduction — Minesweeper is a clean worked example of constraint reasoning.
  • A personal dashboard, in the right-hand column beside your task database.

If you want a specific board shape rather than one of the presets, the URL takes explicit dimensions and a mine count, for example ?size=12x12&mines=20. Adding &branding=false drops the "Powered by" line drawn inside the frame, which is purely cosmetic — it is separate from the credit link you add as a caption, and that one stays either way.

Notion embed questions

Can I paste iframe HTML into Notion?

No. Notion embed blocks accept a URL only — there is no raw HTML block in Notion, and pasting an iframe tag just leaves the tag sitting there as plain text. Copy the address inside src="..." from the embed code and paste that instead.

Why does my Notion embed say "Failed to load"?

That message means the site you linked refuses to be displayed inside another page. The Minesweeper embed URL is built for framing, so if you see it, check that you pasted the /embed URL rather than a normal page URL, and that the address begins with https://.

How do I make the Minesweeper embed full width in Notion?

Widen the block by dragging its side guides, then open the page ••• menu in the top-right corner and switch on Full width to remove Notion’s default page margins. On a full-width page the Expert board (30x16) fits comfortably on a laptop screen.

Does the embed work in the Notion mobile app?

Yes. Notion only blocks embeds that require you to log in to an external service, and this one needs no account. On a phone the board is narrow, so pick the Beginner 9x9 size and use a long press instead of right-click to place flags.

Do visitors need a Notion account to play the game?

No. Once the page is published to the web, anyone with the link can load it and play. The game runs entirely in their browser and stores nothing in your Notion workspace.

Do I have to add the credit link by hand in Notion?

Yes, and only in Notion. On every other platform the credit line arrives as part of the pasted snippet, but Notion has no raw HTML block, so nothing you paste can carry it. Recreate it as a caption on the embed block or as a text line underneath, with the words Play Minesweeper linked to https://play-minesweeper.games/. The embed is free and unmetered because of those links.

Does an embed block use up my Notion file storage?

No. An embed block stores a link, not a file, so it is unaffected by the 5 MiB per-file upload limit on free Notion workspaces. You can add as many boards as you like without touching your storage.

Everything on this page starts with a snippet from the generator: a game frame plus a one-line credit link that goes under it. Pick a board size and theme, decide whether to show the optional "Powered by" line inside the game, then copy the code.

Open the Minesweeper embed generator

Also useful: the Minesweeper widget generator and iframe options, how to play Minesweeper, and custom board sizes.