private  synchronized String createBoard() {
        StringBuilder boardMessage = new StringBuilder();
        for (int x = 0; x < size; x++) {
            for (int y = 0; y < size; y++) {
                if (getCellState(x, y) == "untouched") {
                    boardMessage.append("-");
                } else if (getCellState(x, y) == "flagged") {
                    boardMessage.append("F");
                } else if (getCellState(x, y) == "dug") {
                    int count = countBombs(x, y);
                    if (count == 0) {
                        boardMessage.append(" ");
                    } else if (count > 8) {
                        throw new RuntimeException(
                                "uh oh count is doing something weird - returns more bombs then neighbours");
                    } else {
                        boardMessage.append(count);
                    }
                }
                if (y == size - 1) {
                    boardMessage.append("\n");
                } else {
                    boardMessage.append(" ");
                }
            }
        }
        return boardMessage.toString();
    }