Maze game online

How to play

1. The maze appears when you press Start.
2. Swipe or drag on the maze, or tap the arrows below it.
3. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or W, A, S, D.
4. Walls cost nothing. A turn into a dead end costs a life.

A maze game online for adults

This maze game will run in the browser and inside Telegram, with nothing to install. You start on the dot and walk to the ring. There is no timer counting down, no fog and no monsters. The maze stays hidden until you press Start, and then the whole of it is on screen at once, so the game is about reading it well and then walking it cleanly. A wrong turn into a dead end costs one of your three lives, and you stay where you were.

Every attempt builds a new maze, so you cannot learn a level by heart. Every maze has exactly one route between any two cells, so there is always a way out and never a second one.

From level 1 to 15

The maze grows from 5×5 on level 1 by one cell a side per level up to 12×12 on level 8. It stays 12×12 on levels 9 and 10, is 13×13 on levels 11 and 12, and 14×14 on the last three. The route from the dot to the ring gets longer on every level, from 8 steps on level 1 to 44 steps on level 15. On a given level every maze has a route of the same length, so every try at that level is scored out of the same total.

The shape of the maze changes too. Up to level 8 the mazes are bushy, with many short dead ends that you can rule out at a glance. From level 9 the generator leans more and more toward long winding corridors. A branch can then run on for several cells before it turns out to be a dead end, and you have to trace it further to be sure.

Time spent looking at the maze after Start lowers the speed bonus on your first step.

How you lose a life

Bumping into a wall costs nothing. A swipe or a held key that runs into a wall does nothing.

Stepping back along the route costs nothing either, and walking over cells you have already reached earns nothing.

A turn into a dead-end branch costs a life, and you stay where you were. You never walk into the branch, so one wrong turn is one life and not a long walk back. With three lives gone the level ends and your points are kept.

How the points work

Every new step toward the ring earns 10 points plus a speed bonus of up to 10. The bonus depends on the time since your previous new step, or since Start for the first one, and falls by one point for about every 50 ms. Walking a straight corridor at about eight cells a second, the speed of a held key, earns 7 per step. A step that comes after about half a second earns no bonus.

The best score for a level is 20 points per step of the route, so 160 on level 1 and 880 on level 15.

A pause to think only cuts the bonus on that one step, 10 points at most. A wrong turn costs a life. So it pays to look first and walk second.

Points and your best show how you did in this game. We do not claim that it improves anything outside the game.

What is a good result

We have no norms from players yet and will not invent them. A clean run, with no lives lost, is the first goal on each level. After that, compare your score with your previous best on the same level, which the results screen shows.

Tips

Try tracing the route from the ring backwards as well as from the dot forwards, and see which branches you can rule out from each end.

At a junction, follow each branch with your eyes until it ends. On the later levels a branch can run on for a long way and then stop.

Once you know the route, walk it in one go. On a keyboard, hold an arrow key or W, A, S or D to keep walking along a corridor. On a touch screen, swipe or drag on the maze, or tap the arrows below it.

Similar games

Pipes is the closest relative. Its solved board is also a network with no loops, and you build it by turning tiles instead of walking it. In Opposites you fill a board with pieces, and every square of a piece has to sit on a square of the other kind.

Questions

Is this maze game free?

Yes. Levels 1 to 5 will be free in the browser and in Telegram, with no download. The full version opens all levels for a one-time payment, with no subscription.

Is there a time limit?

No. Waiting never costs a life, the clock only affects the speed bonus.

How hard do the mazes get?

The first levels are small, so you can learn the controls. The last three are 14×14 with long winding branches and a route of 36 to 44 steps.

Is every maze solvable?

Yes. Each maze is built as a tree of passages, so there is always exactly one route from the dot to the ring.

Are the mazes the same every time?

No. A new maze is generated for every attempt. The size, the route length and the style of the maze are fixed for each level.

How are the mazes made?

With a growing tree algorithm. One setting moves it between bushy mazes with many short dead ends and mazes with long winding corridors. It stays at the bushy end up to level 8 and then moves toward corridors, but never all the way, because a maze of pure corridors has almost no junctions.