Mazes

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Barbara J. Feldman

As I was researching mazes, I was amazed (a-MAZED, get it?) at the depth and breadth of the subject. For starters, I learned that while a maze has many dead ends to confuse the player, a true labyrinth consists of a single meandering path from the entrance to the center.

Caerdroia

5 stars

"Today, mazes and labyrinths are more popular than ever before. Their imagery is used in games, films and advertising, while hundreds of new and innovative puzzle mazes have been built to entertain us. There is also a resurgence in their spiritual use by Christians, neo-pagans and the New Age culture. And of course the Web is often seen as a tangled labyrinth of links that ensnare the unwary!" Visit for an illustrated history of the symbolism of the labyrinth, and animated instruction on creating your own classical labyrinth (look in Introduction for Laying out Labyrinths.)

Jo Edkins' Maze Page

5 stars

Jo Edkins' collection of educational websites includes a variety of unrelated topics, among them Roman numerals, minerals, Egyptian gods, and this one on mazes. It is a terrific introduction that describes various types of mazes, but focuses mainly on labyrinths (also called unicursal mazes.) My favorite clicks are How to Make a Maze ("First you must decide on the type of maze.") and the interactive Online Maze Designer.

Mazepuzzle.com

5 stars

Adrian Fisher "has the extraordinary vocation of designing and creating unique and beautiful mazes all over the world. He is internationally recognized as the world's leading maze designer. He has created over 175 mazes worldwide in seventeen countries across five continents, designed the world's first cornfield maize maze, has set four Guinness World Records, and is the world's leading designer of mirror mazes." And this is his collection of online mazes to be played either with your finger on your screen (they are not interactive) or printed and played with a pencil on paper.

Mazoons

4 stars

Mazoons are Jody Hall's fun half-maze, half-cartoon drawings. Click on Mazes for twenty thumbnail mazes, which open into full-sizes images for printing. Hall even has a page of tips for creating your own crazy maze. He reveals "It was my dad who taught me how, and now I'm about to pass this dubious knowledge off on you! The basic idea is really easy, and it's something you might be able to have a little bit of fun with." For more fun with mazes, visit the maze links in Other Sites I Like.

Puzzlemaker: Computer Generated Mazes

5 stars

How about printable mazes designed to your specifications? Choose a shape (such as rectangle, oval, wheel or cut out), a grid size (up to eighty by eighty) and a fill method (random and checkerboard are two possibilities). You are free to use these puzzles on your Web site, or in your classroom, as long you give credit to Discovery School. For an incredible collection of intricate hand-drawn mazes in animal shapes and holiday-themes, look for Mazed Things on the Try Other Puzzles menu.