In a series of posts I will show you how to make a maze in a wide variety of design constructions. The second example we’ll look at is a construction variation of the standard maze construction. I call it a Standard Equal Maze Path design. Let’s define what I mean, then get into the example. Every how-to will use a simple square so you can compare the differences between each maze construction type. I will also show a consolidated secondary how-to using an irregular shape (the state of Ohio). If you want to see this type of maze made in video form, that is added at the end of the post.
Here is an outline for this blog post with jump links if you want to skip ahead to a section:
STANDARD EQUAL MAZE DEFINITION
HOW TO MAKE A MAZE WITH STANDARD EQUAL PATHS
HOW TO MAKE A MAZE WITH STANDARD EQUAL PATHS (OHIO VERSION)
COMPARION OF 2 STANDARD MAZE TYPES
STANDARD EQUAL MAZE DEFINITION
Standard Equal Maze Paths - the construction concept is the same with making a standard maze except the pathways and walls are of equal width. TO achieve this in practice the wall width should equal half the grid used (i.e. a 6x6 grid with wall widths of 3) This gives the maze a different look as everything becomes compacted.
These also tend to be longer and more difficult mazes to solve because of the additional pathways it creates. While a Standard Maze looks white, the Standard Equal Maze looks much more black from the thicker lines.
THE 5 RULES OF MAZE DESIGN:
These 5 rules apply to any maze you make so we start with them !
1. Always keep an open pathway for the solution
While drawing a maze you will need to juggle multiple open pathways each of which could become the solution. One of them will become the solution. Keep track of it. This is especially important if you are designing pathways in both directions (from the start and from the goal).
2. Clearly mark the start and goal, or the objective of the maze
A maze should have a start and a goal that you can assess just by glancing at it. There are many ways to start and end a maze I review in this blog post: Options for Starting and Ending a Maze
3. Ensure the difficulty matches the intended audience
Most people want to solve a puzzle/maze that is just slightly below or slightly above their skill level. Many things help determine the difficulty of a maze. Size, number of branches, the length of dead ends, the number of choices, the complexity of the rules (if the maze has them).
4. Ensure your maze has a solution
When your maze is complete, solve it to determine the difficulty level and to ensure it is a real, solvable maze. Depending on the complexity of the maze you may want to do this right away or wait so you can properly assess the difficulty.
5. Explain anything that needs explaining
Some mazes have rules or conditions. Explain them with directions. If it isn't obvious, make it so.
How to Make a Maze with Standard Equal Maze Paths
Step 1 - Draw the Outline
The outline of the maze makes the outer wall of the maze. It can be anything from a simple shape like a square, to a complex picture. The outline should be thicker than the internal lines to give the maze definition. In the example below I show the grids and I made a 20 x 20 grid square..
Step 1.5 - Choose the Start and Goal
For the below example I left gaps in 2 corners for the start and the goal. If drawing a maze digitally you could choose this later, but for a hand drawn maze the maze outline will need to have gaps for the start and goal.
Step 2 - Start Drawing the Walls
Using a grid pattern, begin drawing the maze walls starting at the entrance of the maze. For a Standard Equal Maze the maze walls should be drawn to be equal width to the pathways in between them. When creating a standard equal maze - the wall width must be equal to half the grid size used. While drawing your walls make sure to never break the cardinal rule of maze design - never close all open paths so the maze can be solved. As you make the maze decide how difficult you want to make it. A low amount of path choices, and short dead end paths will make an easy maze. Longer dead ends and lots of path choices make a more difficult maze. The below example is starting off at an easy / medium difficulty.
Step 3 - Keep Drawing the Maze Walls
Like most mazes the middle part of design is a lot of keep doing what you are doing and draw more walls. There is nothing too complicated in the below example. The dead ends are long in this maze and there are many choices to make, increasing the difficulty. At this point I also have 4 open pathways which could be used as solutions.
Still drawing…
Step 4 - Complete the Maze
Draw the final walls and draw the exit. You have completed the drawing of a standard equal maze !
And I removed the grid.
Step 5 (Optional) - Draw the Solution
You have two options here - Option 1 - While the correct pathway is fresh in your mind, draw the solution to the maze. This is especially important with more complex mazes. It can also be a check to make sure your maze has a solution. This example maze is easy. Option 2 - Let the maze sit for a few days and try solving it yourself. Was it the difficulty you thought as you were designing it ? Did you enjoy it or did it frustrate you in any way ? Using option 2 means you are more likely to go back and make adjustments to improve the maze. Think of it as proofreading for mazes.
HOW TO MAKE A MAZE WITH STANDARD MAZE PATHS - abbreviated writing & using a different shape
Here is the original step by step maze done in the shape of Ohio. Use the next controls to watch the maze get made, then see the solution.
Step 1 - Draw the Outline - I drew Ohio and added a start at Cleveland. I put an Arrow near Cincinnati but did not officially make that the goal until I draw the maze.
Steps 2&3 - Drawing the Maze - Nothing too special. I drew in the maze from start to finish.
Step 4 - Complete the Maze - The maze determined where the goal would be placed and I finished the maze.
Step 5 - Draw the Solution - I added a solution, ensuring I made no mistakes in my design.
COMPARION OF 2 STANDARD MAZE TYPES:
Visually the Standard Equal Maze Paths design construction makes for a darker maze, and a more complex maze than the standard path maze. Although I did not measure the pathways, you can intuitively see that standard equal maze has much more pathway length.
Standard Equal Path maze
Standard Path Maze
And here is the same exact maze, one standard and one standard equal:
3 ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF STANDARD EQUAL MAZES
Below is an example of another standard equal paths maze of the state of New York. I wanted to show this example to mention that the outline is not the same width as the internal paths/walls. There is also a prominent Spiral maze pattern in the center of the state, although I would not consider this a spiral maze construction.
Our 2nd example shows what happens when we add some color to both standard maze variations, with the Rubber Ducky maze. While the background colors of yellow and orange are the same in each maze, the standard equal construction has a much darker look, with the thicker black walls holding back the colors underneath. The standard maze is bright and much easier to solve. Notice that because of the spacing of the orange beak compared to the wall spacing I decided not to maze the beak on the standard maze. Doing so would have only added a few meaningless lines on the beak.
For my 3rd example I want to show you a time when this construction can be used to make a completely different type of maze, the Hidden Message maze. A hidden message maze is a maze where the correct solve of the maze creates a message for the solver. I use this to make greeting cards with hidden messages. Here is an example. If the below maze was made with a standard construction it would need to be a much tighter ratio of grid/wall so the message remains hidden at a glance.
Can you figure out what it says from looking at it ? Scroll down for the answer.
“Miss you”. If this were made with a much wider standard construction the pencil/pen/writing utensil used would not fill the pathways as well, making the message much harder to read (in addition to being easier to find). Want to learn how to make a hidden message maze ?
FREE STANDARD MAZES TO SOLVE
If you want to solve some of this type of maze, check out the Regular Maze Section that features 40 different mazes available for free download ! They are all rectangular but are divided into sections by difficulty level. They are standard mazes which are a different ratio, but this relative is a good proxy.
RELATED MAZE CONSTRUCTIONS
There are 3 constructions that are very similar to a standard equal maze construction. The standard has a different ratio of pathways to walls, while the horizontal and vertical maze constructions are the same as above but exaggerate the maze design in a particular direction (so the maze looks horizontal or vertical). I will link to each of their how-to posts once they are updated !
How to Make a Horizontal Maze
How to Make a Vertical Maze
MAKING A STANDARD EQUAL MAZE VIDEO
Here is a quick 3:31 minute video of the making of a simple Standard Equal Maze.
