Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 6

Welcome back to my series where I look at my maze making over time. Hopefully they have improved. For an explanation of the series you can check out part 1, but the tldr is I used to make daily mazes and now make weekly mazes allowing me to spend more time on each maze.

Here are the first 5 parts in the series:

Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 1

Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 2

Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 3

Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 4

Making Mazes - 5 years later - a comparison - Part 5

Let’s compare 5 more mazes and see how much better the newest mazes are 5 years later.

Part 6 - Random Mazes

Fox Maze

The initial maze is from January 2021. The new maze is from 2025 and was made to help create a Spanish language animal maze book (Z- zorro), thus the INICIO/META for START/GOAL. That first maze was made quickly and never made it on to the site I hated it so much. The facial shape is way off (it reminds me of the tiger in Part 1 of this series). The new full body version from today is preferred. At some point I may colorize it.

Clown Maze

I had forgotten that I made a clown maze way back in April of 2019 and then a new one for the comic book collection. For what it is I don’t hate the old version as much as I normally do despite the many obvious design flaws. And the newer clown maze version is from the Fall of 2024.

Food Truck Maze

So I really enjoyed making the old food truck maze. I still like it. I added a similar vehicle as part of my Land, Air, Sea and Space maze collection, an Ice Cream Truck (technically also a type of food truck). I spent much more time on the background of the newer version, while the food truck version I made a denser and harder maze.

Fighter Jet Maze

This original maze was from 2020 when I was doing different themes of maze types each month. I used the illustration for grid maze month (not ideal). So the illustration is much better than the maze since the grids are fighting with the natural flow of the plane (look above at the maze walls of the new fox maze above which are shaped like the fur to see how much better mazes look with flow). The new maze of an F16 is also part of my Land, Air, Sea and Space maze collection.

Lighthouse Maze

I’m stretching this a bit here. The initial maze was made in 2019 of a generic lighthouse where I used colorful pathways to color the maze. The maze construction was horizontal, one I do not use much anymore. The newer maze was made in late 2023, the Gibraltar Lighthouse maze. This version includes shadows and the maze works it way through the stones on the lighthouse allowing the art to look more natural. I am planning a new lighthouse maze for 2026.

See you again down the road when I remake (and hopefully improve) more mazes ! Happy Mazing !

If you want to see all case studies this post pulls them together:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to improve your Mazes

Vehicle Maze - Hot Air Balloon Maze

This Hot Air Balloon Maze is a dual maze and coloring page. I have had the opportunity to attend many hot air balloon events in my life. Seeing more than 50 in the sky at once is hard to describe but it is wonderful. Decorating this should be fun. Part of the Land, Air, Sea and Space Vehicle Maze collection.

Hot Air Balloon Maze

Downloads are available in the Vehicle Maze section of the site.

Some perfect gifts for maze and labyrinth lovers

It is getting to be that time of year when we get into gift giving mode. Since this is a website dedicated to mazes and labyrinths I wanted to highlight some of the best gifts with those themes. I try to cast a wide net so everyone can find something or get some good ideas.

  • Labyrinth Jewelry

My go to place for this type of jewelry is always Etsy because there is such a variety of niche items like this. While most jewelry features labyrinths, I did find a few mazes this year. Pendants are the most popular item. Here are some examples. Links take you to the creators shop (not the individual item).

  • Maze Board Games

I am going to start with Ravenburger’s line of Labyrinth games (which are actually mazes) which have licenses of many popular characters. The original version of the game was launched in 1986 and is for 2-4 players. Many co-branded versions have been developed over the years based on the original.

Current versions available include: Harry Potter; Pokémon Labyrinth; Super Mario Labyrinth; Disney Villains Labyrinth; Spidey and HIs Amazing Friends Labyrinth; One Piece Labyrinth; Paw Patrol Labyrinth; Minecraft Labyrinth

While the older versions are out of print (but you can check out eBay to find them):

The Lord of the Rings Labyrinth (2003); Star Wars Labyrinth (2012); The Amazing Spider-Man Labyrinth (2012); Disney's Frozen Labyrinth (2014); Marvel Heroes Labyrinth (2015); Sonic the Hedgehog Labyrinth (2017); SpongeBob SquarePants Labyrinth (2018); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Labyrinth (2019).

Ravensburger Labyrinth Board Game

  • Wooden Marble Mazes

These traditional wooden marble mazes have been around long enough that I think we can call them classic. You solve it by carefully tilting the surface to manipulate the marble from start to goal without it dropping into one of the holes. You’ll be able to find them at the major toy retailers. I have had success buying these for slightly less on eBay. They are a perfect STEM gift for kids, but honestly they are so hard to master they are a good gift for the right adult too. There are some Etsy versions that do not include the drop….certainly less frustrating to solve. I do not suggest any plastic maze versions.

  • Finger Labyrinths

Finger labyrinths are often used as a way to meditate and are especially good for those with mobility issues that have enjoyed walking labyrinths in the past. Available in a variety of materials and shapes.

  • Puzzle Box Mazes

When I first saw these I wanted one. Okay 3. The concept is like a Russian doll. You solve a level only to have a new level underneath it. The center goal is a great place to place a small monetary gift (if they can get to it) or a small key or hide a note…so many possibilities. This particular version is by Backcorner3D.

  • Some Specific Niche Items

I’m going to guess that people no longer buy many movies since most everything is online these days, But there are a few maze themed movies that might make a perfect gift. The best horror film of all time, The Shining, is also a classic book by Stephen King. Something like a Film Vault Special Edition Blu Ray set with all the extra memorabilia is interesting. Or if you have a serious reader, the first edition book would be fun to have.

Along the same lines, we have the Christopher Nolan’s Sci-fi masterpiece Inception which was given the same special boxed treatment.

  • Maze Books

You are on a website that specializes in making maze art. A maze book is a great stocking stuffer type gift. I loved getting puzzle books as a kid. I have plenty of free printable books on the site, but I also sell books on Amazon. Here are 5 of the 8. My Arrow maze books are available for Kindle.

Fun Fact: Did you know that if you click on a kindle book you can buy it as a gift for someone ? Right under your normal checkout button is a buy for others option,

Happy Holidays and I hope this list helped you find some nice ideas for the maze or labyrinth lover in your life !