Today I bring you a slightly different book review. I have covered what an Area Maze is before in my post about the 44 different types of mazes and labyrinths, but today I will go over it again. Let’s get into the 2 books !
The Original Area Mazes (2017) AMZN ; The Original Area Mazes, Volume 2 (2018) AMZN
from Workman Publishing, 228 Pages ; 201 Pages
Area Mazes - Called a maze, but actually a type of logic puzzle from Japan created by Naoki Inaba. Used to teach Japan children mathematics and logic. Solving requires calculating the area of a rectangle, often multiple times (Area = length × width). Also called Menseki Meiro. If you would like to try to solve some, online area mazes can be found here.
What you need to know about Area Mazes: Each of the mazes is NOT drawn to scale. You cannot measure for an answer. You must use the formula Area = length × width and spatial reasoning to find the answer that you are being asked for. Each book starts with easier problems and gets more difficult as the book continues (ranked Levels 1-5). If you read this book digitally it includes links to see the solution as you move through the book !
Here is an example I made to show how to solve an Area Maze. You are trying to calculate the area of the grey box. Answer and reasoning below.
In the above example you would first solve the wall under the # 12. You solve the equation 4 * Y = 12. So Y = 3, meaning the bottom left side of the square has a length of 3. Now you can solve using the 3 and the 21 to calculate the length of the left side of the square above the 4. Solve 3 * Z = 21. The answer is 7. Continue this to solve the Area Maze. Top right wall =4. Area and answer is thus 4x4=16. How did you do ?
Well, that was a level 1 for sure. Shapes and calculations get very interesting as you get to the later chapters !
If you like Sudoku and similar puzzles, you will love these puzzles ! Excellent 9/10 !
Other blog posts you might like:
Maze books about the spirituality of mazes, or the history of physical mazes.
The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time