Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 3

Here we are again. Part 3 of my hidden maze message challenge. It is the final section unless you want to try your skill (luck?) at some Spanish versions! By now now you know the drill. Let’s get started and good luck !

Hidden Message Maze 21

“proud”. Like many of my mazes this one was inspired as the front of a greeting card.

Hidden Message Maze 22

I would love to receive this card from someone and I’m sure you would too !

Hidden Message Maze 23

Another nice sentiment ! Best Wishes !

Hidden Message Maze 24

Another greeting card where you complete the phrase...Wishing you……well something nice !

Hidden Message Maze 25

Any time I see hear or think about this word I get this bittersweet feeling in my gut. Farewell

Hidden Message Maze 26

A nice long message ! Peace Love and Joy !

Hidden Message Maze 27

Unfortunately this message is needed sometimes.

Hidden Message Maze 28

I sing this when I read it like I’m in the club.

Hidden Message Maze 29

I had to sneak this one in far from the Thinking of YOU above… I only changed the last word.

Hidden Message Maze 30

And where else could that hidden maze be placed but last ? Bye !

For a higher degree of difficulty try these mensajes en Español !!!!!

Laberinto De Mensajes Ocultos

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 2

So you decided to come back for more of my hidden message challenge ! If you missed Part 1, I suggest you start there, but if you are back you know what to expect. I will show you 10 hidden message mazes. Try to figure out what it says by solving with your eyes (or any other method you want). When you are ready, scroll down and find the answer. Good Luck !

Hidden Message Maze 11

“Friday”. Not sure how I would use this maze. I think the word is well hidden.

Hidden Message Maze 12

I need to tell you I constructed this differently than other mazes as a test.

“Yes”. Looking back on this experiment, I would say this does not work the way I intended, If you missed this one, sorry, my bad.

Hidden Message Maze 13

I like this maze a lot. Tons of false letters and words. SEE YOU SOON is the answer and this would make a nice card for someone (especially someone you haven’t seen in a long time).

Hidden Message Maze 14

Bravo.

Hidden Message Maze 15

Dream.

Hidden Message Maze 16

Another maze where I packed the maze with letters and possible words

Hidden Message Maze 17

I tried to trick you on HELLO by placing it in a new place in the maze.

Hidden Message Maze 18

I made this to be used as a greeting card, Have a nice… and then you fill in the rest with your word of choice. Day, Wedding, Vacation, Trip, Weekend, Summer…you get the idea !

Hidden Message Maze 19

Surprise ! Are you ready for the final maze ?

Hidden Message Maze 20

Did you believe you could solve that one ? How did you do ? Ready for Part 3 ? Spanish ? Or do you want to try some maze mistake observations ?

If you enjoyed it there are a total of 2 more hidden message challenges for you to try:

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 1

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 3

For a higher degree of difficulty try these mensajes en Español !!!!!

Laberinto De Mensajes Ocultos

And if you are good at spotting things you might also enjoy a collection of my maze mistakes !

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 1

I take pride in my ability to make hidden message mazes. Some of them have well hidden words and some have words that can easily be spotted. How are you at solving mazes with your eyes ? If you think you are good at it, this is the challenge for you. The challenge is very simple in principal - I will show you a hidden message maze, and when you are ready with your guess scroll down for the answer to see if you got it right. This challenge has a total of 10 mazes, each with the answer after it.

It is also Part 1 of a 3 part series (plus a 4th Spanish language version if you want to try that - all links below!) Good Luck !

Let’s get started !

HIDDEN MAZE #1

Hmmmm. Do you have any idea what the answer is ?

I added the “It’s a” last minute…”It’s a boy”. A perfect maze to announce the birth of a child.

HIDDEN MAZE #2

“Miss you”. I could Have done a larger dump for “I Miss You” which is also an acceptable answer

HIDDEN MAZE #3

PARTY is the answer. This maze was made to be used as a party invite

HIDDEN MAZE #4

I used larger letters for this one, Thank You !.

HIDDEN MAZE #5

I spaced them out, but here we have It’s a Girl, of course solved in pink !

HIDDEN MAZE #6

I went back to big letters to mix things up a bit. Congrats if you solved this one correctly, I feel like the letters are well hidden !

HIDDEN MAZE #7

Our largest message so far, Happy Birthday !. Obviously I made this to make a greeting card. I think it would be fun to give someone for their birthday.

HIDDEN MAZE #8

A hidden hidden maze. I couldn’t resist making this one.

HIDDEN MAZE #9

I went back to back, this time with hidden “message”. I also tried to fake you out by putting the maze solution at the top of the page. Did I fake you out ?

HIDDEN MAZE #10

Maybe is the final answer. I tried to fake you out again with other words and placement of letters.

How did you do in this hidden message challenge ? 10 of 10 I’m sure !

If you enjoyed it there are a total of 2 more hidden message challenges for you to try:

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 2

Hidden Message Maze challenge - Part 3

For a higher degree of difficulty try these mensajes en Español !!!!!

Laberinto De Mensajes Ocultos

And if you are good at spotting things you might also enjoy a collection of my maze mistakes !

Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

I wanted to do a case study showing how to create a maze in a few different difficultly levels. I thought the best way to illustrate this was to design a create a maze with a variety of different branch types included then have you solve them and compare how enjoyable each was for you to solve. Let’s jump into the example and you’ll see what I mean. (Hopefully).

• Example - Part 1. Please solve this small 10x10 grid maze. Yes this is an interactive example !

OK. Take note of how your experience was solving the maze. Did you enjoy it ? How quickly did you solve the maze ? Anything you did not like about the experience ? Did you find it to be enjoyable or frustrating ?

Now lets try this maze made on the same grid structure. We have 10x10 grid maze with the Start and Goal placed in the same locations.

• Example - Part 2. Please solve this small 10x10 grid maze.

I have the same questions for you as before. How was your experience was solving the maze ? Did you enjoy it ? How quickly did you solve the maze ? Anything you did not like about the experience ? Did you find it to be enjoyable or frustrating ?

An finally in Part 3 we will group 2 additional mazes together for evaluation. Same questions will apply.

• Example - Part 3. Please solve each of these small 10x10 grid mazes.

So what have we learned ? Before I go into some explanations on the design of each maze take a minute to hypothesize on what you think just happened. 4 similar mazes. Hopefully they gave you different experiences for you when you were solving them.

4 Maze Comparison - The Differences and Design Choices

• First, did you notice each maze has the same exact solution ? Mazes 2 & 3 have the inverse (or flipped) solution of mazes 1 & 4. So the solutions are essentially all equal.

• Each numbered maze should have gotten more difficult as the numbers increased (although with a small maze size this may have been somewhat less obvious)

• Maze 1 - Short dead ends. Incorrect paths do not have branches. Pathways are wide. Some paths are “filler” and unusable.

• Maze 2 - Longer dead ends. Incorrect paths do not have branches. Pathways normal width.

• Maze 3 - Long dead ends with additional branches off of them. Pathways slightly smaller.

• Maze 4 - Long dead ends with choices and branches off them. 4 way choices included. Small pathway widths.

So to summarize I used the following to change the difficulty of the 4 mazes:

• The length of dead ends - How fast you know you have made an incorrect choice

• Dead end branches - When you make a wrong turn are there multiple incorrect choices on that branch

• Expanded pathway choices - Some intersections have multiple choices

• Pathway widths - Smaller pathways are more difficult to see and navigate.

• Unusable pathways - Filler sometimes used to fill a maze out while keeping it at the desired difficulty level.

Let’s look at the pathways coded to show what I mean. The red line is the solution. The blue line is the false pathway. The purple line is an unusable pathway (Did you know some mazes use this ?)

What you need to notice in the below deconstructed mazes:

• Maze 1 - Thick pathways make this maze easier to solve. The purple lines to not connect to anything - essentially they are filler and unusable pathways. Most likely you did not notice them. They make the maze easier. The blue lines, the incorrect dead end paths - are short and only extend 2 levels before letting the solver know it was the wrong choice.

• Maze 2 - Normal pathway width. No purple pathways from here on out. The blue lines are long but have no branches off of them. Longest length is 11 blocks.

• Maze 3 - Pathways are a bit thinner. The blue dead end lines now have branches, so wrong turns have additional wrong turns. None of these, however has more than one additional dead end branch. There is also a dead end choice at the starting block.

• Maze 4 - Pathways are very thin. There are now 3 intersections where 4 pathway choices are included (they look like a plus sign in this grid maze). Dead end branches also have multiple dead ends off of them.

Hopefully this explanation and example shows you a small piece of how maze difficulty can be designed and changed with a few different choices. Most solvers would prefer Maze #1 because the wrong turns are not overly punishing. But a nice amount of people would prefer something a bit more challenging also, so remember the audience you are designing for when you create your mazes !

I will say that there is a balance between making a challenging maze and poor maze design. Do the pathways need to be ultra thin or are you just straining the eyes of the solver ? I think a re-design of Maze #3 with thick pathways would be both enjoyable AND challenging ! Happy maze-ing !

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How To Make A Grid Maze

44 Different types of Mazes and Labyrinths

Comparison of the Top 10 Maze Generation Websites