Navigating the Best Mazes of 2019: The votes are in !

We had 12 months of voting to determine the best mazes from each month and now with the help of my voters (thank you!) we have determined the best of the best. In my year in review post I thought that the winner may not come from previous months 1st place finishers as new voters come and go, and I was right.

Below is a snapshot of the top 3 vote getters for each month from 2019 which were eligible for voting. If you prefer to see full size versions of those mazes, I have that covered too where you can download each maze for free. It is a nice variety of mazes from both kids and adults with lots of unique mazes you won’t find anywhere else.

Let’s look at our top 5 mazes as voted on be you ! Click on any picture to download a pdf of the maze to print and solve !

#5 Bacon Maze

Posted on December 30 to celebrate National Bacon Day. One of the first mazes I posted on the site, it originally was voted 3rd place in January. One of the few mazes that uses a free hand construction.

Bacon maze

#4 Cheeseburger Maze

The winning maze from September, the cheeseburger maze was posted to celebrate National Cheeseburger Day on September 18. This is a Beyond Meat Burger.

Cheeseburger Maze

#3 Food Truck Maze

You don’t see many food truck mazes, but this monthly winner from June seems to be a favorite. Posted June 28, 2019 for National Food Truck Day. I think it has a great menu.

Food Truck Maze

#2 Crushed Can Maze

Seemingly out of nowhere, the crushed can maze, previously 2nd place in January gets some ballot stuffing and comes in 2nd place for all of 2019 ! Published January 24, 2019 to celebrate Beer Can Appreciation Day. I actually posted 2 mazes this day, one a crushed can and the other fully intact. Obviously we know what everyone preferred.

Crushed Beer Can Maze

And the maze of the year for 2019 is….

#1 King Tut Maze

Coming in a close 2nd in November, the King Tut maze got the most votes for 2019. Posted November 4, 2019 for King Tut Day I think it is a worthy winner. I have re-worked the maze to be larger and more difficult if you like the way this looks !

King Tut maze

If you stumbled upon this page looking for cool mazes but want something more like “maze art”, I have plenty of new mazes I have made since 2019 on the home page, like famous buildings The Louvre, the Rock n Roll HOF, and the Sydney Opera House! You can even watch mazes being made on my YouTube channel.

To see what the future looks like (and it is much better check out this post for 2022 MOTY:

2022 Maze of the Year Voting Results

The Top 18 Movies Containing Mazes or Labyrinths

I love watching movies and I love making mazes. You might not think so, but there is a good amount of overlap between the two. Mazes have been popping up as plot devices in movies since they were first being made. Want to create tension for your characters ? Get them lost in a maze being chased by a villain. Sometimes characters need a challenge to overcome to get to their destination, so how about solving a puzzle or series of puzzles like a maze. When I set out to compile a list of maze movies I never realized how great the movies would actually be. I think you’ll agree.

Here are my top 18 favorite movies containing mazes (IN RANDOM ORDER):

1 . Ready Player One (2018) IMDB Prime Video

Steven Spielberg directed this great movie from the best selling book. In the year 2045 a virtual reality world called the OASIS can be won by the person who can find a series of Easter Eggs hidden in the virtual world. To find the Easter Eggs you need to solve puzzles using details about pop culture from the past (our present). With cameos by over 120 characters this movie is one you can watch again and again and never see all the hidden cameos. Oh, and did you notice the Ready Player One logo is a MAZE ! You start from the initial R and work your way to the center of the O.

Ready Player One Logo Maze

2. Inception (2010) IMDB Prime Video

At the time of this writing this is the highest rated Science-Fiction movie of all-time on IMDB. A group of thieves go into dreams to steal corporate ideas from the minds of people. This time they need to plant an idea in a CEO’s head during a dream (what they call an inception). To do this they will need to circumvent the maze of subconscious dream worlds they’ve created - a dream world within a dream world within a dream world. Sounds like that will be easy to execute. And the ending !!!

3. The Shining (1980) IMDB Prime Video

One of the best horror movies of all time is also one of the best movies of all time. Stanley Kubrick as the director of a Stephen King best selling book with Jack Nicholson as the lead character….Yes please ! A writer takes a job as a caretaker of a secluded hotel that is closed for the Winter with his wife and young son joining him. Oh, did I mention the hotel is also haunted ? As the writer’s mental state deteriorates, his wife and son try to leave but he won’t let them. Can they escape a secluded hotel in the middle of winter ? I would try using the hedge maze outside….just a thought. If you want to explore the symbolism in the film check out the documentary Room 237.

4. Prisoners (2013) IMDB Prime Video

A man (Hugh Jackman) tries to hunt down his 6 year old daughter and her friend who have been abducted. As he gets closer to the suspected abductor he finds a man obsessed with making mazes (I do not support this premise). Can he find the children in time to keep them safe ? A really tense thriller I highly recommend.

5. Cube (1997) IMDB Prime Video

6 strangers wake-up in a giant cube shaped maze that is bobby trapped and trying to kill them. They don’t know why they are there or how they got there but they know they need to try and escape. Are they making the right or wrong choice as they choose each passageway ? Only one way to find out. Now this is some maze horror !

6. The Maze Runner (2014) IMDB Prime Video

So you wake up with no memory of your past trapped with others just like you in an enclosed environment. Well, not completely enclosed. There is a maze surrounding you patrolled by cyborgs you need to go thru to escape. You get the chance to solve the maze each morning when a large door opens. That same door closes each night, and if you get stuck in the maze overnight, you die. You don’t know why you’re there or who put you there. Escaping the maze seems like the right move…run.

7. Labyrinth (1986) IMDB Prime Video

Jim Henson, Lucasfilm and David Bowie collaborated on this fantasy movie. A teenage girl is angrily babysitting her younger baby brother and wishes he would be taken away. The Goblin King grants the wish and takes the brother. Her only way to get him back is to solve a Labyrinth in 13 hours or her brother will permanently become a goblin in this weird fantasy world. Includes a wonderful tribute to MC Escher.

8. The Collection (2012) IMDB Prime Video

After escaping from a serial killer known as The Collector a man is sent back to the serial killer’s hideout to rescue a kidnapped girl. The only problem is that hideout is a booby trapped maze he needs to get thru to save the girl. Can he save her in time ? Another nice horror maze movie.

9. Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB Prime Video

Dave builds a cardboard fort in his living room. It looks small from the outside, but once you enter it gets much, much larger. Dave gets lost. Dave’s friends join him against his advice to stay outside. Now everyone is lost. To return to civilization they need to band together and escape the cardboard maze. You haven’t seen this, and maybe you don’t THINK you want to see this, BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS. Destined to be a cult classic circa 2035. Possibly 2037.

10. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) IMDB Prime Video

In 1944 Spain a young girl escapes a world at war by escaping into a fantasy world at the center of a secret underground labyrinth. The girl meets a faun (totally normal) who takes her to the center of the labyrinth. She learns she can become an immortal princess in this fantasy world but must prove herself first by completing 3 tasks. Winner of 3 Oscars and over 100 movie awards.

11. The Lady From Shanghai (1947) IMDB Prime Video

Rita Hayworth plays a vixen that gets director/actor Orson Welles mixed up in a murder plot in this film-noir classic. They find themselves caught in a fun-house mirror maze in a key plot moment that involves gunshots…if they can find what they are shooting at ! One of the few maze films that involves a funhouse mirror maze but is not a horror film.

12. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) IMDB Prime Video

The ninth James Bond film. A professional assassin with a golden gun charges a million dollars per kill. He trains against other assassins in a room that is set-up like a fun-house, including multiple mirror mazes (and in the opening sequence !). Can Bond find him and spoil his current plot ?

13. Us (2019) IMDB Prime Video

Jordan Peele knows how to make an interesting horror film. A young girl wanders off from the amusement park on the beach and enters a deserted fun house. When the lights go out she tries to exit, but the mirror maze makes it difficult for her to find her way. Oh, and so does the girl in the mirror. And that’s when you know this thing is about to get sinister.

14. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) IMDB Prime Video

A young boy is born with a sense of smell more powerful than anyone in human history. With it he obsessively works to create the perfect perfume. Unfortunately, that includes some secret ingredients that are against the law. Of course, he finds some of these ingredients when they are lost in a hedge maze. It gets very weird multiple times at the end, but you can’t say it’s something you’ve seen before !

15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) IMDB Prime Video

The fourth Harry Potter movie/book. At one point Harry and his other competitors(champions) in the Triwizard Tournament are stuck in a hedge maze for part 3 of the tournament. A very active hedge maze that seems to be alive. Harry must escape to move forward.

16. The Maze (1953) IMDB Prime Video

The film deserves to be included despite being of slightly lower quality than the other movies for 2 main reasons: 1) The title is The Maze so it definitely qualifies 2) The movie starts with shots of the hedge maze that is central to the entire story. That story is of a Scotsman who moves into a castle that has an adjoining hedge maze. There is only one rule for the maze - do not enter it. Which means of course you are going to enter it. I’m sure everything will be fine…right ? You can give it a watch here. And from a historical note, the very first 3D color movie came out April 10, 1953 from Vincent Price, The House of Wax. This film followed shortly after in 3D in July of the same year.

17. Muppets from Space (1999) IMDB Prime Video

Not the best Muppet film, but this one is led by Gonzo instead of Kermit and the main supporting actor…uh…supporting Muppet is Rizzo the Rat. Now during a key scene Rizzo gets captured by the bad guys and gets put into a cage with lab rats. I should have said Spoiler before that. My Bad. Anyway the lab rats are put into a rat maze during the next scene.

18. It Chapter 2 (2019) IMDB Prime Video

The newest movie on the list. The Losers Club is called home 27 years after their encounter with Pennywise in Derry, Maine. He seems to be in a very bad mood. Eventually we have a few characters stuck in a fun-house mirror maze with the sadistic clown Pennywise. And things get intense. Running in a mirror maze is a BAD IDEA.

Now if you are like me, and you probably aren’t, because we are all different and special in our own way. Anyway, If you are like me you are going to head to your local library to check these out for free. At the time of this writing a few of these are available to stream online. My favorite site to check what is streaming where is Justwatch. Now, make some popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show ! Want to know what the best maze movie posters are ? I’ve got you covered !

Additional Posts you would like:

YouTube playlist of the 18 best maze movie trailers

The Top 12 Maze and Labyrinth Movies of all time

A Collection of over 80 Maze movie reviews

Watchmojo YouTube video on maze movie scenes !

How to Make a Maze - website section with over 40 different How-tos

Review of the Best Mazes from 2019

We had 12 months of voting to determine the best mazes each month and now we have voting to determine the best of the best here. The interesting thing is as new people discover and vote, mazes that came in 2nd or 3rd place one month might just come in 1st overall for the year ! new voters, new perspective.

Although some months had up to 8 best of mazes I thought I would take the time to look at the top 3 vote-getters from each month for the year. Those are the ones eligible for the final 2019 vote. Here is a snapshot of those mazes that I use on the voting page, but if you want to see full size, I made a section for the mazes

The Maze Subject

The most popular subject for winning mazes was animal mazes. with 8 placing out of 36 spots, including 4 monthly winners. If an animal maze is made well it tends to get a fair amount of voting support. Tied for most popular maze type is food/drink, also with 8 monthly spots, including a clean sweep of March. Food also had 2 monthly winners. The rest of the mazes have generally random categories, although there are 3 vehicles, 2 monetary, 2 clothing and 2 game mazes each.

The Maze Difficulty

My early daily mazes were definitely more difficult than later mazes I made. That is true for the mazes voted best of also. I would classify 19 of the mazes as medium difficulty, 12 as hard and only 6 as easy.

The Maze Type

A standard maze construction was used for 27 of the 36 mazes with no other construction being used more than twice. I use a standard construction for the majority of my mazes so this is not too much of a surprise. There were no escape mazes, or two way mazes, only mazes that started and ended on the border of the object. Only 1 maze, the Penguin maze did not start and end at the border of the picture.

The Maze Colors

The use of 4 colors or 2 colors for a maze were each used 9 times. Next in line was the use of 6 or more colors that was used 5 times. There were also 3 black and white mazes, so the majority, or 33 were color mazes. Overall the colorations are relatively muted colors in grays and browns, not many bright colors and some colors like purple, orange, and yellow are barely seen (and then only as accents).

The Picture Complexity

Here is where I think we have some consistency for the winners vs. non-winners, The mazes voted as the best of the month are generally more complex pictures, regardless of the maze inside. The Ace of Spades is probably the least complex structure but it is easily recognizable for what it is. Most everything else has some complexity to it.

In Summary

I don’t know if there are many conclusions from this other than people voted for pictures they liked that happen to contain mazes.

UPDATE : The votes were counted and here is where we landed:

NAVIGATING THE BEST MAZES OF 2019: THE VOTES ARE IN !

Other posts you may like:

2022 Maze of the Year Voting Results

10 Places Where you can Buy Spectacular Maze Art

The Surprising Benefits of Solving Mazes

The DOYOUMAZE Daily Maze Theme for 2020

Announcing The DOYOUMAZE Daily Maze Theme(s) for 2020

Following up on the 2019 daily maze theme of weird holidays will be tough. I looked into a few different options and have decided to focus on a different type of maze each month. There are over 30 different types of solvable mazes and I will make some of my favorite. Each day will be a new maze, with the difficulty getting harder each week of the month. This is my initial plan at least.

What this also means: No more “best of” maze of the month voting. These mazes will all look relatively the same and choosing between them would be meaningless. Daily pdf downloads will stop and each maze can be solved on screen by sight. Instead there will be a downloadable book of every maze at the end of each month ! So, 12 book launches in 2020 !

Here is a preview of the first 3 months starting with the mazes that will be posted on the first of each month (easy).

January - Arrow mazes. I love making and solving Arrow mazes so this was an easy. Want to learn how to make your own arrow mazes ?

Arrow Maze

February - Warp Zone mazes. I haven’t made many of these mazes but find the flexibility the warp gives you to be refreshing as it makes the thought process different as you solve the mazes. Want to make your own warp zone mazes ?

Warp Zone maze

March - Line Leads mazes. Not a traditional maze and geared to a younger audience, usually. Involves some guessing, but still an enjoyable experience (I hope). And again, if you want to learn how to make line leads mazes, I have that covered.

Line Leads Maze

April - December - TBD

I hope you enjoy ! Have something you want to see ? Let me know !

UPDATE: If you like these types of mazes, all of these ideas (and many more) became collections of maze books that are downloadable.