The Largest Arrow Maze in the World - Answer

After a 5 Part series of posts where I gave you hints to help you solve The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably). Today for the first time I give you the answer to the maze. Before that here are the links to the 5 hints if you want an intermediate step:

HINT #1 - THE CORRECT FIRST MOVE

HINT #2 - A CHECKPOINT IN SECTION 1

HINT #3 - A CHECKPOINT IN SECTION 2

Hint #4 - Correct direction from checkpoint 3

Hint #5 - A checkpoint in the final section

AND NOW ….the solution to the largest arrow maze in the world (probably), also now available on the mazes page.

If you do try this maze, time yourself and drop me a note how fast you were able to solve it in (and if you needed to use any hints) !

The Largest Arrow Maze in the World - Hint #1

If you have taken the challenge of trying to solve The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably) you understand why this series of posts exists. It is a maze that takes a long time to solve, and because there are no dead ends in an arrow maze you can feel like you are looping back to previous points constantly. Sometimes you make the right decision, only to be looped even farther back in the maze when a new decision is incorrect.

But, I find Arrow mazes to be more fun than a normal maze. Why ? Well, you cannot see the dead ends easily. In a normal maze you can see obvious wrong pathways quickly and never take them. You can also see loops much more easily that are meant to confuse you, the solver. Arrow ‘pathways’, can change direction in ways that if drawn with regular pathways would need an additional level ( weaving pathways) so paths can go under and over one another. And finally, because of the use of double arrows, and warps (although none are used in this maze) you can get out of tight corners and spaces.

Here are 5 hints to help you solve The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably). I also tell you what hint you will be getting so you do not need to use those that you do not need.

Hint #1 - The correct first move

The first move has 4 possible choices (actually 5, both moving to the right is a 1 move option since it returns you back to start). Here is the correct first move:

Hint #2 - A checkpoint in section 1

Your initial goal is to get to the first of 3 checkpoints in the maze. Use this as an unmarked checkpoint before the first official checkpoint.

Hint #3 - A checkpoint in section 2

The move off the checkpoint only has 2 options, and one of them quickly becomes incorrect, so no hint is needed there. Instead you get another checkpoint between section 1 and the next official checkpoint.

Hint #4 - Correct direction from checkpoint 3

The all ways arrow that is your launching off point from checkpoint 2 has 8 options. Eventually you will find the right one, so no hints for that section (between checkpoints 2 and 3).

Checkpoint 3 only has 2 options. I think the wrong way options are fun…but if you are having trouble, this hint tells you which direction is correct.

Hint #5 - A checkpoint in the final section

The home stretch. Get to this spot and you are almost home ! This is your final solving hint !

If you do try this maze, time yourself and drop me a note how fast you were able to solve it in (and if you needed to use any hints) !

Maze of the Week #25 - National Center for Civil and Human Rights Building Maze

Maze #25 features a museum that opened to the public on June 23, 2014. With wonderful architecture and an important mission, this week I feature a maze of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights Building located in Atlanta, Georgia. The architect of the building was Phil Freelon. My maze is a draw and cut construction and was originally done in black and white. I went back and worked on a colorized version of the maze that took me many weeks to finish (so many panels to color !). I hope you like the finished products !

Some information about the National Center for Civil and Human Rights

The museum primarily honors the history of the civil rights movement of black Americans in the 1960’s. Exhibits featuring the items from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. The museum also works to connect this movement to current movements around the world for Human Rights.

Here is a 13 minute long video with a wonderful overview and virtual tour of the facility !

A photo:

From a slightly different angle than the maze I made, but you get the idea. Photo from Maciek Lulko on flickr.

The mazes:

The first version of the maze in black and white. I like how it came out but decided I wanted a version in color despite the challenge that was.

National Center for Civil and Human Rights Building Maze

And here is the color version: I think it was worth the effort ! I had to match the color of each panel with the picture to get it right.

I hope you enjoy the mazes. Free downloads are available of the mazes on their permanent webpage.

Coming next week:

A maze of a US National Park !

The 5 Hardest Mazes on this Website - Part 1

I have made a few thousand mazes for this website, although only half of them remain because I got rid of the least popular ones. What is left are the mazes people seem to search for and download the most. If you stop by on Mondays you will see the new maze of the week which a more artful maze (usually) than the daily mazes I was making for my first few years tending the site. I think the extra days of design means a better maze.

Today I want to take you through the 5 Hardest Mazes on this site. All of these come from the earlier version of the site where daily mazes were the norm. By the end of this year I expect to have a Part 2 with complicated picture mazes, but for now here are the big 5:

#5 and #4 Playing Card Mazes

Specifically the King of Diamonds and Queen of Hearts playing cards. As of this writing each is featured on the home page, neither has a downloadable solution available, and both feature long dead ends. What do I mean by long dead ends ? Well I did not make the incorrect pathways obvious quickly for the solver. I also made multiple branches off of wrong pathways, so you might make a wrong turn, go back to the last intersection and go the other way just to realize later that is also the wrong pathway. Because of the level of detail each should be printed on large size paper to solve !!

King of Diamonds Maze

Queen of Hearts Maze

#3 Slide Arrow Maze(s)

The thing about a slide arrow maze is that if you make a large one with only one correct solution it can become impossible to solve without “backward solving”. In a slide arrow maze you can move to any other arrow the arrow you are on is pointing to (but no jumping gaps). So the number of possibilities gets large quickly and your chances of making the x# of moves in a row correctly are near zero. Any slide arrow maze would work here but I picked one where there are 13 possible second moves.

#2 Empire State Building Maze (at night)

First I want to mention that I made this in Microsoft Paint a pixel at a time before I discovered how to make digital mazes much more easily. It took months. The maze is based on a scale model I found online. Although it does not say so, there are 2 ways to solve the maze. From the start at the base to the top. Or go all the way up and then back down to the start. The maze has 2 pathways up/down. This is also my largest maze at 3 feet wide and 9.5 feet tall in full resolution. I did not make a solution file. The sheer size of this makes it difficult in addition to the fact it was an early maze of mine before I understood how to design an enjoyable maze soultion.

#1 Mega Arrow Maze

While this maze may or may not be the Largest Arrow Maze in the World, it is definitely difficult to solve. The thing that I like about Arrow mazes is that there are no dead ends, only incorrect loops that you can get caught in. Of course, that is also what makes them maddening when you choose the wrong pathway.

It has it’s own section on the site. And starting Tuesday I will be giving daily hints (5 in total) to help you solve it. Go there to get the directions on how to solve an arrow maze and the mazes download. Good Luck ! You will probably need it !

Hey, did you notice this is only Part 1 ? Well there are future collections of hard mazes coming. If you want to be notified when new collections of hard mazes are made send me your info below !