The Largest (Drawn) Square Labyrinth in the World

August 15, 2023

The Largest Square Labyrinth in the World (Probably*). I wanted to test out my method of making square labyrinths and make sure I got the math right, etc, and decided to go for the world record. A record that does not exist and could easily be beaten. If you have seen my How to Make a Labyrinth section I feature over 20 different options for many different shapes. My previous largest labyrinth with directions was for the 27 circuit classical labyrinth.

I will not be doing directions for this one - but I will be showing you a few point in the process, and if you want you can adapt this blog post of an 11 circuit into directions for any size easily. Here is the starting seed pattern.

99 circuit square labyrinth seed pattern — Seed pattern 99 circuit square labyrinth

The math of this is that each of the 4 sections have 25 pathways, so that is 50 across the whole pattern. To determine the circuit # the math is 2x pathways minus one, or 2 x 50 - 1 = 99 circuits. So to make a seed pattern for an X size labyrinth use that formula.

I wanted to show you how this looked after connecting only the top portion of pathways. As you can see things get large quickly !

And let’s just skip to the final 99 Square Circuit Labyrinth, The Largest Square Labyrinth in the World (probably*).

99 circuit square labyrinth — 99 Square Circuit Labyrinth

For most of you (99.8%) that is going to look terrible because it is so large compared to your screen. Now take your finger and travel the pathways for the next few hours and….yeah no, do not do that.

I will mention a tip common in making labyrinths that you may have noticed. The center point changes from the starting seed to the final labyrinth drastically. So, if you are making this, or any other labyrinth start it lower on the paper to account for this. See the illustration below shown in red and blue:

99 circuit square labyrinth centering change

So that is it. I would say it was fun to make but it really wasn’t. If you liked this post you may also like these:

The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably)

A Comparison of 5 different types of 11 Circuit Labyrinths

10 Places Where you can Buy Spectacular Maze Art

August 5, 2023

I am always looking for interesting maze art. Someday I hope to open a museum dedicated to mazes and this feels like research for me. Below you will find 1o different sites where you can find all types of maze and labyrinth art from around the world. I have highlighted some particular artists and pieces that caught my eye, but because some of these are originals I needed to be more general in my linking. Nothing worse than praising a piece of artwork and then having a broken link !

Here are 10 sites I recommend for buying maze art :

In alphabetical order:

Art.com - they own the keyword for buying art. But, how do they do on maze and labyrinth art ? A miss. I did not find anything interesting on the site with those searches.

Artfinder - has over 100,000 artists and 1 million pieces of art on its platform.
- Seguto - Has lots of pop culture pieces, but delves into colorful mazes a few times like here, here, and here.

ArtPal - the site advertises that it has over 244K artists on the site. Does it have maze art ? It does ! Here are my 4 favorite. You can find a few other pieces here and there with a search.
- HandDrawnMazes has some wonderful scenes that include either boats/shore or classic cars like the VW beetle.
- Jenna Marotta plays around with mazes drawn over colorful backgrounds
- The Artist MSG has some wonderful mazes of animals.
- Doug (Doug091478) has 2 hand drawn doodle mazes

Artsy - they are the world’s largest online seller of fine art with over 1 million pieces of artwork from 100K artists. Because it is fine art the prices are higher than normal (for me). A simple search for “maze” on the site gave me a lot of results (800+ at the time) but after going through 10 pages I gave up looking for interesting pieces. “Labyrinth”, however gave some interesting results ! Fine art means the inventory changes as things are sold/listed for sale since these are often one of a kind pieces !
- Michael Voss - has a few labyrinth titled pieces for sale.
- Ted Lawson - currently has 2 large “white labyrinth’” pieces for sale that I love. If I had a maze art museum I would want one for it !
Etsy - I assume you know the site. The best part about it is you can buy all types of products like jewelry, prints, games, and clothing. Because these items change very often here are my 3 favorite searches:
- Maze Jewelry - Lots of Native American items.
- Wooden Labyrinths - For playing games or spiritual meditation.
- Maze Games - Puzzles, paper mazes, marble mazes and so much more.

Fine Art America - What i really like about this site is the search engine. Typing in mazes gets you many results that I found interesting
- The New Yorker Covers (4 different)
- 1x Maze Images - a collection of artwork from many different artists, all maze themed
- Conde Nast - this collection includes The New Yorker covers but also a couple dozen maze themed cartoons that are fun !
Saatchi Art - Features over 47K original artworks from artists from all over the world. I found a lot of 1 off maze and labyrinth pieces but no dedicated artist during my searches.
- Marcia Raff - Specifically her excellent bronze sculpture of a labyrinth made out of a guitar !
society6 - 450K+ artists from 170+ countries.
- Sean C Jackson - This is where you can buy prints of his work
- Mini Marshmallow Print - Big fan of this simple but fun print !
Twobraids - features the maze art of K Lars Lohn. I suggest reading his story and artist statement, and then buy one of his many beautiful prints !
UGallery - As of today there is no maze or labyrinth art…but I included it because items change on these sites often and a search here tomorrow will be different than today.

Good luck in your search ! I hope you find what you are looking for !

While you are here, check out some of my maze art !

Mazes and Gender: What Do the Research Findings Tell Us?

August 3, 2023

Who is better at solving mazes men or women ? I was looking for scientific research on mazes to write my blog on brain health (The Surprising Benefits of Solving Mazes) and I stumbled upon this piece of research from 2007. The study aims to present a consensus statement based on the best available scientific evidence regarding sex differences in science and math achievement and ability. Basically how do we get more women into STEM fields, or why aren’t there more. The article concludes that sex differences in science and math achievement and ability are smaller for the mid-range of the distribution than they are for those with the highest levels of achievement and ability. So that is the overall conclusion, but part of the study looked at visuospatial abilities.

What are Visuospatial abilities ? They are the capacity to understand, reason, and remember the visual and spatial relations among objects or space. These abilities are used for everyday use from navigation, understanding or fixing equipment, understanding or estimating distance and measurement, and performing on a job. Spatial abilities are important for success in fields such as sports, technical aptitude, mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering.

The paper notes that males have consistently outperformed females on most measures of visuospatial abilities, including mazes. This difference is evident even when controlling for factors such as age, intelligence, and socioeconomic status.

The paper suggests that there are a number of possible explanations for the sex difference in maze performance. One possibility is that males have better spatial reasoning skills than females. Spatial reasoning is the ability to mentally manipulate objects and to visualize spatial relationships. Males may be better at spatial reasoning because they have more testosterone, a hormone that has been linked to spatial abilities.

Another possibility is that males are more interested in mazes than females. This could be due to cultural factors, such as the fact that mazes are often seen as a "male" activity (I did not realize this - are they ?). It could also be due to biological factors, such as the fact that males have a greater interest in objects and in exploring their environment.

Another interesting finding is that sex differences in spatial tasks are seen between the sexes by age 4.5 based on preschool testing (see page 8 of the study) !

So who is better at solving mazes ? Men are on average, but that doesn’t mean everyone can’t enjoy a great maze !

Here are some possible reasons why men and women might differ in maze solving ability:

Hormones: Testosterone has been shown to improve spatial ability in both men and women. However, men have higher levels of testosterone than women, so this could explain why men might be better at maze solving.
Brain structure: There are some differences in the brain structure of men and women. For example, the hippocampus, which is involved in spatial navigation, is larger in men than in women. This could also explain why men might be better at maze solving.
Socialization: Men and women are socialized differently. For example, boys are often encouraged to play with spatial toys, such as blocks and Legos, while girls are often encouraged to play with dolls and other non-spatial toys. This could also contribute to gender differences in maze solving ability.

Study used:

Title: The Science of Sex Differences in Science and Mathematics

Authors: Diane F. Halpern, Camilla P. Benbow, David C. Geary, Ruben C. Gur, Janet Shibley Hyde, Morton Ann Gernsbacher
Journal: Psychological Bulletin
Year: 2007
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.2.268

Here is a link to the pdf of the entire study (51 pages)

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2007.00032.x

Here are some things women do better than men:

Arrow Mazes: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fun and Challenging Puzzles

July 22, 2023

I have written over 20 different blog posts about Arrow Mazes, including a 14 part design masterclass series on just about everything you imagine. But I have never written about why I love them so much, so let’s do that, and despite the long time between them let’s consider this Part 15 in the series. Below I will go through the series so far with some additional notes to guide you. First, let’s define what an Arrow Maze is:

ARROW MAZE - A MAZE THAT INVOLVES FOLLOWING ARROWS IN THE DIRECTION SHOWN WITH A FEW DECISIONS ALONG THE WAY TO CREATE THE MAZE SOLVING ASPECT. A WELL DESIGNED ARROW MAZE HAS NO DEAD ENDS, BUT RATHER LOOPS THAT RETURN YOU TO AN EARLIER PART OF THE MAZE.

If you want to make and design your own Arrow Mazes you should read to original blog post “How to Make an Arrow Maze” and also read Parts 1 - 4 below which take you through the main parts of an Arrow Maze and how they are used:

Arrow Maze Construction and Design:

Part 1 - Start Locations and Options
- In this post I discuss the placement of the Start block and how it effects the solving and options for solving the maze.
Part 2 - Using Creative Shapes
- I show how you can use blocks and some creativity to create some interesting shapes/themes. More on this below with examples.
Part 3 - Intersections
- A discussion of how to make an Arrow Maze more difficult by using decision blocks.
Part 4 - Using Loops
- An explanation of loops, which are used instead of dead ends in an Arrow Maze.

The second section of the series in Parts 5 - 12 explores the different types of Arrows that can be used (different Arrows allow different movements through the maze) and special blocks that can be placed in the Arrow Maze. For the most basic Arrow Mazes you would only need to read Part 5.

Arrow Maze Components:

Part 5 - Regular Arrows
- The core and most basic element of an arrow maze is the basic regular arrow. It points in 1 direction which you follow. Most Arrow Mazes are made of a majority of these arrows.

Part 6 - Double Arrows
- An arrow that jumps you over the block or gap in the direction the double arrow is pointed. Great to get you out of tight spots as a solver and to hide “pathways” better as a maze creator.

Part 7 - Using the START GOAL
- This block adds a new twist to solving the maze because the solver must determine which block is the START and which block is the GOAL. You must find a path between the 2 to solve it.

Part 8 - Return to Start Block
- Exactly what it says. If you land on this block you must return to the Start of the Arrow Maze.

Part 9 - Using Warp Zones
- Landing on the block allows you to Warp (or jump) to the same shaped Warp block across the maze. When you land on a Warp block you can warp across the maze OR you can choose not to warp and move in any direction off the block (like a Start block)

Part 10 - Slide Arrows
- Landing on a Slide Arrow means you can slide to ANY block it is pointing to (but you can not jump gaps). If you want to learn how to make a maze completely out of this type of arrow: How to Make a Slide Arrow Maze.

Part 11 - All Ways Arrow
- When you land on this type of arrow, you may move off of it in any direction

Part 12 - Long Arrow Use
- The Long Arrow is the name of an infinite number of arrows that are 2 or more blocks long. It replaces a series of regular arrows.

And the final part of the series shows how you can make Arrow Mazes more fun and challenging, typically by using an exaggerated number of special blocks Part 13, or making it very large Part 14. Not part of the original series, but a supplement to Part 14 was a 5 part series of hints to help people solve the Largest Arrow Maze in the World.

Extreme Arrow Maze examples:

And finally we have today where I attempt to pull everything together.

Overview:

Part 15 - Why I Love Arrow Mazes (this post)

While I seem to like Arrow mazes more than most people, I also feel like most people have never tried one. When I introduce them to new people I get a good response. They have never caught on, but I am hopeful some day they will.

7 Reasons Why I Love Arrow Mazes

1 - Arrow Mazes are for all Ages

Regular mazes come with varying levels of complexity and so do Arrow Mazes. However, even most complex Arrow Mazes are quicker to solve because the blocks take up more space on the page. So a complex Arrow Maze can be solved by a child more easily than a regular maze. You can trial and error your way to success because…

2 - There are no Dead Ends in an Arrow Maze

You can read more about the concept in Part 4 of the series - Using Loops. Instead of dead ends, wrong decisions lead you back to where you started…so you can course correct your direction the next time !

3 - No Writing Utensil is Needed to solve an Arrow Maze

Have you ever thought about buying a maze book for a kindle ? Of course not. How would you solve the maze on the screen…except there is a maze book for kindle for sale, of my Arrow Mazes ! You solve an Arrow maze using your eyes or finger. No pencils needed.

4 - Arrow Mazes have cool shapes

Not that regular mazes don’t, but making an arrow maze, built by blocks in interesting shapes helps keeps things fun and interesting ! Check out these 3 examples:

5 - Arrow Mazes are fun to create and solve

I really enjoy making them. I have personally made over 500 Arrow mazes over the years, including the aforementioned book for sale on Amazon. I have additional volumes ready for publishing should I want to launch them. As far as solving, the use of loops vs. dead ends enhances the enjoyment. The complexity that can be created with use of the advanced blocks (see Part 13) can make things very interesting. Good luck avoiding the “Return to the Star” blocks !!

6 - They can be themed !

I have made Arrow mazes for specific holidays. Here are a few basic Christmas examples for kids.

7 - They can be Optimized for Mobile !

Just make them skinny.

Additional Maze Arrow Examples:

Here are a few more mazes for you to try. Hopefully you find them enjoyable ! I have also included instructions that I made for my book to help you understand some of the moves you will be making !