Maze options - Conditional Path options

Welcome to Part 3 of my 3 part series on maze construction options. Previously, I gave you step by step instructions to make over 40 different maze constructions. But making a maze also means making a series of different decisions, each that will change the look and difficulty of the maze. Here are the Parts we will cover in the series:

Part 1 - Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options

Part 3 - Conditional Path options

Let’s get started with Part 3: Conditional Path Options

In Part 1 we looked at starting and ending your maze. In Part 2 we looked at all the different options for making your pathways. Today we look at a specific subset of maze construction that I call Conditional Path Mazes. This group of mazes is a choice you make as a maze maker to give your solver a bit of an extra challenge. Call them what you want, but can they follow a set of guidelines, conditions, or rules to solve the maze ? Let’s look at types:

1 - Find Items Maze

This is a simple condition mostly. You move through the maze from start to finish, but along the way there are places you need to visit to essentially find items, thus the name. It also works well for Map mazes, where finding the item, or visiting the city is the goal of the maze. Here’s a Germany maze for example:

Note: A subset of this version would be the find items in order maze, where you stipulate the order things must be found/visited.

Germany Map Maze

2 - Avoid Items Maze

The opposite of finding is avoiding, at least for maze construction. This is a natural option for mazes, after all you are already avoiding dead ends !! Really these Avoid Items just create artificial dead ends within the maze, and hopefully help tell a story. Like this example of a Fish avoiding hooks. I could have made more walls but what fun is that ?

Kids Maze - Fish finds a worm

3 - Directional Mazes

A maze that states the directions you may move in is a directional maze. To reference Part 2 in the series on pathways, this could be a regular pathway or online. Below is an On Line Maze with the condition that you can only turn left to solve it.

Left Turn Only Maze

4 - Puzzle Maze

The condition of this maze type determines your movement. This means solving a puzzle to determine your movement thru the maze. In the first example below the movement is determined with a key - you must follow the directions to solve the maze and there are no choices, but with the 2nd puzzle movement is determined by rules - and there are multiple possible ways to move between grids.

Puzzle Maze
Puzzle Maze #2

5 - Letter Maze

Simply the rules involve letters…and in this version you have choices on where you move…i.e. this M or that M from START.

Letter Maze

6 - Number Mazes

Or similarly, numbers to determine movement. This particular variation is based on division and is a Counting maze.

Count by 3's Kids math maze

7 - Color Grid Maze

Movement thru the maze is determined by following a series of colors in order.

Color Grid Maze

8 - Conditional Color Path Maze

Similar to #7 but the pathways change colors rather than being colored blocks. As someone who makes a lot of mazes these are both fun and challenging to create. The non grid format gives you options to get complicated and math-y !! If you are a maze maker I suggest you try to make one of these.

Conditional Pathway Maze

9 - Non Reusable Pathways

This is used in a Go & Return Maze and sometimes in Find Items Mazes. The solver is asked to move thru the maze and never visit the same place more than once while solving. These tend to have “open floor plans” when it comes to walls. You want freedom of movement and choice to complicate the solve.

Kids Find Items Maze -Ants find sugar

10 - Go & Return Maze

A Go & Return Maze is part #9 Non-reusable Pathway and part #1 Find Items Maze combined with a Start/Goal that is the same. So maybe this is a combination of things we have already covered, and maybe it isn’t. I thought it was unique enough to get it’s own option. In a Go & Return Maze you go from start to an internal part in the maze, then return back to start without using the same path. Those are the conditions to solve ! Here is an example:

Triangular Go and Return Maze

11 - Math Maze

A variation of the number maze where your movement is determined by needing to solve a math problem to correctly advance. If you are interested I have made 11 different Math Maze Templates that are free to download.

Order of Operations Math Maze

Maze options - Maze Path options

Welcome to Part 2 of my 3 part series on maze construction options. Previously, I gave you step by step instructions to make 40 different maze constructions. But making a maze also means making a series of different decisions, each that will change the look and difficulty of the maze. If you missed Part 1, I suggest you start there !

Part 1 - Options for Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options

Part 3 - Conditional Pathway options

Let’s get started with Part 2: Maze Path Options

In Part 1 you figured out how you will be starting and ending your maze. Today we will explore some options for how you make your pathways. Pathways are of course where the maze solver travels as they are moving thru the maze. We start with the most common:

1 - Walled pathway

The most common pathway you will find. Self explanatory to anyone who has ever done a maze and most people that haven’t. The solver travels between walls made of lines. Here is what it looks like:

mini maze

2 - On Line Pathway

On line pathways are exactly as described - the solver travels on the lines and not in between them. This defines what an On Line Maze is, but can also used for Directional Mazes, which would have instructions such as - solve this maze by only turning left. Here is an example of an On Line Maze. If a solver is not paying attention, they may try to solve this maze as if it was using walls. If you use this construction I suggest adding directions explaining the “on-line” aspect.

On Line Maze Example

3 - Weaving Paths

Weaving Paths are intertwined and allow the solver to travel over/under other paths within the maze. Some use shadows or arrows to better define the movement and enhance the look of the maze, but generally it looks like below:

Diamond Shaped Weaving Maze

4 - Themed Pathways

This category is a catch all for a variety of themed pathways you find and become common in children’s maze and activity books. Some examples of these include Railroad tracks, a Roadway, a Subway Line, Sidewalks, and Pipes. Really places where people would naturally travel, or in the case of Pipes, water would. Here is a pipe maze example (which happens to also be a weaving pathway). Notice that I used shadows to further define the weaving aspect.

Ohio shaped Pipe Maze

5 - Grid “Pathway”

Grids can used for regular mazes, but are most commonly used in the different types of Puzzle Mazes. Puzzle Mazes, Block Move Mazes, Number Mazes, Letter Mazes, all use grids to give them structure. Below is a Standard Grid Maze and a Puzzle Maze to show 2 different variations of how grids can be used:

7x7 grid maze
12x12 puzzle maze

6 - Arrow Mazes

While Arrow Maze and Slide Arrow Mazes both use a grid for structure, the pathway you are following is actually determined by the arrow you land on and the direction you choose along the way. I consider this more about the arrows than the grids they are in. Here is an Arrow Maze as an example:

8x8 Easy Arrow Maze

7 - Free Drawn pathways

I say free drawn pathways, but really what you are drawing by hand are the walls. You get it. This encompasses all the variations that don’t quite fit into a perfect grid or grided path system. The distance between walls varies. Here is a crushed beer can (drawn digitally) with free drawn paths:

Crushed Beer Can Maze

8 - Background Picture

Mazes can have backgrounds, some of which have nothing to do with solving the maze. Think of making a maze over a picture of something. You could use the border as the Maze, but internally the picture only helps to decorate the pathways. Here is my maze from National Book day for example:

Book Cover Maze Example

9 - Objects as Walls/Paths

Similar to what I mentioned before above, this is really about creating pathways by what you use as walls. Using objects or words for the walls creates a very interesting path for the solver. I think they are fun to make and you can be very creative with it. Here are examples of pathways that were made using circles and many small boxes:

box maze full of balls
box maze full of boxes

10 - Patterned walls

Drawing a standard maze with straight lines as walls can get boring for both the mazer and the solver. This can be made more interesting by using a pattern that repeats for the walls. Like a simple back and forth, or a curve. Notice the example below how a simple maze transforms when drawn with standard walls versus with patterned walls. Very different looks for the same maze.

Example of a maze with patterned walls

11 - Colored Paths (walls)

There is an option to enhance the maze you have made using colored walls to define sections. It is much more common to see color used as a background, but keeping this as an option can really enhance your maze making. The example shows a wine maze, specifically a red wine maze as defined by the colored walls ! You might want to read about a case study on colored pathways.

red wine maze

12 - Path Spacing

While most pathways you come across will be walled, there are different looks achieved ( and different maze types resulting from) based on how the same lines are spaced. In the examples below we have walled mazes used to maze the same object with 3 different looks. #1 is a Kids maze with highly spaced walls. #2 is a standard maze with normally spaced walls. #3 is a standard equal where the walls are pathways are of equal width.

3 mazes of Ohio with different maze path spacing

And while this is not the best example, below is a design that used different path widths for each different section of the object. I should mention that the background color is the same in every section. Notice how the bishop has a very dark colored head because of the closer pathways with a lighter core section. Line spacing is a great way to change the color and shading of an object you are mazing !

Chess Bishop Maze

13 - Use the Drawing as Walls (Natural shape of the subject)

When making maze art I find that the best looking mazes are ones where I don’t create any pathways, but where the pathways are naturally created by the object I am making a maze of. Typically this involves the draw and cut method of maze making where I draw something, then cut a maze into the structure. Almost every building maze on this site uses that method. In the example below of Museo Soumaya the panels of the building become the walls. Panels, bricks, windows, they all have become pathway makers for me !

Museo Soumya Maze in color

Maze options - Starting and Ending a Maze

There are many possible constructions of mazes you can make. I gave you step by step instructions to make 40 of them. But making a maze also means making a series of different decisions, each that will change the look and difficulty of the maze. Over the next few days I will explore the main Maze Options you need to make in a 3 Part series:

Part 1 - Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options

Part 3 - Conditional Pathway options

Let’s get started with Part 1: Starting and Ending a Maze

A common question asked in search is “Do all mazes have a starting point ?” Yes - all mazes have a starting point. But things can get interesting (see #5 below) if there are multiple starting points !

10 MOST COMMON WAYS TO START AND END A DRAWN MAZE

Starting a maze means you have options on well…starting the maze. Let’s get the most common and simple Start out of the way first:

1 - A Start Arrow at the Maze Border (with an End Arrow at the goal)

Probably the most common start you will find. Self explanatory to anyone who has ever done a maze and most people that haven’t. Same for the goal. This start/goal option also has a big advantage from using the arrow symbol vs. any option using words - there is not translation needed ! The example maze below would work in any country ! Here is what it looks like:

Small maze with Arrows at the border

2 - The Word START at the border / GOAL at the end

Well maybe the Start arrow isn’t enough….Using the word START to start a maze makes sense and you will most commonly find it used on a maze created for kids. GOAL work the same way. Here is what it looks like:

Small maze with words as start and goal

3 - The Words START and GOAL internally

Moving the words internally gives you some freedom in the border and drawing of your maze, especially if you are making maze art. This also gives you flexibility to not use the borders/corners as the start and goal, but anywhere within the maze. This example is NOT maze art obviously:

Small maze with START and GOAL internal

4 - The Word START internally working to an external goal

Most commonly used for an Escape maze where the object is to escape the border of the maze from an internal Start. The Goal in this case can be anything, and the below example also is a preview of the next variation, unmarked Goal.

Small maze with START inside

5 - The Unmarked Goal / Start

Don’t say anything for the goal. Why would you want to do this ? Well one reason is because you want to challenge the solver with multiple possible exits. This is most common with an Escape Maze. Below is a multi exit Escape Maze. The solver must work to the outside of the maze to escape the object - - but where are they going to ?

Now take the example below and switch START to GOAL. We have an unmarked START and the solver must choose which pathway to begin with !

Patterned Escape Maze

6 - Object as Start/Goal

Common in Children’s mazes, but available for any maze is the maze that uses Objects for either the start or goal or both, like below. It is very common for these to be themed and to create a journey theme while solving the maze. Has a similar advantage as the use of arrows in #1 above in that it does not need to be translated (although my example does have writing, if it was gone or in another language the overall majority of solvers would need no explanation !)

Kids Maze - Help the Bee find the flower

7 - Start/Goal is the Same

One way to up the difficulty on a maze is to give it conditions like from the Start of the maze travel to an internal goal and then return back to Start (The Go and Return Maze) using a new path. Here is an example:

Triangle shaped go and return maze

8 - Dual Start/Goals (They are interchangeable)

You can design a maze so it is difficult to solve in both directions. Typically a maze is designed in one direction (Start to Goal), but that doesn’t need to be the case. Below you can solve in either direction !

Red Heart shaped maze

9 - Undetermined Start/Goals

The start and goal are labeled but you are not sure which is each. This is a great way to add difficulty to an Arrow Maze, and unlike in a Dual Start/Goal above, there is only one correct Start and Goal but you are not told which is which ! I experimented with using question marks…a 10th option or just a variation of #8 and #9 ?

Arrow Maze #33

10 - Find the Correct Goal

This is best used in a weaving type maze. In my below example (it was rushed) you need to follow the ball through the pipes and determine what color bucket the ball ends in. Why might you use this ? Well, if you want to make it more difficult for the solver to reverse solve the maze. With 7 options below as a possible goal, they might think twice (note again I rushed this and the added incorrect pathways are not well done).

Pipe maze with multiple exits


Those are the 10 most common ways to start and end a maze. Maybe you can come up with a few others. Drop me note with your ideas !


Additional Posts on Maze making you may like:

What I use to make my mazes

Using Color for Maze Pathways - A Case Study

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

Check out my YouTube channel to see maze art being made !

How to Make a Racing Maze

In a series of posts I will show you how to make a maze in a wide variety of design constructions. The 41st type of maze construction is the Racing Maze. While most constructions are about the making of the specific maze, this one is more about the structure of the maze(s). Let’s define what I mean, then get into the example. At the end of the post I have added a free downloadable maze race book featuring 30 printable maze races !

Racing Maze - A Maze made specifically for racing between two people. The winner is the person that reaches the common goal first.

How to Make a Racing Maze

Before getting into the steps let’s talk about some guidelines for a good racing maze.

  1. It is contained on one piece of paper (and preferably a large one) .

  2. It consists of identical mazes, one on each side of the page which both end at the goal in the center of the paper. An Escape maze is not the best type for a race (though possible) since the multi-goal option is taken away by the common ending.

  3. The maze type should be able to be solved with a writing utensil (to prove the solve has been done). So a maze like an arrow maze would not work easily. Block Move and Warp mazes can also be problematic. If you take a wrong warp an eraser will be needed.

  4. Consider the difficulty you want for the maze. Something too difficult will lower the tension that a more speedy maze will create.

Step 1 - Draw Half of the Maze

I have crammed multiple steps into this because you can use multiple different types of maze constructions, each with its own steps. The key is the maze is drawn to fit on slightly less than half the page. It should start at the bottom of the page and end it the center of the page. You may notice the large gap in the example below….that’s it !

UFO Maze

Step 2 - Copy and Invert the Maze

Copy the maze you have made and paste it on the top of the page inverted so it faces the opposite direction. This will create 2 identical mazes on one sheet of paper, with each one facing a person sitting across from the other. You will most likely need to adjust the original placement as everything gets centered !

2 person UFO racing Maze

Step 3 - Add final touches

In my example I tag the sides with my website and the name of the maze (or type). I do this because Racing always reminds me of race cars and how they are filled with brand logos. I think this would actually look even better with MORE logos.

2 person UFO racing maze

Step 4 - Create the Solution (optional)

My guess is that based on the small size and multiple solvers, nobody will be needing a solution, but feel free to create one if you believe it will be needed.

So, you made a racing maze, but do you know the rules and options for the race ? I have it covered and you can find all the information HERE !

Free Downloadable Maze Race Book

The Maze Racing Book Cover

THE MAZE RACING BOOK

30 pages, 30 Racing mazes

File Size: 365 KB

Features daily mazes from January 2021. Each racing maze is meant to be solved competitively by 2 people starting at the same time. These are mostly easy mazes with a few weaving mazes at the end a bit harder. To learn about race rules To learn about maze racing rules check out this post.