The Largest Arrow Maze in the World - Hint #2

June 22, 2022

Welcome to Part 2 in a series of posts where I will give you a hint to help you solve The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably). I also will 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

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.

see the 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) !

The Largest Arrow Maze in the World - Hint #1

June 21, 2022

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.

In this series of posts I will give you a hint to help you solve The Largest Arrow Maze in the World (probably). I also will 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:

see the 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 Solving Case study - Using the reverse fill solving method

September 13, 2021

I asked the audience which of the 4 maze solving options they used when they solved a maze. The overwhelming majority (in early results, but I do not expect them to change) use a writing utensil for standard physical mazes. If they are solving on a screen they use their eyes. Let’s review the 4 types I laid out:

4 Most Common maze solving options

With a writing utensil - probably the most common way to solve a drawn maze. You have a maze printed out or in a book in front of you and you grab a pen or pencil and solve using it. Makes the maze a one time use unless you have an eraser that does a good job and doesn’t harm the paper too much
With your finger - you use your finger as a guide to work your way through the maze and solve it. This method allows multiple people to solve the same maze
With your eyes - my personal most common maze solving method. Works for most maze types, although you need to add in a more comprehensive method for any spiral maze.
Reverse fill with a writing utensil - a method I used to use because I liked the way it looked. You use a pen / pencil and start at dead ends, filling each in until you reach a new branch. Eventually this leaves only the correct path NOT filled in, creating a reverse solve !

And now let’s look a a maze solved using the reverse fill method. The best type of maze to use this for is the hidden message maze, because what you are left with when it is solved is a fun message !

The big test for a maze maker is about to take place. I have made a hidden message maze. If I have made it well, you do not know what it says by looking at it…Take some time…Do you know what it says ?

So, I am hoping you do not know what that says yet. Here is where I put in a large block so it is more difficult to get any hints from your eyes naturally looking ahead and seeing the answer. The first answer I will show is using the most common method of using a writing utensil to solve the maze (in this case it is actually done by a digital pencil).

So did you get it correct? Solving in the normal way gives us a hidden maze message of “MISS YOU”.

Now, let’s start with a reverse fill solve and see what it looks like. For my example I wanted to show you the start of the reverse solve, shown with each incorrect branch being a different color so you can more easily see what is happening. Starting in the bottom left corner of the maze, I found a dead end and began filling it in completely until I reached an intersection, where I stop. Then I find another dead end and do the same. If I come to an intersection and have filled in the other path that branches off from it, I have essentially created another dead end to fill in ! Here is what the first 15 dead ends look like filled in (each in a different color).

hidden miss you reverse pathways started.png

Using that dead end fill-in method will eventually leave you with the only paths left being those that are the solution ! This is a long process, but one that gives you a much different look when you finish solving the maze ! Here is what the hidden maze looks like reverse solved: