Maze Website Review: maze4u

Sometimes you stumble upon a website that should be shared. Today I am going to review the website maze4u. I previously looked at the top Google search results for online maze generation websites and reviewed them in 8 different categories. Maze4u became a late bonus add after the original post was completed. Why add another website ? Well because it does something things better than others that I want to share with you. So what is it ?

1 - Onscreen solving - the maze generator includes a conversion of your cursor into a pencil when in the maze area. This allows you to hold down your mouse button and draw on the maze, solving it on the screen !! Personally I think this would be a wonderful site for children that love mazes (but I like it to). You may also change the color of your pencil (check out the rainbow option!) or use an emoji as your solving cursor. Here is an Isometric maze being solved with an orange pencil:

2- More Interesting Preset Styles - At the time of this writing there are 33 preset styles to choose from that are more interesting and fun than other websites give you. Rail, Jigsaw, and Isometric 3-D are three of my favorites. Here are the Rail and Jigsaw options:

3- Reset button - The button to generate a new maze means you can solve a maze, generate a new one and solve a new one right away ! No printing needed, it’s all done on screen. Perfect for kids.

Those are the 3 things that I think set this site apart. Here is the original review from the maze generator post with a few examples:

BONUS site: : maze4u

Shapes: 33+ : 33 different styles of maze are currently available to be generated, plus a Create button that allows additional options

Cell types:: Many. The 33 shapes include some unique inner cell shapes that are best explored on your own !!

Width and Height: Varies, but you do not control the output size for the 33 styles generated. However, under the Create button you can control the X and Y to create a maze in the size you want.

Start: Pre-defined in Style mazes

End: Pre-defined in Style mazes, internal or external in the Create section

Solution generated: No

Downloads available: Mazes are both shareable and Printable

Examples: 2 of the 33 styles are shown below (Rail and Jigsaw examples used above). Jigsaw, and Corn mazes.

So if you have some time check the site out, I think you will enjoy it !

A Collection of Common (and uncommon) Maze terms

Sure, you could use a dictionary, but why not look right here for the maze and labyrinth term definitions you are wondering about. Certainly not a complete list, but it should include most things you are looking for.

ADJUSTABLE MAZES - Real world mazes (Often hedge mazes) that can be changed by using maze gates.

ANFRACTUOSITY - A winding channel or course as in a maze.

ARROW MAZE - A maze where you must follow the direction of the arrows to solve the maze. Or - A maze containing arrows to limit the direction a solver may take the pathways.

AXONOMETRIC - A type of grid that allows a maze creator to draw an object in 3 dimensions on a flat piece of paper by rotating the line of sight.

CAERDROIA LABYRINTH - A type of Welsh turf maze based on the Cretan labyrinth design.

CHAKRA-VYUHA - An Indian labyrinth pattern used to focus a mother during childbirth.

COLOR MAZE - A type of conditional maze that uses color and color patterns to determine path decisions you can make to move forward in the mazes.

CONDITIONAL MAZE - A maze where rules or conditions are established on where you can move.

CORN MAZE - (Maize maze in UK) - A maze made from the strategic planting of corn stalks (or alternatively the removal of corn stalks).

DEAD END - A path in a maze that ends without reaching the goal where you must turn back and choose a new pathway.

DIRECTIONAL MAZE - A maze with one way passages where you must follow the direction indicated. A type of conditional maze.

ENTRANCE - The start of the maze or labyrinth where you enter it, although not all mazes have an entrance !

EXIT - The goal of the maze where you exit. In a labyrinth the exit is typically in the same location as the entrance although there are some exceptions such as a Baltic Wheel Labyrinth.

FREE DRAWN - A maze that does not use a pre-determined grid pattern for structure.

GOAL - The end of a maze !

GRID - A frame of spaced blocks that create the backbone to the design of many maze types.

HEDGE MAZE - A maze whose barriers are made of hedge.

HAND ON WALL SOLVING METHOD - A method of solving a real world maze that works on any “SIMPLY CONNECTED” Maze.

INTERACTIVE MAZE - A maze that changes as you move through it. Often achieved in WATER Mazes.

LABYRINTH - A maze with no decisions or junctions. Moving forward will get you to the goal.

MAZE GATES - Gates used to adjust mazes and change the paths allowing visitors to complete a maze multiple times.

MINOTAUR - A half bull / half human that in mythology was believed to live in the center of the labyrinth at Knossos.

MIRROR MAZE - A maze typically found in a carnival funhouse where the walls are made of mirrors to add complexity (and hopefully a bit of fun) for the solver.

ORIENTATION - Where you are in relation to your surroundings.

PATHWAY - The part of the maze or labyrinth that you travel on for physical paper and digital mazes.

PAVED STONE MAZE - A maze whose path is made of paved stone. borders may be made of earth/turf, ditches of water or stones of different colors than the path to differentiate them.

PUZZLE MAZE - Mazes that require some type of solving in order to determine proper movement in the maze. Examples are a Math maze, number maze, letter maze, and a block move maze.

SPIRAL - A common maze pathway design meant to confuse to solver as lines converge to a central point.

QUICK EXIT - In a real world maze, a quick exit takes you from the GOAL to the exit (often via a bridge or tunnel) so you don’t have to exit the maze by reversing your path.

THESEUS - Greek hero who killed the Minotaur according to legend.

TROY TOWN (OR TROYTOWN) - A name commonly given to turf mazes, especially in England, because in popular legend the city of Troy was laid out in a confusing way to confuse attacking enemies.

UNICURSAL - A single-pathed way with no decision points or junctions. Commonly referred to as a Labyrinth in the US.

WEAVING MAZE - A type of maze where the pathways weave above and below each other and allow the solver to solve in another dimension.

For a more complete list of the different types of mazes and labyrinths with examples and videos I suggest this post:

44 Different Types of Mazes and Labyrinths

And also this page with some fun quotes:

Quotes about Mazes and Labyrinths

A Collection of Maze and Labyrinth Resources

Below is a list of websites I have come across that I found helpful as I have researched various maze and labyrinth subjects.

labyrinthlocator.com

The leading worldwide search tool to find labyrinths near you or to plan a visit while you are on vacation. Includes locations, pictures, and contact information for over 6,000 labyrinths in an easy to search database. I have personally used this to find a nearby labyrinth to walk while I was on vacation.

veriditas.org

Non-profit dedicated to the spiritual aspect of walking labyrinths. Founded by Lauren Artress, author of the book Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice. Has an extensive calendar of events that include a pilgrimage to Chartres in France. Also offers facilitator training for leading spiritual labyrinth walks.

labyrinthsociety.org

Non-profit dedicated to “to support all those who create, maintain and use labyrinths, and to serve the global community by providing education, networking and opportunities to experience transformation” to quote their mission statement. Includes a wonderful events calendar that includes worldwide walking events.

www.mazegenerator.net

Exactly what the domain suggests, an online maze generator. You can select between 4 shapes, 4 styles of cells, along with the height and width.

labyrinthe.at

Labyrinth resource specializing in labyrinths in Austria. Wonderful for persons who are German speaking. Has a listing of labyrinth walking events in Europe, typically including Chartres Cathedral in France, as well as events in Austria and Germany.

hrp.org.uk

The historic royal palace website in England with a direct link above to the most famous maze in the world, The Hampton Court maze. Includes vistor information for tickets, and some historical information.

cathedrale-chartres.org

The Chartres Cathedral in France has the most famous church floor labyrinth. This pattern is thought to be the most copied labyrinth pattern. You can find pilgrimages there on many of the sites on this page, or you can plan a trip yourself on their website.

blogmymaze.wordpress.com

A blog about labyrinths from Erwin Reißmann and Andreas Frei. The cumulative amount of information is impressive and the research is excellent. Has been around since 2008.

relax4life.com

Site dedicated to holistic education and mindfulness that focuses on the healing power of labyrinths. They sell a variety of labyrinth themed products like labyrinth blankets, canvas labyrinths and an extensive collection of finger labyrinths.

sagebrushexchange.com

If you live near Kansas City, Missouri stop by the Prairia Labyrinth. Also explains the use of 7 chakras to spiritually explain the walk of a classical labyrinth.

ispiritual.com

A gift shop full of labyrinth items including jewelry, scarves, finger labyrinths and books.

paxworks.com

A little bit of everything labyrinth wise, with links to labyrinth themed books, music, videos, and a photo gallery.

And from this site:

How to make a Digital Maze (over 40 different types)

How to make a variety of Digital Labyrinths

The Surprising Benefits of Solving Mazes

classical labyrinth

The Name Maze Project

Every section of the Doyoumaze website has a story. Today I tell you about the Name maze section of the website. (If you are just interested in HOW to make a maze of your name, I have that covered.) I thought people would enjoy seeing their name in maze form - a kind of personalized maze. If you want to do this on your own click on the link above, otherwise we continue on… Maybe it was my time in corporate America but I think these mazes would look good on a cubicle wall. And they are fun to make. I also thought they would make a nice gift. Print out a friends name and write a note thanking them for being amazing (or maybe a-maze-ing). Now the story of how I went about actually making the name mazes. Here were the stages I went through:

Stage 1 - Names of my Close Friends and Family

Initially I started out as anyone would making my close friends and family members names. That got me to 6 mazes….ok maybe a few more,. Let’s say about 25 mazes. I added these to the website and felt pretty good. Now if they visited my website I had the important people done.

Stage 2 - The Ten Most Popular Male and Female Names

I did a quick search for the 10 most popular names for Men and Women. This is where I found out the Top 10 Men’s names in the United States represent 23% of all Men’s names ( James, John, Robert, Michael, William, David, Richard, Charles, Joseph, and Thomas) and for Women the Top 10 represent 10.7% of all Women’s names (Mary, Patricia, Linda, Barbara, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Maria, Susan, Margaret, Dorothy). I thought it was interesting that the Men’s name database has 1200 different names while the Women’s name database has 4,275 names !!! I later realized this was partly because men have more standard name spellings than women (like Katherine & Catherine & Katharine & Kathryn).

At this point I could display all maze name images directly on the website (and not the name listings you see today).

Stage 3 - My LinkedIn Connections Names

I have approximately 460 connections on LinkedIn. I thought it would be nice to make a maze for each connection. The best part about this project was that I got to think about each person as I made their maze. The people I have lost touch with. My old co-workers from previous jobs. I have to admit, this was a very rewarding project simply because of this process. This project added 302 more unique names to the maze name section. I would like to thank the following names for being popular among my connections:

Michael and Michelle - 8 connections each

Brian, Rachel and Rick - 6 connections each

David, Greg, Jason, Jennifer, Mary and Richard - 5 connections each

Now, if you ask me to connect on LinkedIn you’ll have a much better chance if you have a (short) common name. Website wise this is where I had to take down the pictures of each maze name and use the name listing version you see today. Because once you have so many names, if you want the page to load quickly lots of images is not helping anyone.

Stage 4 - Close variations of Existing Names

If I make Richard, it is easy to make Ricardo. Debbie became Deb. Douglas became Doug. Frank became Fran. etc. Close variations added about 100 more name mazes to the portfolio.

Stage 5 - Top 100 Male/Female Names

I decided that with so many names done I wanted to see how many of the top 100 Men’s/Women’s names I had already mazed. The answer was 134. Since there were only 66 more names (out of the 200 names) that needed to be made I went ahead and finished all of them.

Stage 6 - Top 200 Male/Female Names

Well, I might as well keep going right……I added 132 more names (out of the 200) when this was complete. As I finished this up I found these statistics about how many US names I had covered with the project:

The top 200 Male names represent 72.5% of men’s names.

The top 200 Female names represent 58.2% of women’s names.

Plus I have 262 names not in the top 200 from the previous Stages 1-4. So I think I’m pretty well covered as a % of total US names. The final tally of name mazes ended up being 662…and growing. If you have a name I have not done yet, you can always request it here.

UPDATE:

Stage 7 - Top 300 Male /Female Names

I researched the next 200 overall names (thru #300) and I already had 52 of them on the site. That leaves 148 to make if I take this on, names like Agnes and Cecil. I completed this and along the way added in a few other similar names…+164 names…new total 826 !!!

Stage 8 - Regional names page - “The Land”

I decided to create a Cleveland names page. This added 57 additional names to the project, including some unique ones that everyone knows like LeBron, Kyrie, Zydrunas, Halle, Stipe, Urban, and Dolph. This is the first time I used colors other than black and white for these special edition name mazes. New total 883.

Stage 9 - Top European names

I went with Europe since they have names most closely related to our own but with nice variety. I used the top 10 lists I found online for Europe by country for both men and women. Not every name was done but this did add 161 new names and I broke the 1,000 barrier. You can thank Turkey for Zeynep and Slovenia for Zala. New total 1,044.

Stage 10 - Top Americas and Oceanic names

Kept with the International theme but felt like I needed to break it into parts. Again, like Europe I did not do every name in each top 10, just the most recognizable and any that appeared in multiple countries. I was very happy to add my first X name thanks to Mexico, Ximena. Haiti brought us Widelene and Peru gave us Milagros. I added 94 with this project. New total 1,138.

Stage 11 - Top African Names

I learned that South Africa has a thing for names like Blessing, Prince, Princess, and Faith. Also was able to add 4 “Y” names to the 6 I already had and another Z name. Overall Africa brought an additional 74 names. New total 1,212.

Stage 11.1 - National Bubba Day

National Bubba Day June 2nd meant an addition to the list, +1. New Total 1,213.

Stage 12 - Male names from Asia

Asia has such a wide variety of names I had to split it by gender. A mix of traditionally Muslim, Jewish and Asian names made this section varied as there was very little overlap between countries. There is also less overlap with traditional Christian names already on the site. We can thank China for short names like An, De and Yi. Our new first name alphabetically Aarav comes from India. Shout out to Pakistan for Zahid. And more “Y” Names, +6 from 10 before. Overall I added 126 additional names . New total 1.339.

Stage 13 - Female names from Asia

The second half of Asia added 108 new names. This included 2 Q’s, 5 X’s, 8 Y’s and 4 Z’s. I also added 13 names with dashes in them. Most of these names are ones I was unfamiliar with and they are all top ten in Asian countries….can’t imagine what an uncommon name is !!!! New total 1,447.

Stage 14 - Names from Movies

In an experiment to find more names to add to the website I decided to use the character names from movies I was watching until I generated at least 50 new names. I wondered how many movies I would need to watch before I hit 50. The answer was 24 movies !! Here are the movies I watched and the names that came from them:

The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). Big Jake (1971). The Gunfighter (1950). The Westerner (1940). Lonely Are The Brave (1962). High Sierra (1941). The Defiant Ones (1958). Days of Wine and Roses (1962). Night of The Iguana (1964). They Shoot Horses Don’t They (1969). A Woman is a Woman (1961). Bloody Sunday (2002). Lovers of The Arctic Circle (1998). Tyrannosaur (2011). Dark Places (2015). Reign of the Supermen (2019). The Commitments (1991). Three Identical Strangers (2018). O Lucky Man ! (1973). Secondhand Lions (2003). Missing (1982). Suddenly Last Summer (1959). Seconds (1966). Adam’s Rib (1949).

Stage 15 - Name requests by readers

It was a long time between updates, but site visitors kept me busy throughout the year. Name mazes are always fun because I tend to get non-Western names since most of those are already covered on the site. New names added by request include Sadat, Farhan, Rehan, Protha and Fahim. And of course I always like to learn a new Z name like Zasia and Zarif. Overall I added 43 names from requests during this time frame.

Stage 16 - Dating Site name mining

I used a dating site, set the location to worldwide and picked the first 50 New names I did not have on the site. The worldwide search really gave me some diverse names. Eishah, Fyokla, Jamuna, Kaisa, Kia, Lupine, Miu, Neta, Rea, Remi, Shalina, Tiana, Yu, Yuko and Zsu all were added this way. I also captured some new calendar names with Summer, Autumn and May (June, August and April were already on the site). And of course if you add Dagny you need to add Ayn (it’s a rule). Overall with some spelling variations this added 58 new names to the site.

Stage 17 - Popular Names from Mexico

I want to continue to add more international names and Mexico seemed like a logical choice. Many names are spelling variations on existing names with an O or A added or an E becoming IO (Leonard became Leonardo, Marc became Marco, Maurice became Mauricio, and Justin became Justina for example) . Also there were a large number of Hispanic names already on the site from the Top 300 males/female US names. I was surprised I was missing Juana, Marco, Margarita and Arturo. This added 38 new names.

Stage 18 - Popular Names from India

I have been watching a lot of Bollywood movies and I notice so many new names. So I researched Indian names and found a list broken into 2 categories, Hindu, and Muslim. This gave me a nice long list of names to add ! My favorite section was when I added Tanisha, Manisha, Anisha, Nisha, and Isha. I just kept dropping one letter ! Anyway, I had gone 5 steps without adding any V names, but that was changed during this step with 3 new ones, Vinod, Vikash and Vijay ! I also added Zaid and Zuhaib to give the Z’s some love. Overall this added 59 new names to the website !

Stage 19 - Names I was surprised I missed

I ran the query for additional names that are not yet on the website for the next 100 male/female names and selected 12 names each that I was surprised have never made it onto the site. Surprised because I know people with the names or just because I thought they were more popular and already on there. Usually I don’t list every name I added in a section, but this time is an exception. I grouped them into these categories: Names of people I know, Evan, Stuart, Rudy, Lindsay, Lindsey, Joanna, Monique, Opal, and Sheryl. Popular names I missed: Blake, Devin, Damon, Dominic, Edmund, Grant, Homer, Neal, Rex, Brandi, Harriet, Lynda, Maggie, Natasha, and Whitney. AND THEN I said how about a few more and I added 16 more…

STAGE 20 - Name requests by readers (2024)

I keep a running list of name mazes that have been requested for the website. I like to to see where the names come from and see if I am missing any particular region. Here are the names I added starting in the Spring of 2024 until now, number’s 2002 to 2087 on the site. A few teachers had me create mazes for the students in their classrooms. Thank you to everyone who helped me add a name to the site !

Here is the list of names added with the countries where it is most popular !

Aaliyah (US); Alivia (US, India); Amaria (Algeria); Anessa (US); Archer (US, Barbados); Archie (US); Arelia (Mexico); Asher (Isreal); Atik (Indonesia); Atilla (Turkey); Avery (US); Baba (Nigeria, India); Babakan (India); Babe (Mauritania); Bailey (US); Bash (Nigeria); Bennie (US); Boyd (Zambia, US); Brandt (US); Breanna (US); Brigham (US); Brooks (US); Bryson (US); Chinyere (Nigeria); Christen (US, Denmark); Colm (Ireland); Danica (Serbia, Montenegro); Delvin (Kenya, US) - interesting that this is a female name in Kenya and a male name in the US; Demilade (Nigeria); Emmet (US); Emory (US); Favour (Nigeria); Fedal (Turkey, Iran); Fiorella (Italy); Gohan (India); Gwen (US); Habilin (Indonesia); Haniya (Isreal); Hudson (Brazil); Huntley (Jamaica, US); Jethro (Phillipines,Zimbabwe); Kavya (India); Kaylee (US); Keerthana (India, Sri Lanka); Kenslee (Papua New Guinea); Kittie (US); Lincoln (Brazil, Jamaica, Liberia); Lissy (India); Madelyn (Philippines); Madison (US); Mariano (Mexico, Argentina); McKensie (US); McKenzie (US); Melody (US, Philippines); Miles (US); Miliano (Brazil); Missy (US); Nash (US); Oakley (US); Olukorede (Nigeria); Pierson (US); Pranav (India); Rawan (Egypt, Qatar); Rebekah (US); Retno (Indonesia); Ruthie (US); Ryder (US); Safaa (Egypt); Sanvi (Togo, India); Savannah (US); Selah (US); Seua (india); Sharla (US); Sid (Algeria, Mauritania); Tasha (US); Taylon (Brazil); Tilly (Netherlands); Tobias (Germany); Waylon (US); Wrigley (US); Xavier (France); Yaser (Egypt, Bahrain); Zia (Pakistan, Afgahnistan); Zuri (Mexico, India).

Other posts you may like:

What I use to make my mazes

10 Places Where you can Buy Spectacular Maze Art

The Surprising Benefits of Solving Mazes