My 2023 Year in Review

This is my year end review for the website to reflect on what I accomplished for the year. I do this post each year and I keep the previous years data.…so 5 years of progress !! Each year things are a bit different. I have already written 3 posts that summarize other aspects of the year:

My 10 Best Blog Posts of the Year

My Top 5 YouTube Videos from 2023

Maze of the Year Voting 2023 - Voting is still open !

And now the data for the year:

Weekly (Daily) Mazes posted:

2023: 52 - Mazes of the week - see all 52 in this video !

2022: 54 - Mazes of the week

2021: 640 - daily mazes with some Spanish language variations

2020: 366 - daily mazes

2019: 365 - daily mazes

I did do variations of many mazes this year, but typically only posted 1 version on the homepage. I’m happy with weekly mazes vs. daily.


Blog Posts:

2023: 192

2022: 132 (120 remain on the site)

2021: 291 (207 remain on the site)

2020: 102 (85 remain on the site)

2019: 26 (12 remain on the site)

I kept a good schedule for most of the year and plan to continue that into the future ! I have also deleted over 100 old posts to clean up my blog index and consolidate some of the topics.


Name Mazes Made

2023: 104

2022: 13

2021: 4

2020: 247

2019: 1,499

Since 2021 I have only been doing doing maze name requests when they were submitted, and not many were. Hopefully this is because I have many names covered already !


Books posted online:

2023: 0

2022: 2

2021: 12

2020: 8

2019: 19

With the change in site content there are no longer mazes available for books.


Books Published on Amazon:

2023: 0

2022: 0

2021: 13

2020: 0

2019: 0

I (still) have 3 additional books sitting on the shelf, ready for publication if I come up with a marketing plan.


Website Traffic growth:

2023: + 36% LY

2022: + 47% LY

2021: + 242% LY

2020: +1000% PL

2019: **

And the bigger you get the harder it is to grow even larger in the future. Unless SEO suddenly likes me (or doesn’t).


Different countries visiting the site:

2023: 169 - I changed how I track this and think the 100 below might have been inaccurate. Out of 195 or so depending on the list you look at.

2022: 100

2021: 100

2020: 99

2019: 20

YouTube Views:

2023: 2,245

2022: 303

2021: 264

The channel is not doing well. While I could stop making videos…nah. See my 2024 outlook for updates on this.


YouTube Subscribers:

2023: 17

2022: 6

2021: 3

Wow. Low. A percentage would make this look much better, but the raw numbers are more accurate.


RSS Subscribers to the blog:

Fluctuates during the year. Currently - 66% from peak this Summer and -15% LY (after a big rise). So I need to start writing about subjects that people enjoy again.

So that is my year in review. I learned a lot. I hope to continue growing the site, making more books, and of course posting some interesting mazes !!

Stop back in 2 days to read my plan for 2024 !

Mazes of the Week 53 - 104 - A Review of 2023's mazes

I wanted to give everyone an overview of all the mazes of the week that were featured on the site this year (#’s 53-104). If you want to watch the mazes I made a video showing each (shown below).

Some statistics about the 52 mazes I featured this year:

  • It includes 26 building mazes, 9 monument mazes, 6 sign mazes, 3 character mazes, 2 animal mazes, 2 scene mazes, an item, map, planet and a ship.

  • 17 mazes were from the USA, 8 mazes in Mexico, 4 India, 4 England, 2 Germany, 2 Canada, as well as mazes from Azerbaijan, China, Iceland, Myanmar, Scotland, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

  • 12 were made in black and white, 7 in both color and black and white versions, and 33 in full color !

Here are the 52 weekly mazes in order (with links to their downloads):

  1. Museo Soumaya

  2. Heydar Aliyev Center

  3. Lotus Temple

  4. Matrimandir at Auroville

  5. NYC Subway

  6. The Gherkin

  7. QRO walking street

  8. SGAE Headquarters

  9. The Moon

  10. Windmill

  11. George Rogers Clark Memorial

  12. Leeds Castle

  13. Bridge Guardian of Traffic

  14. Jallianwala Bagh

  15. Taj Mahal

  16. Colorado Welcome Sign

  17. Bodiam Castle

  18. Bagan Temple

  19. Old Stone Butter Church

  20. KAFD Grand Mosque

  21. Hallgrímskirkja Church

  22. Templo de Sangre de Cristo

  23. Peter B Miller Building

  24. Northgate Shopping Center Sign

  25. Giraffe

  26. Elgin Car Wash

  27. Severance Hall

  28. Guangdong Museum

  29. Munson Williams Proctor Institute

  30. Mexican Door

  31. Pro Football HOF

  32. Riverside Museum

  33. Chicago Theater

  34. Tiki Totem

  35. Danzante Conchero Chichimeca

  36. Red Rocks

  37. HollyWood Sign

  38. Uxmal Mayan Ruins

  39. Monte Alban

  40. Kresge Auditorium

  41. London City Hall

  42. BMW Welt

  43. Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

  44. Laughing Pumpkin

  45. US Lightship

  46. Elm Road Drive In Theatre Sign

  47. Berlin Planetarium

  48. Santo Domingo

  49. Krampus

  50. Reindeer

  51. Santa Klaus

  52. Lamp

Watch all of the mazes below and don’t forget to vote for your favorite maze !

Maze of the Week #104 - Fragile Lamp ?

Maze of the Week #104 takes us to a house just down the road from where I used to live (at least the filming location). If you want to visit the house where the Fragile Lamp is located, you can plan your trip on the house website.

Would you like some Christmas mazes for kids ?

Video: Featuring The Old Man

The Maze: Grid construction.

Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window. - Ralphie

A Christmas Story Leg Lamp Mazed

A Christmas Story Maze

With as much dignity as he could muster, the Old Man gathered up the sad remains of his shattered Major Award. Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage. Now I could never be sure, but I thought that I heard the sound of "Taps" being played, gently.


I hope you enjoy the maze. Download is available on the homepage. Please check out my YouTube channel where you can watch this maze being made and solved!!

Coming next week:

Another holiday themed maze, and our first maze of 2024 ! Here is a teaser preview: Any guess what it could be ?

Maze Preview week 1

Check back soon for the theme we will see in 2024.

My top 5 YouTube Videos from 2023

As we get to year end I wanted to review what happened in 2023. I started to make videos of my Mazes of the week being made and solved on my YouTube channel. Previously I only had some old (private) videos on there that where accessible from my How to Make a Maze / How to Make a Labyrinth blog posts. During the year I made those private videos public despite them being poorer quality than I would like.

All of this leads to my 5 biggest YouTube videos of the year:

#1 Video - The Making of a Hidden Message Maze

#2 Video - How to Make a Classical 7 Circuit Labyrinth

#3 Video - How to Digitally Draw an 11 Circuit Classical Labyrinth

And now the 2 best Maze of the Week videos, which surprised me:

#4 Video - Welcome To Colorful Colorado Sign One Minute Maze

#5 Video - The Moon One Minute Maze

Coming soon to close out the year :

A review of every maze from 2023

2023 Year in Review Data for doyoumaze

2024 outlook and maze theme announcement

Other Maze Video Posts:

Give Your YouTube Algorithm a Maze Boost

How Corn mazes are Made - A Collection of Corn Maze Videos

My Favorite Maze and Labyrinth Videos