About Maze Runner
Maze Runner asks you to guide a yellow dot from the top-left corner of a maze to the green exit in the bottom-right before the timer runs out. Every maze you escape is followed by a bigger one. Your score is the number of mazes you clear in a single run.
How to play
- You start in the top-left cell. Reach the green cell in the bottom-right to finish the maze.
- The first maze is 9 x 9 cells, and each level adds 2 to the width and height until the size reaches 25 x 25 at level 9 and above.
- Each maze has its own countdown, which does not carry over: 60 seconds on the first maze when the page loads, and 60 seconds plus 5 per level after that (for example 70 seconds on level 2).
- If the timer reaches zero, the run ends. Your score is the number of mazes completed.
- Every maze is generated at random with a depth-first search, which means there is exactly one path between any two cells and no loops.
- Cells you have visited are shaded, so you can see where you have already been.
Controls
- Keyboard: the arrow keys or W, A, S and D move one cell at a time. Holding a key repeats the move.
- Touch: swipe on the maze in the direction you want to go.
- The on-screen arrow pad below the maze works with mouse or touch.
Tips and strategy
- Because these mazes have no loops, following one wall with your imaginary right hand will always lead to the exit. It is reliable, though not always fast.
- Glance ahead before moving. Tracing backwards from the exit with your eyes often shows which of two branches is the right one.
- Use the shaded trail. If you are in a dead end, back up only to the last branch you have not tried.
- Mazes made by depth-first search tend to have long winding corridors with few branches, so a corridor that keeps going is often the right one.
- On larger mazes, keep up a steady rhythm on the keys; most time is lost hesitating at junctions rather than in moving.
Background
Mazes and labyrinths appear in art and myth for thousands of years, from the legend of the Cretan labyrinth to hedge mazes in European gardens. Computer-generated mazes often use the randomized depth-first search used here, also called the recursive backtracker. It carves a perfect maze, one with a single route between any two points, which is why the classic wall-following rule always works in it.
Questions
- Does the timer stop between mazes?
- Each new maze starts with a fresh countdown as soon as you reach the exit. Time left over from the previous maze is not added.
- What counts as my best score?
- The highest number of mazes you have cleared in one run. It is saved in your browser's local storage on this device.