" A "canard" (duck in French) is another term for "false" or "hoax". "

" Room 37 appears to contain a symbolic chess puzzle, with key objects representing pieces and gameplay. The large cone and adjacent vase likely symbolize a king and queen, while the black bottle and sphere on the table may represent an alternate king/queen pair. The sphere... "

" There’s a subtle but intriguing visual clue of misdirection in Room 42 that I don’t believe has been mentioned before. In the upper right corner, a coat rack holds a coat and top hat. At first glance it seems ordinary, but the shape of the... "

" I believe Room 27 may carry a fascinating meta theme involving obsession, unrequited love, or missed connections. Several visual clues suggest this deeper layer. One detail that stands out is the interplay of shadows between the two opposing doors in this room. To the reader’s... "

" MAZECAST DOT COM is honoured and delighted to present an EXCLUSIVE interview with the wonderful Tonda Ros, fellow Mazehead and designer of the soon-to-be-released Blue Prince (formerly Bequest). It's a video game inspired by MAZE, yes -- but the maziness doesn't stop there. Check it... "

" I sometimes wonder if the rooms in MAZE contain a "meta theme"—something deeper than just the individual clues or imagery within each scene. Take Room 29, for example. While much of it has been well analyzed, I still suspect there’s a larger thematic layer that... "

" I see your point. Still, I don't think using πr² is much of a stretch here. The π symbol is clearly visible in the doorway. The umbrella handle, which could represent r (the radius), may not be as obvious, but given Manson's style, his clues... "

" Reading the brick as a square is fun but contrived. Who says it isn’t πr³, by that logic? There are much clearer ways to cue “squaring.” I also think it WOULD BE a stretch to use the bumberbrella’s handle as an “r”—buuut all handles in... "

" ok, I'm back on the wagon. By reverse engineering: The phrase "to be at sixes and sevens" is an idiomatic expression that means being disorganized, confused, or in a state of uncertainty or indecision. in the text we get "The more confused they became, the... "

" The prologue suggests the visitors believe the Maze was designed for them—as if it exists to be solved, understood, or to impart wisdom. However, the text flips this perspective, implying that the visitors themselves exist for the Maze. This suggests themes of futility, entrapment, and... "

" This is a fascinating room, and I think I’ve figured out explanations for almost every object in it. 1. The damaged painting is a major clue that often gets overlooked. In the upper right corner, you can make out the silhouette of a horse’s head.... "

" Hi!! I have been doing the same thing- lurking on forums, documenting ny own work and fitting it in with that of others, but I finally ordered the book and am excited to jump into it with all the photos clearly printed in my hands.... "

" Amazing!! I have been a longtime fan and am thankful to see other still working on this book in 2025. I have been using the maze website with poor photocopies, and just ordered the actual book. I will keep adding to these forums as well.... "

" As noted in several comments, the gate resembles the π symbol, with the umbrella or parasol handle forming a lowercase "r" for radius. Since the handle leans against a "square", this suggests πr²—the formula for the area of a circle—likely linking to Room 1. The... "

" A different way to view this room is that it has two "correct doors"—one at the beginning of the path (Room 26) and one at the end (Room 20). Throughout the maze, there is an interplay of light and dark. The cup on the door... "

" "The clock thought it was six in the evening." The mention of six in the evening could be a direct reference to the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. According to the story, the Queen of Hearts punished the Hatter for "murdering time" when he... "

" "bequest" will take you to the page about Blue Prince (in its early stages, before being named Blue Prince). I don't remember a page here specifically about Maze-inspired works, though there are some suggested similar works listed under "ephemera." "

" Hey, sorry, I'm going insane. I swear there was a page on this site that listed media inspired by Maze... that's where I found out about Blue Prince, so it must exist, right? I can't seem to find it in the menus or find a... "

" Or, within the logic of the narrative, maybe the Guide is concerned they'll find a different way out. The actual mechanics of the book don't allow it, but as Alex is fond of noting, the Maze is constantly changing. We the reader might be more... "

" Ah, good point. Though in those cases, it seems more likely to me that he's trying to stop them from falling into despair and giving up. Maybe if the group had noticed those signs, they would have just stopped in 22? "

" It's possible he's referring to something besides the bell, though that's clearly what we're meant to think he's referring to. My hypothesis is that there's a message in the wires that we haven't been able to read, and the Guide is trying to keep the... "

" I've heard theories about exits from room 22, but it seems to me that if there is a way out of the Trap, it would be in this room. The fact that the Guide aggressively dissuades the guests from touching something (presumably the bell) is... "

" I liked it until they started explaining what was going on and it was all memory loss and magic and yeah yeah yeah. "

" Hi Kon-Tiki!!! Totally agree with you on Piranesi. I've read it twice now -- the second time because I made my book club read it. I still think about it all the time. "

" the book Piranesi (work of fiction, it's the main character's nickname) by Susanna Clarke, might interest people here. I'd be surprised if she didn''t know Manson's work. In any case she acknowledges Borges' influence. Check out NPR's review "Susanna Clarke Divines Magic In Long-Awaited Novel... "

" Best I've got is "check pulse" -> "check poles" -> the barber pole would've been next to Room 12 before the room tilted -> Room 12 is the way to go. But if that's the idea, it's terrible. There's no indication the room was ever... "

" I'm not aware that anyone has pieced together a route based on this kind of criteria before. We've looked for other routes focused on narrative or other apparent connections, but never hit on anything that seemed meaningful. "

" The potential for Pulse/Pulcinella wordplay is worth pondering further. pulse, poles No, I have nothing either, but I think more people should think this over. "

" Not sure where best to put this, but it kind of focuses on room connections, so... Out of curiosity, has anyone ever speculated on whether there is a "narrative route" through the Maze? The shortest route is a puzzle, but it's narratively unsatisfactory for a... "

" Crossing paths with a black cat, hmm. This happens to be the room on the shortest possible path that you visit twice, "crossing your path." You come here from 39 on the Path. There are two unmarked doors, one on the left and one on... "

" "Pulcinella" and "umbrella" end in the same letters, but I don't see any significance to that, and it looks more like a parasol to me. A stethoscope can be used to check for a pulse, so maybe there's some intended wordplay there; one could read... "

" Another indication towards Door 41 is the roman numerals in the ladder. Reading from top to bottom, it says XLI, with the other 4 ladder rungs potentially being read as I's if you read roman numerals that aren't crossed by the back right leg of... "

" There's only one bowl shown in the image, but two in the text, right? The guide says "I broke another on purpose", but the text never describes the first bowl breaking, just making a loud noise. Immediately afterward the guide "breaks another" by speaking. Is... "

" By the time my uncertain vincentors turned to ask me what to do I was already far away. …Sorry! Check your Google Chat. (Actually, by the time you read this, you probably will have done so already.) Busy + chronic conversational wasting disease. "

" Ritz, where did you go? "

" The guide quadruplicates in this room. It's a parable. "

" I've been here intermittently for years too! Not lurking always, just don't get a lot of interaction lol. I kind of feel like I get what you mean, I don't feel the riddles are necessarily for me, as I get confused by a vast majority... "

" Seems like a good thought! "This is called" meaning "this gets called." a bird's song a [phone] number a name uh.... roll curtain the toll-free 888 area code (this is assuredly the one) "

" A terrible idea: out of all the rooms connecting directly to 1, this is the only one without ringing or something sound-related. (41 is full of horns and the girl has her fingers in her ears; 20 and 26 have ringing). When the guide says... "

" A few years ago I wrote a Python program to test all unique solutions that don't repeat a room. There are three possible solutions to the center, and sixteen possible back to room 1. 01: 01 26 30 42 04 29 17 45 02: 01... "

" A lot of time has passed, but I sincerely hope this project will come about at some point. "

" A nonsensical puzzle with no solution, built around unknown constraints and accompanied by confusing explanations. Seems like a pretty faithful Riddle of the Maze. "

" Haha, I appreciate your analysis but that's exactly the problem. It's essentially a random, vaguely relevant "solution" (to a riddle I haven't made yet lol) which I generated iteratively based on certain constraints. I don't want to say too much more because if I ever... "

" So wait, did your original vision become a room 45 association/sentence assembly type puzzle with text taking the place of images? Or is this still the solution, just to a scrapped puzzle? I quite like it as a poem, either way. “Making” chaperones particularly caught... "

" Ok, now that I have done this correctly, I will share my very incorrect attempt. This was meant to be the *solution* to a puzzle, but that became obfuscated because of the time I spent making the word order correspond. Behind us lies this craft... "