" 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... "

" It turns out it is really hard to make a Riddle of the Maze type puzzle, even with MS Excel. I will try again later. No Atlas Shoulders for me. "

" It might be an efficient shortcut to just contact me from a gmail address. My gmail is vewatkin at gmail dot com. (That is, assuming you actually want to join the hangout, and aren't just intent on reading my comments.) "

" I still don't see it. Not even in my spam folder. YouTube must be filtering it out before I can even check. Trash website. If you have it, maybe try my Tumblr? I think you can send asks if you don't have an account. tumblr... "

" I don't see it anymore either! Hmph! I'm going to try to post it again to your recent poll. "

" I'm enjoying MazeCast so far, but I'm only a few episodes in. I can absolutely sympathize with this sort of intense focus and analysis. I was glad to see that you all started out so disillusioned with most of the puzzles and particularly the main... "

" In all seriousness, MazeCast provides an accurate record of a collective descent into madness, and a partial recovery from it. Approach with caution and sympathy. You'll see more sanity there than here, but that's damning with faint praise. If you really want to cultivate your... "

" You should engage with MazeCast, if at all, only as a cautionary tale. "

" youtube dot com slash at inolienkiki or search kiki's inner monologue great to hear from you! I'm going to start listening to mazecast so I can catch up with the current theories situation "

" Where can we find you on youtube? "

" finally got my copy. flipped through it, taking in the detailed pencil art for the first time in years, savoring how the book flipped open so neatly in my hands, caught always by the deep intent with which every clue is drawn. flip to page... "

" Wowzers, over ten years on, now. Even if the book isn't ever published (I understand he doesn't seem to have much interest), I'd still buy a collection of prints of the illustrations he started for it. The world in the illustrations has filled my dreams... "

" This comment went largely unnoticed years ago, but I think the suggestion of "face the music" deserves consideration. Oddly enough, there are similar grounds to consider "face the music" in 7 and 36. "

" You're correct that you're not the first, but it's worth noting when multiple people get the same idea. "

" I can't be the first to say it, but one of the solutions is to take the "open" curtains. (Lip-read furnace | Hat rim) = "O" + "Pin" = "Open". "

" The "lost" hat likely belongs to the figure in Room 33. "

" Simply a generic person. An effigy is crudely made. Maybe the right arm broke off and is leaning against the wall? Maybe it's unfinished? After all, it still needs to be dressed. Two arms aren't a must. Sure, Manson could have drawn a second arm... "

" That doesn't really address my concern, though, because it could easily point left while having a second arm. If it's meant to be an effigy of a generic person, you'd expect it to have two arms; if it's meant to be an effigy of a... "