" I tried to find the Mazecast episode that discussed exactly this oddity in the text, but I didn't find it. It was just the usual self-punishment of listening to Mazecast. We did discuss this at length at some point, with our usually excessive level of... "

" The wording almost makes it seem like the cat used to be one of them. "

" I think the cat acting as a warning about 24 is the most straightforward interpretation of that bit, and probably what it is intended to mean. However rereading it, it’s kind of a…weird order of events? 1: Guide is facing sun. We don’t know where... "

" Why would you include the center door with with doors to the right? (TEEEEEEEEEEchnically, there are rooms in the trap that have as many doors to the trap as this room.) "

" That's an interesting suggestion. Compare Room 5, where the chances of choosing "wisely" means choosing a door that keeps you on the path, even though you aren't on the 16-step solution path at that point. "

" Note that the guide specifies that the cat ran out of "a door to my right." Every door on the right-hand side of the page - including the center door - is incorrect (whether you are coming or going), and all but one of them... "

" This might be obvious, but it bears pointing out: The dialog for this room highlights the fact that this room is on the path (in the sense that the exits provide a straightforward, no-nonsense path to the center without having to return to Room 1,... "

" Ha! I think we're all on board then... "

" Oh, a deluxe printing of a nursery rhyme, that's probably just as good. "

" kickstarter.com/projects/railwaystationpress/letterpress-broadside-in-yiddish-and-english-alphabet-song "

" To be fair, it appears that he has moved on from his years of publishing puzzle books. "

" Man, he's in his mid-70s, let's just let the man be. "

" Maybe we should just call him and ask politely. "

" I would love a sequel to MAZE. Not sure about a letter writing campaign. Christopher Manson appears to have participated in a Kickstarter campaign with Railway Station Press in 2020. So he might be willing to raise funds to work on a sequel. I would... "

" DIEGETIC, not diabetic… I wonder what that could possibly mean, though! "

" That’s a good point. There are no exact “canonical” routes for Maze’s rooms, and a lot of what we see the guests do and rooms point to might be artistic, for narrative purposes, misleading or only the first step to a clue, etc. If the... "

" I think open-mindedness in perspective is advisable, although I would recommend caution with regard to interpreting room layouts and the significance of the text in literal ways. There are rooms where the text heavily implies the group went the wrong way (most notably in 17... "

" I want to draw attention to this comment, because even if I don’t really think what was observed here is damning, it analyzes the room in a pretty interesting way that isn’t done suuuper often. Even if the drawings in Maze are just drawings, they... "

" Oh! I didn't dismiss it out of impossibility. I've had that "bird in text" theory for a while, now, and just used it as an example for how easy it is to get overwhelmed with patterns in the room that aren't hard to find but... "

" Yeah, you dismissed the birds observation immediately so it went by without note, but that was a very interesting discovery! "

" I love "dirty" = 30; that "tidy" comment really sticks out. "

" Wow, I really like the hidden birds in that one sentence! "

" Yeah, you're right; and rhymes and alchemy transformations are even easier to concoct. NOT GOOD. If something that occurs so readily by accident is to be taken seriously, it needs a lot more confirmatory evidence than we've ever found or invented in this room. "

" They’re so easy to find. BUGLE, BUG. "

" Right… that’s why I really wanted to find some sort of message rebus’ed in the signs that could be deduced from knowing the exact word they represented. Maybe all the extra stuff is just the to push us to the right word, but not part... "

" (PIT, PITCHER) "

" It fits the same theme--but not the same logistics--if we have a HORN and a HORNET here. That's as far as I can take rhe idea, though, and while those connections are congregated together here, it's a bit peculiar to just have SOME things work... "

" Not terribly likely, but an amusing idea I had: paperclips are sometimes used as bookmarks, and a paperclip attached to 24 could serve as an admonition to remember that room number. A literal paperclip holding Room 24 shut could in fact be a lifesaver while... "

" It IS a common household object (fits the theme of the room) that is very small and would instantly give a sense of scale "

" Signs are mentioned in the text of this room, too. Hmm. I like that line of thinking… it reminds me of how “signal” is repeated in 35, almost seemingly randomly. "

" The paperclip has always read to me--and still does, onnan instinctual level--as a sort of bait or hook. But really, it isn't either, and while it may be intended to represent such, the question would remain of why Manson used a paperclip instead of a... "

" One thing that has remained mysterious (among a million others) is why the ring pictured above the door to 3 has an image on it--why a bird, sure, but also, why anything at all? It makes the ring seem to be specifically a signet ring,... "

" Ignore the food wagon thing, was tricked by search results into thinking it’s an actual term. But the transformation idea has got me extremely curious, now. Wagon -> Agon -> Agony (for dagger) "

" I hadn’t really thought hard about the paperclip clue, but I actually like it a lot. The only other possibility for the choice of a paperclip as bait is that it’s a sort of “hook,” but the juxtaposition of the two objects definitely calls electric... "

" Believe it or not, there was a point in time post-White Raven that this site had 5 consistent regulars (Vince, Sara, Alyssa, WBM, and myself). I decided to check back in here after stumbling upon my old copy and was super pleasantly surprised to see... "

" Textual observations for this room plus some other BS - It's one of the shortest dialogues in the whole maze, so there wasn't much for me to do here. I think at this point it's a fair assumption to make that the guide is subtly... "

" Hi ritz, I guess that makes three of us active on here. Never thought I'd see the day. I like how you expanded on the guide patronizing the visitors, you definitely found a lot of extra meaning that I didn't. It's really interesting how this... "

" I would assume that using more technical musical terms (if the room indeed does) could be used to reference a specific musical motif or something, but I don’t know. It does seem like a bit too many layers of encoding, but then again it’s not... "

" Hi Vince! Also, fun fact about this room and its “story,” with the guests deciding their path for themselves. This is one of the only rooms where the guide is explicitly said to be led by the guests. In all the others it’s either “they... "

" IIRC you can edit your comment within an hour of posting it. You can delete it within 5 minutes. Check for a “modify” button at the top of a new post. I’m not an OG, maybe a MID-G at best (and that’s in terms of... "

" Maybe it's a tengu's hand. "

" Thanks Vince for your reply. It's good to see at least one OG is still active on here. Two more quick thoughts before I call it a night - 1. There are two objects attached to a cord in this room - a plug and... "

" i think #2 is pretty certainly intended by Manson in the way you suggest--including not being very helpful to people exploring the Maze naturally. "

" Bit of funny support for my 2nd point - the guide seems to look down on the visitors here, basically calling them scared children, so of course he would be "completely surprised" by their decision to turn around and go back out the correct door.... "

" Two thoughts - 1. The text mentions that all three doorways are dark, and the guide taunts the visitors by asking them if they're afraid to go out. This implies that you should be afraid of the dark here. The cord leading from the plug... "