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…the tree room.
“Are these real?” they asked.
I told them the trees were as real as anything else in the House. As this was an important decision I encouraged them to take their time. After all, the more they think about the possibilities the more choices they have to make.
What were their chances of choosing wisely…one in four? Two in four perhaps, if I was generous about it…and why not be generous? There are one hundred ninety doors in this part of the House, counting the gate…enough for everyone.
Making a choice, they entered a very long, dark corridor and at last came out into…
- Images and text copyright 1985 by Christopher Manson
used with permission. [Purchase MAZE from Amazon]
Room Type: PATH Doors: 20 22 30 43
Solution Summary: [COLLECTION CURATED BY WHITE Raven. SEE COMMENTS FOR ADDITIONAL SOLUTION PROPOSALS.]
● The Guide says the chances of choosing correctly are two in four because two of the doors are on The Path and the other two lead to The Trap. [Credit: R. Serena Wakefield]
● The final “forth _____” can be understood as simply pointing to the “fourth” door (which is one of the okay ones) [Credit: Beelzebibble] [Solution incomplete], or as “forthcoming” [Credit: White Raven - there is more to this solution involving the third and fourth doors], or as “forthcoming” and “forthgoing” indicating that there are two doors but not indicating which one [Credit: shmizza]. Only one of these options can be correct, the rarity of “forthgoing” puts that solution in doubt but all three solutions are possible. Alternately the final “forth _____” could refer to the forth tree, which straddles the two correct doors, thus indicating both/either. [Credit: sp]
● In the text the Guide and visitors discuss if the trees are real. The two incorrect doors are separated from the two okay doors by the center tree. On the incorrect side is a drawing of the castle. On the okay side is a real flower (not a drawing of a flower) indicating these as the correct doors. (Here and elsewhere Manson assumes that real is good and fake is bad). [Independent credit: Vewatkin | White Raven]
● There appears to be a Sleeping Beauty metaphor in this room. The fairy tale of Briar Rose (commonly known today as Sleeping Beauty), was recorded in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales in 1812. In the story Briar Rose is cursed to sleep for a 100 years in a tower.The tower in the poster on the left has moon symbols over the towers suggesting sleep. The flower on the right looks very similar to the briar rose flower. Given the plot line of the story this suggests we avoid the door with the tower on it (22) and choose a door near the flower (20 or 30). The cut branches of the trees may suggest the chopping through the magical thicket in the Disney version. Also the two good rooms 20 and 30 add up to 50 the number of the fairy tale in Grimms’, this could be subtly suggesting that these are the correct doors or may be coincidence. [Credit: Aria]
These trees with their thickening number of branches combined with the text about increasing choices and the odds of choosing wisely made me think about decision trees and how all the branching possibilities multiply rapidly the deeper one gets into the maze. This room is four steps from the gate if one travels through room 30 and three steps if one travels through room 20. So if the base of the tree is zero (the gate) and each room presents a new set of branches, we’re either at the fourth or third branch. What to do with that? And what is up with that sign with four rows of forth…? And that flower?? It took me a lot of time to notice the following which seams intentional and yet very difficult to arrive at without a lot of hindsight or at least a good map like the one White Raven has provided us. So, with more than a few grains of salt, here goes.
The following holds only for the two right side doors of this room. The door number appears to indicate the distance of the room from the start. Room 30 is three steps from the gate (3 from 0). Room 20 is two steps from the gate (2 from 0). The door count starting at the left with 1, seams to indicate the room count starting from room 4. Door 30 is the 3rd door from the left and room 4=1st, 42=2nd, 30=3rd. Door 2 is the 4th door from the left and room 4=1st, 15=2nd, 37=3rd, 20=4th. Using room 4 as a reference point and looking at the door count appears to be signaled by the sign pointing at the 1st door and by having 4 lines of “forth…” Room 4 = forth. The 3rd line “forthward” gives us a direction for the 3rd door: room 30 to room 4. The 4th line would then be “forthcoming” to give us the correct direction for the 4th door: from room 4 to room 20. Reading the sign from top to bottom without the “forth” gives “with right ward” which can be read to mean “with correct direction”. Putting it all together we get the full circle from the gate to room 30 to room 4 to room 20 and back to the gate for a total of 7 rooms plus room 1.
Looking closely at that flower I think I see 7 leaves for the seven rooms, a stem for the starting point at the gate and room 1, and maybe room 5 is the center like White Raven has it mapped out. So the flower is the right way to think about the room connectivity in this part of the maze. This circular counting is also like the clock in room 30 and it’s 8 hours. Thinking of the graph-like structure of the maze, the number of branching possibilities as we get deeper into the maze isn’t as intimidating as these trees make it seem — there is more structure to exploit. The guide wants us to feel overwhelmed and to resort to random guessing since that will ultimately land us in the trap. But someone has been helpfully pruning branches so this room isn’t a complete tangle, and perhaps they’ve left a little flower as a hint.
As for the left side of the room, Room 43 (the 1st door) is 1 step from room 4. Room 22 (the 2nd door) is 2 steps from room 4. Heading toward these rooms is more like following an arrow, which is appropriate given the arrow-like indicators spread throughout the maze that do not lead us along the path. This room seams designed to teach us that lesson early on in our explorations.
The guide tells us that there are 190 doors in this part of the house, counting the gate. Room by room, you can count the doors and if you include the four doors that you cant see in room 24 plus the gate you get 191.
More interesting is that by process of elimination you can assume the non-numbered door in rooms 17 and 39 are connected. To me it explains why the guide hurrys you out of room 39 when he hears the jingle of the jesters hat. And why he says amphorae in room 17 to draw attention to the idea that these were wine containers with room 39 being a wine cellar.
It’s 17 and 29 that are connected, not 39.
Is it really a Briar Rose?
There’s not really a choice between the 2 path rooms.
You can only get to Room 5 via Room 30 or Room 20. If you got to Room 5 from Room 20, then you want to go back to Room 20. If you got to Room 5 from Room 30, then you want to go back to Room 30. Why, bc you want to stay on and discover the shortest path. In addition, the rooms on the shortest path contain clues to the answer to the riddle; you don’t want to bypass them.
All these “Forth”s … Manson didn’t use a bird’s back or an anagram/rebus to indicate “go back”, but that’s what you have to do in Room 5, go back the way you came.
Let’s see, we’ve got the “b”ark on the trees, the “b”oards high in the room, the sign “b”oard on the easel, the “B”riar Rose(?) and the “b”lank after the fourth “forth”. Could Manson have coded the work “back” with these “B”s? … seems weak.
The guests ask, “Are these real?” The Guide’s answer to the guests referred to the “trees” as real, but maybe the hint we the readers should take (since the answer is coming from an unreliable source to the guests, the Guide) has nothing to do with the trees. Maybe the hint we the readers should take is that the obvious clues in the room, the words on sign board, are fake. You don’t want to go “forth”, you want to go back.
I don’t want to miss the firest for the trees here, but before it slips my mind I want to be clear: That is not a briar rose, and we have no sane or plausible reason to connect this room to the fairy tales mentioned by Sara.
The rest of your comment–what your comment is actually about–is interesting and I want to think about it a bit.
One disagreement I can quickly see is that I don’t think it’s correct that you should always go back the way you came in order to pick up the correct path where you lost it. If you go 1 – 26 -30 – 42 – 37 – 20 – 5, for instance, going to 30 gets you back on track faster than going to 20. (In other words, starting off correctly, but going awry before getting to 45, and ending up going to room 5 from room 20.)
yep, my analysis was flawed …
In general, I subscribe to the theory that there are clues pointing the reader in the right direction (toward the center or toward the entrance) even in rooms not on the shortest path. The main reason being that Manson had to realize that most readers would first try to find ANY path to the center and back before then looking for the shortest one. It is easy to arrive at this room as the third room visited after picking room 20, which is a likely room to pick first for someone who is easily led by superficial clues. Anecdotally, I have watched at least one player (a relative I handed the book to as a kid who had just acquired his first Maze obsession) take this route in their first play. If I remember correctly, said relative then picked one of the two wrong doors and stumbled into the Trap; however, I would venture to say that this room is one of the easier ones in the House to solve even for new Maze-ers. Though it’s still difficult, of course; there are probably a grand total of 2 or 3 easy puzzles in Maze.