Escape the Maze
Arrow keys, WASD or swipe to move. Reach the ★.
Every Maze here is built fresh from Unicode block characters — the walls really are text. Guide your marker from the start to the glowing exit through a perfect, randomly generated labyrinth. There's exactly one route between any two points, so the only question is whether you can find it.
How to play
Maze in 4 steps
Find your marker
You start at the top-left of the maze, shown as a glowing marker. The exit glows at the bottom-right.
Move through gaps
Use the arrow keys (or swipe) to move up, down, left and right — but only where there's an opening, not through a wall.
Trace the route
Work your way toward the exit. Hit a dead end? Back out and try another branch.
Reach the exit
Step onto the exit to solve the maze. Then generate a new one — bigger, if you dare.
Controls
- Arrow keys / W A S D
- Move the marker (where no wall blocks it)
- Swipe
- Move in the swiped direction (touch devices)
- Size buttons
- Choose a small, medium or large maze
- R
- Generate a new maze
Strategy
Tips to play better
Try the wall-follower
Keep one hand on the same wall (always turn, say, left when you can) and in a simply-connected maze you will eventually reach the exit.
Look ahead, not down
Glance toward the exit and pick branches that trend that way before committing to a long corridor.
Remember dead ends
Mentally cross off corridors that dead-ended so you don't loop back into them — the maze has no cycles to rescue you.
Scale up gradually
Master the small maze's rhythm before jumping to the large one, where corridors are longer and choices multiply.
About Maze
Mazes are among humanity's oldest puzzles — from the mythical Cretan Labyrinth of the Minotaur to the ornamental hedge mazes of European palaces. Solving them on paper, and later on screen, has fascinated people for thousands of years.
The mazes here are "perfect" mazes: every cell is reachable and there is exactly one path between any two points, with no loops. They're generated with a randomised depth-first "recursive backtracker", which carves long, winding corridors — the same algorithm taught in countless computer-science courses as an introduction to graph traversal.
True to the site's spirit, the maze is drawn entirely from Unicode block characters, so the labyrinth itself is made of text. Pick a size, and your fastest escape for each is saved locally in your browser.
FAQ
Maze questions
Is every maze solvable?
How do I move?
Is there a trick to solving mazes?
Can I make it harder?
Is my best time saved?
Keep playing