In my post, Online Crossword Puzzles, I promised to to let you have information about other free puzzle games available online. Today, I thought it would be good to have a look at maze games.

Years ago, when I was still running the Windows 3.11 operating system, I had a maze game that was the perfect combination of ease of use, difficulty and yet do-ability. It was clever in that you dropped a trail of colored sand as you wandered through the maze, this allowing you to know when you had previously visited an area (which can save a lot of time).

I have searched everywhere and cannot find it, however, so must content myself with telling you about MazeMaker by Larry Blake. This is a bit less involving than the program I was looking for in that it is unable to construct mazes as complex, but it is fun and can present a challenge when played on “Restricted View” mode. As you can see from the screenshot, the maze is viewed from above and, when the whole maze is visible, it is just too easy. “Restricted View” narrows the visible area to a very limited portion of the maze and this is more difficult and, therefore, playable.

The program keeps track of your time and lets you know when you have beaten the previous best score. There are many other forms of maze than the straightforward rectangular type so the game has enough variation to keep one’s interest.

Incredibly, this proved to be the only freeware maze game I could find; all the others are shareware and cost money, as well as probably being over-heavy with graphics and fancy bits. When mazes are your thing, you want something clear and without distractions.

So, if you like solving mazes, my recommendation is MazeMaker. It downloads and installs quickly and easily – give it a try!