What makes a good maze? One route, loops and dead ends, measured
A maze for an adult and a maze for a five-year-old should not be built the same way. The adult wants one route and real dead ends. The child needs a way back out after a wrong turn. We measured 200 of our square mazes at each of five sizes to show what that difference looks like, and found that one of our own pages had it wrong.
A perfect maze has one route, and a simple test proves it
Maze makers call a maze with exactly one route between any two squares a perfect maze; in graph terms it is a tree. There is a quick way to prove a maze is perfect without walking it: count the passages. A maze whose squares are all connected, with exactly one fewer passage than it has squares, has no loops, and so exactly one route between any two points. One extra passage makes a loop.
Our build now runs that count on every Hard, Big and Extreme maze, and on every large print and adult maze, before it is published.
Loops make a maze easier, on purpose
For young children we open some dead ends into loops, which maze makers call braiding. A child who takes a wrong turn usually comes back round to where they were instead of ending up stuck in a corner. The share of dead ends we open drops as the grid grows, and stops at Hard.
| Size | Grid | Chance each dead end is opened | Mazes with a second route | Dead-end squares | Route length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kids | 10 by 10 | 35% | 185 of 200 | 7% | 34% |
| Easy | 14 by 14 | 20% | 187 of 200 | 9% | 31% |
| Medium | 20 by 20 | 8% | 159 of 200 | 10% | 33% |
| Hard | 28 by 28 | 0% | 0 of 200 | 10% | 35% |
| Big | 34 by 34 | 0% | 0 of 200 | 10% | 32% |
"Dead-end squares" is the share of squares with only one way in. "Route length" is the share of squares the solution passes through. Both are averages over 200 mazes.
What we found on our own site
Our maze pages said that from Medium upward every maze had exactly one route. The engine braids Medium too, a little: 8% of its dead ends are opened. That is enough that 159 of our 200 Medium mazes had a second route. We corrected the pages on September 27, 2026: Kids, Easy and Medium have loops, and exactly one route starts at Hard.
Not every braided maze ends up with a second route. A loop that sits away from the solution makes the maze easier to wander without giving a second way through, which is why the counts above are not 200 of 200.
Why the route runs through a third of the maze
Our mazes are carved by a depth-first search: start anywhere, keep walking into unvisited squares at random, and back up only when stuck. That method makes long, winding corridors with few branches. In our measurements the solution passes through about a third of all squares, and only about one square in ten is a dead end. Other methods make shorter routes and many more short dead ends, which look busier on the page.
Choosing a size
- Kids, 10 by 10, the most loops: for a first maze.
- Easy, 14 by 14, and Medium, 20 by 20: longer routes, fewer loops.
- Hard and up, 28 by 28 and more: exactly one route, every wrong turn a real dead end.
- Large print, 8 by 8 with wide paths and no loops: for adults who cannot follow a fine maze.
- Shaped mazes (pumpkin, egg, heart) are built on a grid 1.4 times wider than the square at the same size, because the shape keeps only part of it. Without that they came out easier than their label.
A tip worth teaching: keep one hand on the wall
In any maze whose entrance and exit are both on the outside wall, following one wall with your hand, left or right, always gets you out. It works on every rectangle maze here, loops or not, because both openings are on the outer wall. It is rarely the shortest way, which is why it is a good first strategy for a child and a poor one for a race.
What this guide does not decide
- Which maze a particular child will enjoy. Start a size below where you think they are.
- Mazes made by other methods or sites. We only measured our own.
Print them
Frequently asked questions
What is a perfect maze?
A maze with exactly one route between any two squares: no loops, and every square reachable. It always has exactly one fewer passage than it has squares.
Are easy mazes easier because they are smaller?
Partly. Ours are also braided: some dead ends are opened into loops so a wrong turn leads back out. 187 of our 200 Easy mazes have a second route.
Does the hand-on-the-wall trick always work?
It works whenever the entrance and exit are both on the outside wall, which is true of every rectangle maze on this site. It is rarely the shortest route.
Check these numbers yourself
- Our own measurement: 200 square mazes per size from the site's generator, seeds 1 to 200. Passages, dead ends and a second route (any passage on the solution that can be removed without cutting the start from the end) counted with our own script, run September 27, 2026.