Falken's Maze
Falken's Maze
A maze hidden in fog: you see only the cells you stood on, and where their passages lead. Every six moves WOPR moves a wall still in the fog, to make your way out longer.
Start it
wopr mazeOr log on, type LIST GAMES, and pick number 1 from the list. It also answers to 1 and falkens-maze.
Screenshots
Click or tap a screenshot to see it larger.
![The start: everything is fog except your first cell. The @ stands at START and the [] marks the EXIT at the bottom right.](/WOPR/img/games/maze-1.png)
How to play
- Walk the @ from START at the top left to the [] EXIT at the bottom right. The maze is 19 cells wide and 5 cells high.
- Each key press moves one cell. A wall stops you. A move into a wall does not count as a move.
- Cells not yet seen show as a dim dot. Walls you saw never change. You can always reach the exit.
- Every 6 moves WOPR moves a wall not yet seen, at most 12 times a game. The bottom of the frame counts your MOVES, YOUR TURNS at junctions (LEFT, STRAIGHT, RIGHT) and WALLS MOVED.
- Press Q to give up. WOPR tells you how many moves away the exit was.
Controls
| You type | What it does |
|---|---|
Arrow keys | move one cell up, down, left or right |
W A S D | move up, left, down or right (either case) |
h j k l | move left, down, up or right (lower case only) |
Q | give up. WOPR says how far away the exit was |
Esc, Esc | leave the game and return to WOPR |
Tips for winning
- Keep one hand on the wall: always take the left-most way (or always the right-most). The maze never has loops, even after WOPR moves a wall. So if you follow one wall, you always get out.
- Walls move only where you did not look yet. Every cell you saw keeps its walls. So a dead end you found stays a dead end. You need to search only the fog.
- WOPR moves at most 12 walls, one every 6 moves. After 72 moves the maze stops changing. So a slow, careful search still finds the exit.
- WOPR closes passages where the way on is your favourite turn at a junction. Vary your left and right turns.