MAZE: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle

Original cover with contest label, upper left.

MAZE: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle (1985, Henry Holt and Company) is a puzzle book written and illustrated by Christopher Manson. The book was originally published as part of a contest to win $10,000.The premise of this puzzle book is akin to popular puzzle computer games such as Myst.

Unlike other puzzle books, each page is involved in solving the book's riddle. Specifically, each page represents a room or space in a hypothetical house, and each room leads to other "rooms" in this "house." Part of the puzzle involves reaching the center of the house, Room #45 (which is page 45 in the book), and back to Room #1 in only sixteen steps. Some rooms lead to circuitous loops; others lead nowhere. This gives the puzzle the feel of a maze or labyrinth.

The book was re-released as the computer game Riddle of the Maze in 1994 by Interplay. This version featured full color illustrations and voice-overs for the narrator. ^[1]

The contest has been void since 1987, but the book may still be purchased (ISBN 0-8050-1088-2).

Parts of the Puzzle

As Manson describes, this puzzle book "is not really a book,” but "a building in the shape of a book . . . a maze," whereby "Each numbered page depicts a room in the maze.” There are forty-five "rooms" (pages) in the Maze (book). In addition, "The doors in each room lead to other rooms.” With this structure established, Manson challenges readers to solve three tasks:

1. to journey from Room #1 to Room #45 and back to Room #1 in only sixteen steps,
2. to ascertain the Riddle hidden in Room #45 based on visual and verbal clues, and
3. to find the solution to this riddle hidden along the shortest possible path found in task 1.

The Contest

A contest to win $10,000 was released with the book in October, 1985. The contest ended September 1, 1987, which was an extension of the original contest deadline. In early January of 1988, Ventura Associates, Inc. sent a letter to the winners of the contest stating that twelve entrants "were equally close to guessing the correct solutions." The $10,000 prize was split between these twelve, all of whom discovered the correct path, but not the solution to the riddle.

If inquired before November 1, 1987, Ventura Associates would have sent a letter containing clues to the Riddle found in Room #45. Here are the clues:

1. I’ll tip my hat if the two of you can solve this.
2. You can get into these two shoes only if you don’t go anywhere.
3. You will find two names on the table, and they go together like doughnut and hole.
4. You must choose between two pictures.
5. There are no two ways you can read this sign.
6. You can see that another two pictures demonstrate their own kind of symmetry.

References

1. ^ Four Fat Chicks -- Riddle of the Maze Review

External links

1. The MAZE Online, a hyper-linked version of MAZE that can be explored via your web browser.
2. Solutions to the MAZE Online. Click on "Hints" to see the Ventura Associates clues letter (printed above under "The Contest").
3. Maze - An Analysis of a Most Curious Book.
4. Maze introduction Another hyper-linked version of MAZE with larger format illustrations.
5. [1]