Puzzles and Games

PM: Although the name of your website implies a cornucopia of interactive mazes, you also have puzzles you clearly do not consider "pure" mazes (for example, the Colour-Box Puzzles). What to you is the distinction between a maze and a puzzle?

AG: A maze is a particular sub-class of puzzle. Those who like to classify puzzles would probably call it a sub-class of the more generic category of 'route-finding puzzle'.

To me the only real difference between a maze and other types of route-finding puzzle is its obvious appearance. A maze really has to strike you as a maze, first and foremost, with obvious paths and walls, and a random wandering feel that you get 'lost' in just looking at. Other route-finding puzzles may not obviously look like a maze, but if analysed turn out to be a maze under the covers.

PM: So is that difference between maze and puzzle an important one?

AG: No - I don't think so. Many puzzles have maze-like properties, and/or can be analysed and solved using maze-solving principles. This is especially evident if you use software for solving puzzles. Although it may be difficult deciding how to represent and manipulate a puzzle internally, the algorithms used to solve the puzzle are often very similar.

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