The Maze of Games is one of America's largest annual
puzzlehunt
A puzzle hunt (sometimes рuzzlehunt) is a puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles. A puzzle hunt can happen at a particular location, in multiple locations, or via the Internet. In a puzzle hunt, a puzzle is usually not acc ...
s, and is held at the
Gen Con
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...
and
Origins
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
gaming convention
A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three days long, and often held at either a u ...
s. Started in 1995 as an offshoot of
LIVE/WIRE, the Maze of Games has been the largest event at one or both of those conventions every year since. It is created by
game designer
Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...
s Mark Gottlieb,
Mike Selinker
Mike Selinker is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games.
Credits
Selinker's design credits include ''Pirates of the Spanish Main'' and ''Fightball'' with James Ernest, ''Axis & Allies Revised E ...
, and
Teeuwynn Woodruff. The event uses
puzzle
A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...
placards to lead attendees in a
maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
throughout the convention, and uses
meta-puzzles to unite the puzzles into a final answer. The event is designed so that the thousands of attendees can all play at once.
The Maze of Games ran at Origins from 1995 to 2001, then moved to Gen Con under the names ''Gen Con Time Warp'' (2002–2003), ''Gen Con Monster Hunt'' (2004), and ''Gen Con Doomsday Rally'' (2005), the latter a tie-in with
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
's ''
Risk
In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environme ...
'' game. The Maze of Games returned to Origins in 2004, the first year it was held at both conventions simultaneously.
The ''Monster Hunt'' appeared in part in the July 2005 issue of ''
Games Magazine
''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014.
The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') an ...
,'' the second ''Time Warp'' in the November 2005 issue, and the ''Doomsday Rally'' as a series beginning in the April 2006 issue.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maze Of Games
Puzzle hunts
Mazes
Mike Selinker games