Sliding Garden Maze is a path puzzle: you change a grid of garden tiles until one joined-up path runs from a critter at one edge of the board to its home at the other. There are 40 mazes, from a 3 by 3 board that takes one tap to 6 by 6 boards that need ten or more careful moves.

Why build the maze yourself?

In most mazes you search for a way through. Here the way does not exist yet. Each tile holds a piece of path: a straight, a corner, a T-junction or a crossing. You turn tiles and slide rows to line the pieces up, and the critter only sets off once the path is complete.

You still trace routes with your eyes, but you also plan which tile goes where, and one slide moves a whole row. Tiles that join up with the critter turn gold, so you can see how far the path reaches.

Every maze was made by scrambling a finished path, so all of them can be solved. A computer search counted the fewest moves each one needs. Match that aim for three stars.

Mazes and labyrinths: a short history

The best known labyrinth comes from a story. In Greek myth the craftsman Daedalus built it for King Minos of Crete to hold the Minotaur, half man and half bull. In the early 1900s the archaeologist Arthur Evans dug up the palace at Knossos and linked its tangle of rooms to the myth. Whether any real building was the labyrinth of the story is still argued over, and so is where the word comes from.

People who study them often separate two kinds. A labyrinth in the strict sense has one path that winds to the centre with no choices on the way. A maze has branches and dead ends, so you can get lost. Most old pictures of the Cretan labyrinth show the single-path kind.

Much later, puzzle mazes with dead ends were planted in European gardens as hedges. The most famous one still growing is at Hampton Court Palace in southwest London. It was made for King William III by the royal gardeners George London and Henry Wise. Sources give different years for the planting, from 1689 to around 1700. First planted with hornbeam and later with yew, it is the oldest hedge maze still growing in Britain.

How to play

1. Find the critter and its home on the edge of the board.
2. Tap a tile to turn it a quarter turn clockwise (in sets where tiles turn).
3. Swipe a row or column with arrows at its ends to slide it one step. The tile that slides off one end comes back at the other.
4. Keep going until gold path joins the critter to its home. In Seed hunt it must also reach every seed.
5. Watch the critter walk home. Undo takes back a move. Hint shows a good next move, but caps that maze at two stars.

Tips

Start at both ends. The tiles next to the critter and its home must open towards them. Fix those first.

Count the taps. Tiles only turn clockwise, so turning a corner back one step costs three taps. Another route can be cheaper.

Slides move the whole line. Before you slide a row, check which good tiles it will break.

Follow the gold. Where the gold stops is usually the tile to work on.

Questions

What is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth?

In strict use, a labyrinth has one winding path with no wrong turns, and a maze has branches and dead ends where you have to choose. In everyday English the words mean the same thing.

Can every level be solved?

Yes. Each maze was built backwards from a finished path, and a computer checked every one. There is no move limit, and Restart puts the board back the way it began.

Is this maze game good for young children?

The first maze in each set is 3 by 3 and needs one or two moves, so a young child can finish it quickly. Later boards are big enough to make adults think. Nothing chases the critter and there is no timer.