Theseus (the red dot) is trapped in this labyrinth and must find a way to the corridor marked Exit. There is also a mechanical Minotaur (the black dot) in the labyrinth. For each turn that Theseus takes, the Minotaur takes two turns.
The Minotaur follows this program for each of his two turns:
First he tests if he can move horizontally and get closer to Theseus. If he can, he will move one square horizontally. If he can’t, he will test if he could move vertically and get closer to Theseus. If he can, he will move one square vertically. If he can’t move either horizontally or vertically, then he just skips that turn.
The key to solving this maze is to realize that the Minotaur follows a rigid program. He doesn’t do what you would do if you were a Minotaur. He doesn’t look ahead more than one turn. And, most importantly, he will choose a horizontal move before a vertical move.
Use your arrow keys to move Theseus; or click on the arrows shown at the right of the labyrinth. With some browsers, you must first click on the labyrinth to get the program started; or you might have to click on the box marked Reset.
After you move Theseus, the Minotaur will take his turns. Each move the Minotaur makes is accompanied by a clumping sound and a short delay. If you want to turn off the sound and the delay, click on the check mark next to Sound.
There is one other move available to Theseus: he can delay for one turn. Sometimes it is advantageous for Theseus not to move and to let the Minotaur take an extra two turns. To let Theseus delay, type d. Or click on the d inside the arrows at the right of the labyrinth.
To reset the maze to the beginning, type r or click on the box marked Reset.
Credits:
This puzzle is based on one of the mazes in Mad Mazes.
The Java programming was done by Oriel Maxime. (See my comments on Oriel following the Sliding-Door Maze.)