How to play Maze Race
- Same maze, two copies. Both players get the same maze, each on their own part of the screen. On a phone held upright, Orange's maze is at the bottom and Purple's at the top, turned round to face the player across the table; on a wide screen they stand side by side, Orange on the left. Against the computer, its maze is the smaller one.
- Corner to corner. Your buddy starts on the round mat in one corner of the maze. The exit, with its checkered flag, is in the opposite corner.
- Look first. Each maze appears during a short countdown, so you can start working out the way before Go! A swipe during the countdown is kept, and if that way is open, your buddy sets off the moment the race starts.
- Swipe to run. Your buddy runs the way you swipe, follows the path round its bends by itself, and stops at the next junction (where the path splits) or at a dead end. Little yellow arrows show the ways you can go.
- Choose ahead. Swipe while your buddy is running and it remembers that turn for the next junction (bends don't use it up): if that way is open there, it takes it without stopping; if not, it stops as usual. To go straight on through a junction, swipe (or press the key) again the way you're already going. Swipe back the way you came to turn round at once.
- Out first wins the maze. The first buddy to reach the flag wins that maze. If both get there at exactly the same moment, it's a dead heat and nobody scores.
- First to 3 mazes wins. A match is the best of 5 mazes. A dotted trail shows where you've been, a clock shows how long the maze is taking, and a dot fills in for every maze you win.
Mazes and fog
| Option | What you get |
|---|---|
| Growing (the default) | The first maze is small, 9 squares by 6, and every maze after it is bigger: 12 by 8, 15 by 10, 18 by 12 and 21 by 14. |
| Small | Every maze is 11 by 7: quick races, good for younger players. |
| Big | Every maze is 21 by 14, from the first race. |
| Fog on | On your own maze you only see the paths near your buddy, about two squares round it. Paths you've seen stay on your map, and the flag always shows where the exit is. |
Every race is in a new maze, made by the game just before the countdown, and both players always get the same one. The smaller mazes have exactly one way out. From 15 by 10 up, a few extra gaps in the hedges (two to six) make loops, so these mazes nearly always have more than one way out, though one is usually a little shorter.
Controls
| Device | Orange | Purple |
|---|---|---|
| Phone or tablet | Swipe or tap on your own maze (the bottom one, or the left one on a wide screen) | Swipe or tap on your own maze (the top one, or the right one) |
| Mouse (vs computer) | Drag the way you want to go, or click on the side of your buddy you want to go towards | — |
| Keyboard | W A S D | ↑ ↓ ← → |
A short swipe is enough. You can also keep your finger down and steer turn by turn: each time your finger changes direction, that counts as a new swipe. Your buddy remembers only the latest turn you've chosen, and a key held down counts as one press. A tap or click to one side of your buddy sends it that way. Against the computer you can swipe anywhere and use either set of keys.
With 2 Players on a phone, hold it upright between you or lay it flat on a table: Orange plays the maze at the bottom and Purple the one at the top, turned round to be the right way up for Purple. On a wide screen (a phone or tablet held sideways, or a computer), the two mazes stand side by side, both the same way up.
Computer levels
The computer races through the same maze by the same rules. It's never faster than you, it stops at junctions just as your buddy does, and with fog on it sees only the paths near its own buddy. At each junction it reads ahead along the paths it hasn't tried, as far as its level allows, and takes the way that seems to get closest to the exit. It remembers where it has been, and once it can see the way through to the flag, it runs it without stopping.
| Level | How the computer races |
|---|---|
| Easy | Runs at 60% of your speed and reads only two squares ahead, so it often wanders into dead ends. It stops to think for 0.7 seconds at each junction, and when it can't see the way out, it picks a path at random one time in four. |
| Medium | Runs at 70% of your speed, reads five squares ahead and stops for half a second at each junction. It picks at random about one time in eight. |
| Hard | Runs at 80% of your speed, reads ten squares ahead and stops for about a third of a second. It seldom picks at random. |
| Expert | Runs at 88% of your speed, reads 18 squares ahead and stops for a quarter of a second. It picks at random only one time in 50; it hardly ever takes a wrong turn in the two smallest mazes, and about one turn in ten in the bigger ones. |
In tests on the growing mazes without fog, Expert took about 4 seconds to get out of the smallest maze, where running the shortest way out takes you 2.9 seconds, and about 16 seconds in the biggest, where it takes you 8. To beat Expert, find the way quickly and choose your turns ahead.
Tips to win
- Use the countdown. The maze is there before Go! Work out the first few turns and swipe the first one early, so your buddy sets off the instant the race starts.
- Work from both ends. If the way from your buddy isn't clear, trace the path back from the flag too, and look for where the two meet.
- Swipe before the junction. Your buddy stops at every junction unless it already knows which way to go. Choose the next turn while it's still running and it goes through that junction without stopping.
- Look before you turn. A quick glance down a side path can show it's a dead end.
- In fog, head for the far corner. You always know where the exit is, so at a junction lean towards the way that heads towards it, and let your dotted trail tell you which paths you've already tried.
How the mazes are made
Each maze starts as a grid of walled-off squares. The game digs a winding path from one square into squares it hasn't reached yet, now and then branching off from an earlier part of the path, until every square is joined in. That makes long, twisting paths with plenty of side turnings and dead ends, and exactly one way between any two squares; the bigger mazes then get a few extra gaps. The pattern is random each time, and both copies on the screen are drawn from the very same maze.
People often use the words maze and labyrinth for the same thing. Many scholars and labyrinth fans keep "labyrinth" for a single path that winds its way to the middle with no choices to make, and "maze" for a puzzle with junctions and dead ends, like the ones in this game.
Questions
How do you play Maze Race?
You and your opponent get the same maze. Swipe to send your buddy along the paths, choose a way at each junction, and reach the flag in the far corner first. The first to win 3 mazes wins the match.
Can two people play a maze game on one phone?
Yes. Choose 2 Players. Each of you gets your own copy of the maze on your own half of the screen, and you both race at the same time. With the phone held upright, Purple's maze is turned round, so you can sit facing each other across it.
Is there always a way out?
Yes. Every square of every maze is joined to every other, so there's always a way from the start to the exit. In the smaller mazes there's exactly one; from 15 by 10 up there's nearly always more than one.
What does the fog do?
On your own maze you see only the paths near your buddy and the ones you've already seen. The exit's flag always shows, so you know which corner to head for, and each copy shows only what its own player has uncovered.
Can the computer see through the fog?
No. With fog on, the computer only sees the paths near its own buddy, exactly as you do, and remembers only what it has seen. It never looks at your maze, either. We test this by changing parts of the maze it hasn't seen and checking that every choice it makes stays the same.
How long is a match?
A match is 3 to 5 mazes. The smallest mazes take a few seconds and the biggest from about 15 seconds to a minute (longer in fog), so with the countdowns a whole match usually takes one to three minutes, or less on Small mazes.
Is Maze Race free?
Yes. It's free to play in your browser, with no download, no sign-up and no ads during a game.
Updated 13 November 2026