My daughter loves puzzles and she is a big-time doodler. She often challenges me to do puzzles and I usually can’t get as far as she does. She has an uncanny ability to do word search puzzles and mazes in the fastest possible times. However, she seems to get a charge out of finishing maze puzzles, especially difficult ones. We go through tons of puzzle books now as she so easily solves all the more difficult ones, the rest get pushed aside. When I saw this World’s Toughest Mazes, she immediately came to mind, so I bought it to challenge her back.
The book claims that it will challenge even the most accomplished puzzle oficionado and maze-lover. A multitude of paths with tricky corners, blind alleys, dead ends and many exits and entrances may make these mazes appear unsolvable. But every maze in this book, however intricate, does have a solution. Each maze stretches over two pages to fascinate, frustrate and appeal to puzzlers of all ages, and if you give up it also includes the solutions.
It was published by Firefly Books Ltd, initially in 2002 for The Diagram Group and comes at a cost of $19.95.
The Mazes:
This book comes in a soft cover with over 60 color mazes to complete. There are regular style mazes in blocks but oversized to two pages. There are curly mazes, diagonal mazes, mazes on designs and they are all really colorful and bright. Some of these mazes are really intricate and difficult. Some only have one entrance and exit, some have multiple entrances and exits but there is only one path that is correct. I would suggest color copying them so that your child and especially mine does not get the impulse to look at the answers in the back when stuck for a place to go. And it is reusable that way.
I often see my daughter solving one of these mazes while she is on the phone or watching TV. And she has solved them. It has taken a couple of hours but she gets it in the end.
I have tried too but I get frustrated. This is not something you can do quickly and I have no patience when it comes to puzzles. If you are not a patient person, I wouldn’t even bother with this book. One of these mazes will definitely take a couple of hours at the least to complete. But if you like the challenge and like to solve puzzles, this book is unique and interesting compared to other puzzle books. Yeah, the price is a bit hefty but my daughter has found a lot of amusement in it when she has been bored and had nothing to do and when her friends come around, they all do it together.
Whether it be for young or old, the World’s Toughest Mazes has a bit to offer everyone. My boss even got one to put on his coffee table in the waiting room at work and you would not believe how many people have started solving a puzzle but, I guess, did not have time to finish. Then a different person would continue it. But with all the magazines he has sitting there, they still singled out the puzzle book.
Expensive but fun, I am happy with my purchase and if you like maze puzzles, you will be too. It has some real brain teasers.
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