Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Minotaur is a type of logic maze designed by Robert Abbott. In this maze, the player acts as Theseus, the legendary king of Athens who is attempting to escape the Labyrinth. The main difference between this and the standard type of maze, beyond the fact that it's set on a grid, is the fact that the maze is not empty. The Minotaur is also there, the Minotaur was black hunting the player down, taking two steps for every one the player takes. While he is faster than the player, he's also quite stupid. His moves are always determined by checking to see if he can get closer to the player by moving horizontally, then he checks to see if he can get any closer by moving vertically. If neither move places him closer to the player, he will simply skip his turn. Theseus has an unusual option of not-moving.
This type of maze was first published in 1990 in Robert Abbott's book Mad Mazes. The idea was later published in the British magazine Games & Puzzles.
External links
- A Java applet version of the maze
- The article from Games & Puzzles. The board described is variously 8x8 and 9x9. There are at least 88 levels created. The various mazes are more accurately described as a quantity of blocks or fences rather than a continuous line as might be expected.
- Robert Abbott's notes on this puzzle
- Official download version for Windows and Mac
- Official download version for the iPhone and iPod Touch
- Free implementation of the game, solver, and random generator; sources in C++ with wxWidgets and Windows executable.