Answer: Maze 406

Here is the way through Maze 406. The orange line shows Pixel’s route from the top-left corner to the ball of yarn.

The solved maze 406 with the route drawn as an orange line.
The one true route through maze 406.

The route as arrow code

Each arrow is a direction and each number is how many squares to move. The whole route is 208 moves long and has 127 turns.

→ 2  ↓ 1  → 1  ↑ 1  → 2  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 1  ← 2  ↓ 1  → 1  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 2  ← 1  ↓ 1  → 3  ↓ 3  ← 3  ↓ 1  → 1  ↓ 4  ← 1  ↓ 2  → 2  ↑ 6  → 1  ↓ 1  → 2  ↑ 1  ← 1  ↑ 3  → 2  ↑ 2  ← 1  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↑ 2  → 1  ↑ 2  → 1  ↑ 1  ← 1  ↑ 1  → 1  ↑ 2  → 4  ↓ 2  → 1  ↑ 2  → 2  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 1  → 1  ↓ 1  → 2  ↓ 1  → 1  ↑ 1  → 1  ↓ 1  → 2  ↑ 2  → 1  ↓ 1  → 1  ↑ 1  → 1  ↓ 5  → 1  ↑ 4  → 1  ↓ 6  ← 2  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↑ 1  ← 3  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↑ 2  → 2  ↑ 1  → 2  ↑ 1  ← 1  ↑ 1  ← 2  ↓ 2  ← 2  ↓ 3  ← 2  ↓ 1  → 3  ↓ 1  → 2  ↑ 1  → 1  ↓ 1  → 4  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 1  → 1  ↓ 2  ← 2  ↓ 1  → 1  ↓ 1  ← 2  ↑ 1  ← 2  ↓ 3  → 1  ↑ 1  → 4  ↓ 1  ← 1  ↓ 2  ← 1  ↑ 1  ← 1  ↓ 2  → 3  ↓ 1
Show the route step by step
  1. Go right 2 squares.
  2. Go down 1 square.
  3. Go right 1 square.
  4. Go up 1 square.
  5. Go right 2 squares.
  6. Go down 1 square.
  7. Go left 1 square.
  8. Go down 1 square.
  9. Go left 2 squares.
  10. Go down 1 square.
  11. Go right 1 square.
  12. Go down 1 square.
  13. Go left 1 square.
  14. Go down 1 square.
  15. Go left 1 square.
  16. Go down 2 squares.
  17. Go left 1 square.
  18. Go down 1 square.
  19. Go right 3 squares.
  20. Go down 3 squares.
  21. Go left 3 squares.
  22. Go down 1 square.
  23. Go right 1 square.
  24. Go down 4 squares.
  25. Go left 1 square.
  26. Go down 2 squares.
  27. Go right 2 squares.
  28. Go up 6 squares.
  29. Go right 1 square.
  30. Go down 1 square.
  31. Go right 2 squares.
  32. Go up 1 square.
  33. Go left 1 square.
  34. Go up 3 squares.
  35. Go right 2 squares.
  36. Go up 2 squares.
  37. Go left 1 square.
  38. Go down 1 square.
  39. Go left 1 square.
  40. Go up 2 squares.
  41. Go right 1 square.
  42. Go up 2 squares.
  43. Go right 1 square.
  44. Go up 1 square.
  45. Go left 1 square.
  46. Go up 1 square.
  47. Go right 1 square.
  48. Go up 2 squares.
  49. Go right 4 squares.
  50. Go down 2 squares.
  51. Go right 1 square.
  52. Go up 2 squares.
  53. Go right 2 squares.
  54. Go down 1 square.
  55. Go left 1 square.
  56. Go down 1 square.
  57. Go right 1 square.
  58. Go down 1 square.
  59. Go right 2 squares.
  60. Go down 1 square.
  61. Go right 1 square.
  62. Go up 1 square.
  63. Go right 1 square.
  64. Go down 1 square.
  65. Go right 2 squares.
  66. Go up 2 squares.
  67. Go right 1 square.
  68. Go down 1 square.
  69. Go right 1 square.
  70. Go up 1 square.
  71. Go right 1 square.
  72. Go down 5 squares.
  73. Go right 1 square.
  74. Go up 4 squares.
  75. Go right 1 square.
  76. Go down 6 squares.
  77. Go left 2 squares.
  78. Go down 1 square.
  79. Go left 1 square.
  80. Go up 1 square.
  81. Go left 3 squares.
  82. Go down 1 square.
  83. Go left 1 square.
  84. Go up 2 squares.
  85. Go right 2 squares.
  86. Go up 1 square.
  87. Go right 2 squares.
  88. Go up 1 square.
  89. Go left 1 square.
  90. Go up 1 square.
  91. Go left 2 squares.
  92. Go down 2 squares.
  93. Go left 2 squares.
  94. Go down 3 squares.
  95. Go left 2 squares.
  96. Go down 1 square.
  97. Go right 3 squares.
  98. Go down 1 square.
  99. Go right 2 squares.
  100. Go up 1 square.
  101. Go right 1 square.
  102. Go down 1 square.
  103. Go right 4 squares.
  104. Go down 1 square.
  105. Go left 1 square.
  106. Go down 1 square.
  107. Go right 1 square.
  108. Go down 2 squares.
  109. Go left 2 squares.
  110. Go down 1 square.
  111. Go right 1 square.
  112. Go down 1 square.
  113. Go left 2 squares.
  114. Go up 1 square.
  115. Go left 2 squares.
  116. Go down 3 squares.
  117. Go right 1 square.
  118. Go up 1 square.
  119. Go right 4 squares.
  120. Go down 1 square.
  121. Go left 1 square.
  122. Go down 2 squares.
  123. Go left 1 square.
  124. Go up 1 square.
  125. Go left 1 square.
  126. Go down 2 squares.
  127. Go right 3 squares.
  128. Go down 1 square.

A trick you can use: the hand-on-the-wall rule

Here’s an old maze trick. Put one hand on a wall at the start and keep it touching the wall as you walk. Never let go! In a maze like this one, where all the walls are joined together, you will always reach the end. It isn’t always the quickest way, but it never gets you lost.

Robot vacuum cleaners use a similar idea to follow the edges of a room. Following a simple rule over and over is a very computer-ish way to solve a problem.