Challenge type: Mazes · Difficulty: ★★★★★ Super tricky · Size: 25 × 25 squares
Pixel’s lunch is waiting at the far side of the Desert Ruins Maze. Meow! Find the way, quick, before it gets cold.
How to play
- Start on the square with Pixel in the top-left corner.
- Find a way to the fish in the bottom-right corner.
- Move along the paths. No jumping over walls, and no squeezing through corners!
- Use your finger, or ask a grown-up to print the picture so you can draw on it with a pencil.
Coding twist: write your route as arrow code, like → → ↓ ↓ →. A list of exact steps like that is called an algorithm. Can you make yours shorter by writing → 2 instead of → →?
Need a hint?
Pixel’s first move is down. Stuck in a dead end? Go back to the last place where you had a choice and try the other way. You can also try starting at the fish and working backwards!
For teachers and grown-ups
Skills practised: Algorithms, sequencing, planning ahead, and spotting dead ends (backtracking).
The big idea: A route through a maze is an algorithm: an exact list of steps that always gets you to the goal.
Questions to ask:
- How did you decide which way to go at a junction?
- Could you write your route as arrows so someone else could follow it without seeing the maze?
- Is there more than one way through? How do you know?
Take it further: Ask children to write the route as arrow code, then swap with a partner who follows it exactly, like a robot.