Overview
Most mazes are built from a uniform grid of equal squares. A Cubism Maze is built from rectangles of many different sizes — the whole area is split, and split again, into blocks that range from big open panels to slim little slivers. Large blocks sit right next to small ones, so the page reads like a Mondrian or a cubist painting: a mosaic of rectangles rather than a lattice of identical cells. It still solves like any maze — find the single route from Start (S) to Finish (E) — but you move by stepping from one block into the next through the openings between them.
Because the blocks are all different sizes, no two mazes look alike, and the artful, gallery-wall look is exactly what makes a fresh, eye-catching page in a maze book.
The Goal
Find the one continuous route that connects S to E by stepping between blocks through the doorways that link them. Every Cubism Maze ships with its solution already drawn.
The Rules
- One path, always. Like every Puzzle Maker Pro maze, a Cubism Maze is a perfect maze — there is exactly one route between Start and Finish, with no loops. Every other branch is a dead end.
- Move through the doorways. Where two blocks share an edge they are either open (a doorway you can step through) or walled off. Even where two big blocks meet, the wall stays and keeps only a small fixed-width doorway rather than merging into one open room — so a big block is not a shortcut, it is just a bigger space with the same narrow exits.
- Dead ends are real. A run of blocks that stops going anywhere is a dead end — back up to the last junction and try another doorway.
How to Start Solving
- Find S and E and trace from both ends. Working inward from the Finish as well as the Start meets in the middle faster.
- At each block, try its doorways one at a time. Follow a chain of blocks until it reaches the other marker or dead-ends, then back up. Because there are no loops, backing up never loses progress.
- Do not trust the big blocks. A large panel looks like open space, but it still only connects through its narrow doorways — check where those openings actually lead before committing.
- Pencil lightly. Shade the runs you have ruled out; the unbroken chain of blocks from S to E is your answer.
The Shapes and Variations
Cubism Mazes come in two shapes, and the headline shape also carries optional art variations. The rule never changes across any of them — one path, block to block, S to E.
Cubism — the basic blocky maze: the area recursively split into rectangles of many sizes, big panels abutting small ones. This is the shape available on every edition.
Subdivision — a related recursive-room split that carves the page into rooms a different way, for a second distinct blocky look. Subdivision is a Creative-edition shape.
Cubism Variations (golden ratio and triangles) — on the Cubism shape, Creative unlocks art variations that change how the blocks are cut. The golden-ratio variation splits blocks on the golden proportion for a more organic, less regular mosaic; the triangles variation mixes in triangle and diamond cells alongside the rectangles. The maze still solves the same way — the variations change the artwork, not the rules.
So the shape and the variations change the look and the feel; the goal is always the single route from S to E.
Play It Online
Cubism Mazes aren’t only for print. With the Productivity edition, a set can be published to your website as an interactive game: visitors solve it right in the browser by dragging to trace the path from block to block — mouse or finger — with a built-in check and a timer. You can even gate later puzzles behind a short email sign-up, turning a free game into a lead magnet. How the player works (drawing, retracing, checking) is covered once in How to Play Puzzles Online.
One thing to know about the online view: the browser view now draws the same small fixed-width doorways between blocks as the print and PDF output — they match by construction. If you exported a set before this update, re-export it so the doorways carry through, and make sure your hosted site is on the updated player.
Outcome
You can now solve a Cubism Maze in either shape: trace from both ends, step through the doorways between blocks, and remember that a big panel is still only reached through its narrow openings. Want a whole book of them — plain Cubism, golden-ratio or triangle art, or the Subdivision split, each one unique — and an online version to hand out? That’s what Puzzle Maker Pro’s Cubism Mazes module does.