How to Draw a Basic Maze

Reviewed by Jeanine Hattas Wilson

Last Updated: March 12, 2025

The approach to drawing mazes that is outlined here is a cell-based approach for drawing a simple maze. The cell-based approach consists of dividing the maze area into several independent enclosed areas, which will now be called cells. By definition each cell has only one exit and one entry point, and a reasonably difficult maze should have five or more cells. When someone attempts to solve the maze by finding the path from start to finish, they (the solver) will begin the maze at the start location and enter the first cell. In order to continue through the maze and reach the finish location, the solver will have to find a way to progress to the next cell. The maze is difficult because the solver is forced to wander around in a cell until they encounter and choose to pass through the cell’s exit point (the location where one passes from one cell to the next will now be called the critical point). The solver will progress through the cells until they reach the final cell and leaves the maze at the finish location.

Steps

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Draw a rectangular box on the paper to contain your maze and create “start” and “finish” openings in the box. Use almost the entire area of the paper; leave only a small margin along the edges.
Draw lightly because you will eventually erase these lines.

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Each cell should only connect to two other cells, and the path from the “start” cell to the “finish” cell should pass through every cell. Try to make the path through the cells counter-intuitive.
(Please refer to Figure 1 (attached) for an example of a maze with steps 1-6 complete.)
The borders between cells should fit together like the teeth of a zipper. However, unlike a zipper, the teeth should be of variable width and length. Draw new, permanent cell boundaries. (Shown in attached figure 2.)
The paths should be about one centimeter wide, and their borders should be the width of one line drawn with a pencil. Only draw lines that are parallel to the edges of the paper. Make every part of your maze area either a path or border between paths. Do not create any dead end paths inside cells. Consider the MTF instinct when drawing your approaches to critical points. (Refer to the large attached maze for an example of maze paths.)
Make sure that you did not inadvertently block a critical point in your maze and that an unbroken path exists from start to finish.
Try to make sure that no spots exist where the junction of two lines is ambiguous and it is “debatable” if the path is blocked.

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How can I make a challenging maze?

Captain Giraffe

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The more cells you divide the maze into, the larger it will be. Making longer paths that lead up to dead ends will increase the difficulty of the maze.

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How to you make a very hard maze?

Wang Chi Yuen王之淵

Community Answer

The more cells you divide the maze into, the larger it will be. Making longer paths that lead up to dead ends will increase the difficulty of the maze.

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Tips

For simplicity, this maze should not contain any curved or slanted lines. Every line on the page should be parallel/perpendicular to the edges of the paper and be the width of one line drawn with your lead pencil.

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Do not use another writing utensil, like a pen or a wooden No. 2 pencil. You will need to erase at certain points (so you cannot use a pen) and scanning/copying documents written in regular pencil can be difficult.

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