Xtreme Toy Zone

Cows in the Maze, And Other Mathematical Explorations
In the title essay, Stewart introduces readers to Robert Abbott's mind-bending "Where Are the Cows?" maze, which changes every time you pass through it, and is ...

Following on the success of his booksMath HysteriaandHow to Cut a Cake, Ian Stewart is back with more stories and puzzles that are as quirky as they are fascinating, and each from the cutting edge of the world of mathematics.From the math of mazes, to cones with a twist, and the amazing sphericon--and how to make one--Cows in the Mazetakes readers on an exhilarating tour of the world of mathematics. We find out about the mathematics of time travel, explore the shape of teardrops (which are not tear-drop shaped, but something much, much more strange), dance with dodecahedra, and play the game of Hex, among many more strange and delightful mathematical diversions. In the title essay, Stewart introduces readers to Robert Abbott's mind-bending "Where Are the Cows?" maze, which changes every time you pass through it, and is said to be the most difficult maze ever invented. In addition, he shows how a 90-year old woman and a computer scientist...

Mixed messages

While rife with details (I spied a gallery-goer viewing the paintings through a magnifying glass) such as amusing signs (trailers advertising "adult films," "body rubs" and "exciting literature" in The Dream of Mayor Crombie in The Glen Stewart Ravine), scores of tiny figures, and an eight-legged lizard sporting glasses and sewing-pin spikes, Kurelek’s paintings also incorporate geometric abstraction. This flirtation with abstraction is best seen in his landscapes and the nightmare-ish All Things Betray Thee Who Betrayest Me, which features a glowing greenish trapezoid — actually a moonlit window — that slices into the darkness of the painting. Silver-lit cabbages, soldiers of Kurelek’s despised Ukrainian-Canadian farm life, march upon his bedroom, where the artist’s nervous eyes reflect the blazing moon outside.

Source: Uptown

The Art of Puzzles - Friday Puzzle #113 - Momentum Maze

by motris

USPC History: A logic maze (a maze subject to extra rules/constraints that can sometimes change during the solution) has appeared basically every year with the exception of 2008. Many puzzles, particularly deductive path puzzles, also appear but here I'm limiting myself to puzzles that are clearly labeled as "maze" or are functionally the same with a more playful name. In 1999 there was a Number Maze and a Rolling Die Maze from Robert Abbott , the first designer of logic mazes, with two changing movement rules during the solve. 2000 had a No U-turn Maze (R. Abbott) and a Rolling Block Maze (E. Friedman), a common type where movement lengths change depending on which side of a solid object is touching the surface. 2001 had an Alice Maze (R. Abbott), again with variable movement lengths. 2002 had Tiger in the Woods (Nob Yoshigahara) where you can only turn after hitting a wall....

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Celebrating the Adventurous and the Indie in Berlin's Gaming Scene ...

by Peter Kirn

There’s no question independent gaming has found its voice. But it’s increasingly finding something else: a scene.

And that doesn’t just mean people huddled quietly around glowing displays in quiet isolation. Artists, advocates, and aficionados gather to celebrate gaming as an art form, as an event. It’s not just some aesthetic or nostalgic experience of gaming, either, as with the explosion of 8-bit: people are gathering for love of mechanics. And as the game mechanic and art venture in new directions, that is an exciting time for digital visual and interactive culture, generally.

One such hub is A MAZE. Centered in Berlin, the festival is a platform for what’s happening all over Europe, and its connections to the rest of the planet – or, as curator Thorsten Wiedemann calls it, “a melting pot for the European indie game scene.” (Thorsten, for his part, hasn’t trained his eyes exclusively on Europe – the German-based A MAZE is also now starting up in Johannesburg , where it promises to serve as a conduit for work around the fast-growing African continent.)

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Maze Puzzle art News

Dressing up's the name of the game on Halloween, but it's just as much fun to ...

Springfield News-Leader - Dec 31, 1969

Corn maze, hay bales maze, petting zoo, hayride to the pumpkin patch and bonfires. Additional fees for train rides, pony rides and face painting. 417-838-6777; www.ozarkpumpkinpatch.com Reeds Spring: Ninth annual Artist's Holiday Art Tour,

Oct. 28 through Nov. 3 events calendar

Twin Falls Times-News - Dec 31, 1969

Tubbs Berry Farm straw maze, petting zoo and pumpkin patch, 4-7 pm at 1150 South Park Ave. W. Geared for 10 and younger. Straw maze is $2 per child for unlimited runs; free for parents. Petting zoo is free; feed cups available for $1.

Haunted attractions

Detroit Free Press - Dec 31, 1969

$12; Corn Stalker Maze, $8; both, $17. 888-824-3377. www. erwinorchards.com. Blake Farm Halloween: Attractions include Nighttime Spooky Hayride, Spookyland, the Three-Story Haunted Barn and the Black Hole. 7 pm Fri.-Sun. Blake's Big Apple, 71485 North

Mixed messages

Uptown - Dec 31, 1969

The Maas Maze (a newer version of The Maze, painted by Kurelek for one of his doctors) is included in The Messenger, a retrospective of Kurelek's work at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Inspired in part by rat mazes used in cognitive science,