Hard rectangle mazes
The everyday choice: long corridors on a 24 × 34 grid, one to a page.
Hard printable mazes: free PDFs with answer keys
Three free PDFs of hard mazes, ready to print: Hard, Expert and Hard hexagon. Each has 10 different mazes on US Letter with all the answer keys at the back. No account and no email needed.
Expert rectangle mazes
The largest size the site makes: 1,260 cells per maze. Print at 100% so the narrow corridors stay clear.
Hard hexagon mazes
Six-sided cells, so junctions can branch three ways. Fewer cells than the rectangle, more choices at each turn.
How hard are they, in numbers
A maze gets harder as it gets longer and as it offers more wrong turns. Here is what each size measures. An Expert rectangle has 1,260 cells; its answer route averages 419 cells, with 127 dead ends along the way.
| Shape | Level | Cells | Answer route | Shortest–longest | Dead ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | Hard | 816 | 278 | 137–423 | 83 |
| Rectangle | Expert | 1,260 | 419 | 209–751 | 127 |
| Circle | Hard | 475 | 151 | 31–294 | 49 |
| Circle | Expert | 859 | 247 | 53–459 | 88 |
| Triangle | Hard | 441 | 152 | 77–287 | 51 |
| Triangle | Expert | 729 | 254 | 87–391 | 81 |
| Hexagon | Hard | 331 | 148 | 70–237 | 35 |
| Hexagon | Expert | 547 | 199 | 77–344 | 57 |
Averages over 50 mazes per row, seeds STAT-0 to STAT-49, computed with the same engine that draws the sheets. Route and dead ends are counted in cells and in dead-end corridors.
Two things stand out. The level sets the average, but single mazes vary a lot: at Expert, the rectangle's route ran from 209 to 751 cells across these 50 mazes, so one sheet can take far longer than the next. And a bigger grid is not the same as a harder choice at each turn: the Hard hexagon has fewer than half the cells of the Hard rectangle, but its junctions can branch three ways instead of two.
Which pack to print
- For a first try, or for ages 9 to 12: Hard rectangle.
- For a long sit-down, or as a puzzle book for adults: Expert rectangle. More mazes in this style are on the mazes for adults page.
- If rectangles feel too routine: Hard hexagon, whose junctions can branch three ways.
Printing them cleanly
Choose "Actual size" or 100% in the print dialog. "Fit to page" shrinks the corridors, which matters most on the Expert pack. The PDFs are vector, so walls stay sharp on any printer. Each footer shows the level and the seed, so a lost page can be found again.
Make your own set
Each pack has a link that opens the same mazes in the maze maker, on A4 if you prefer. Change the seed for a new set, make up to 100 mazes at once, or put up to four on a page to save paper. Four to a page only suits the smaller levels: at Hard and above, one maze per page keeps the corridors wide enough to draw in.
You can photocopy these PDFs for a class or club, and include the mazes in workbooks or puzzle books you sell. No attribution is needed. This covers the mazes, not the site's text and code. If a route or key looks wrong, tell us.