He who finds the cheese will win!
Three mice are set loose one at a time in a maze. They each try to document their time in different ways. The maze fits within a 6 by 13 grid. Not every mouse traverses every square (you can get the unique answer anyhow).
NOTE: Pictures are not shown in the order taken.
I woke up to unfamiliar magenta walls and a blue floor lit from above with wide spotlights. I had a moment of panic when I realized I had my trusty blue pen, but no notepad beside me. I would have to rely on my memory. You see it was my first assignment as a new reporter for the Lab Rat Rag and I was in a new maze. The first thing I saw was that I was at the dead end of a hallway extended out in front of me. I decided that a smart move would be to mark my way on the floor, so if I ever came that way a second time I would not go the same way twice. But to save ink (and time) I would only mark which way I went if there was a choice.
I went a little ways along the hallway. Soon there was an opening on my left and the hallway ahead looked like it deadended a ways forward so I drew an arrow on the floor pointing left and turned to go through the opening.
To my dismay I then stepped out into a hallway that was completely dark in both directions (it stretched out to my left and to my right). wasn't sure which direction to go but the left looked shorter so I bent down to make an arrow, but my pen didn't show up in the darkness and I had to pause and think about my maze algorithms class for a minute. I reasoned that it would be safest if I always took the leftmost branch when I couldn't mark my way.
When I reached the end of the hallway there was an opening on my right which I took (there being no other choice). But no sooner had I stepped out of the dark hallway, then I had another choice: Right or straight ahead. My first impulse was to turn right since straight ahead looked like more darkness and I wanted to be able to use my pen. But when I looked down the hallway to my right I saw no openings, so I sighed and continued on forward into the darkness (first marking the direction I followed on the ground).
Once entering this new dark hall I realized immediately I would have to turn right. I did so and walked glumly down the long hall. At the end I had to turn left.
The area in front of me was lit. I was so relieved I marked my way even though I had no choice. I had to go straight... into another dark hallway, this time leading off to the left.
About halfway down it I came to an opening on my left. I followed my "choice in the dark" rule and turned into the opening. After turning there was a short hallway to my left. But it seemed to be a dead end so I turned around and went back out into the long dark hall.
I continued on to my left (the same direction I had been going prior to the last little "in the dark choice") and immediately saw another opening on my left. I took this one too, but all it had was a small dark cubbyhole on the right. Exasperated I went back out into the long hall. Only all of a sudden I realized I was almost at the end of it, so I continued to the end and turned right and out under another light.
Ahead of me was yet another dark hallway! This time stretching right again. I was starting to sense a pattern here and I tell you I was getting sick of it. I went a little ways down it and soon found light openings on both my right and left. I choose left, just to be consistent, you understand. It was a short hallway stretching to the right. I could see that there were no other exits, but I thought I saw something on the floor at the end, so I went to investigate.
It wasn't the cheese scoop that would have assured my career, but I was happy enough after I saw it, because it was this piece of paper. I decided I had better take the opportunity to record what had happened so far since I was already starting to forget.
Next I will go back over it all and make a map and continue on. Well maybe after I take a nap...
NOTE: Milton has short legs. However, an integral number of his steps do fit within one wall segment.
2 1 1 2 2 1
3 | 6 ^ 3 ^ 15 v 2 v 17 v 8 v 14 | 6 v 2 v 5 | 15 v 8 v 14 ^ 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 2
^ 3 | 3 v 2 v 5 v 2 | 3 v 8 v 2 v 5 | 6 v 8 v 14 ^ 3 ^ 3 | 3 v
2 2
2 v 5 v 2 | 3 v 8 v 2 v 5 | 6
Solution