www.treasuremaze.com

Instructions & Rules:

Treasuremaze is provided by the Management, to entertain and reward.

The game is a 3-dimensional, first-person maze; the object of which is to find the treasure hidden within the maze.  This treasure is a prize awarded by the maze's sponsoring advertiser(s) and varies from game to game. To determine what prizes are being offered click on the "Prizes" graffiti  on the  www.treasuremaze.com home page.

The game begins at this homepage. In the center of the cinder-block display is a door that leads into the maze; in an active game, the door says "Enter"; but other postings may appear on this door: "Game Over", "Practice Only" or "Closed".

To the left of the door is a poster displaying the game's current sponsor, and beneath the poster the graffiti message "Keep Me Posted". Clicking here allows you to place your email address on a mailing list so that you can be notified when a new game starts, and what the prize(s) are. 

To the right are four more graffiti messages: "Prizes" for a list of current  prizes, "Instructions"  - this document; "Map" - maps are two-dimensional black and white birds-eye views of the maze, but are only available when a current game is over (So you can see where you made mistakes); and the last scrawl, "Friends and Advertisers" is a list of current advertisers in the maze.

To enter the maze, click on the door.

At the top of the next view are instructions for navigation and are explained in more detail below. There may also be a red letter message "Game Over..", informing the player that someone has beat him to the treasure.

The maze is composed of walls or panels; the northern wall is dark gray, while eastern, western and southern walls are light gray.

Navigation within the maze is done with either the mouse, or the scrolling (arrow) keys on the numeric keypad. To turn left, click in the leftmost area of the viewing screen (key 6); to turn right click in the rightmost area (key 4). To turn around, or reverse course, click in the bottom center of the view screen (key 2). To move forward, Click in the central area of the viewing screen (key 8).

Mouse Navigation Zones:

Action Panels and Billboards: When entering the maze, probably the first thing noticed was that the wall directly in front, was neither light or dark gray.  Instead it was a "billboard" placed there for the game's sponsor. Billboards by the sponsor and other advertisers or causes, can be found throughout the maze. Billboards are a way that the player can learn about the advertiser's services or products, and also a way of getting a game hint.  When a billboard is directly in front, and in closest proximity, click on the billboard. Some of the billboards will first link to the advertiser's web page, or prepare for email inquiry; but others have no such link. Regardless, a hint screen will be displayed that shows the current game status,  the number of previous searchers that have been to this position in the maze; a compass that points in the direction of the treasure; the straight line distance to the treasure; and sometimes the fewest number of moves it could take to attain the treasure.

And, the hint screen gives the player who feels "lucky" a chance to make a random leap to another position in the maze!

Action Panels. Not everything on the walls is a billboard. There are eight action panels that can be found throughout the maze:

Blackboard:

The blackboard is where you can write or erase messages to others or yourself.

Profane or obscene language subjects the player to being thrown out of the game or denied any prize.

Doors:

Doors are two-passages through walls inside the maze. They can be fantastic shortcuts to the treasure. The trouble is they are all locked, and can not be used unless the player has obtained the latest 4-digit pass code. See "Maze Security Office", below, on how to obtain this code.

Gates.

Closing a gate blocks passage to or through the position for  a randomly selected period of from 1 to 24 hours, by any player (including you!). Useful technique for staying "ahead of the pack".

Gate below is closed:

Maze Security Office:

These offices are scattered throughout the maze, and are where the player must go to get the four digit pass code allowing him or her to utilize the doors within the maze. Every time a player enters this office to get a pass code, all door locks within the maze are reset to this  new key code, rendering the previous code useless. "The last one wins".

The Maze Security Office is normally staffed by  the friendly security guard, "Joe"; who, when not out to lunch, is always glad to hand out a new pass code.

Exit:

This panel appears in only one place in the maze. When first entering the maze, if you turned around, you would see this panel. Clicking on this panel takes you out and back to the treasuremaze home page.

Ladder:

The ladder allows one-way movement over a wall from one position to another. One-way because the ladder is on only one side of the wall; typically, not on the other side.

Suggestion Box:

The suggestion box is placed inside the maze  for feedback  from searchers concerning the current or future mazes. Management welcomes all ideas or comments.

Target:

This is what you're looking for! To claim the treasure, get to this panel and Click. Once this is done, the game is over for all other players. It remains for the winner to fill out a short information form so that a contact can be set up for prize delivery. If , the claim form is not filled out with enough information to make this contact, then  that prize will be added to a future game's treasure.

Once the target has been located by the successful treasure searcher, the target panel changes colors to a dull gray, with the words "Sorry, Game Over...Better Luck Next Time". When a game is over, the maze is left up for practice until such time as a sponsor for the next maze is found.

Coordinates:

Coordinates determine a player's position in the maze, where position is not only the geographic location, but also direction the player is facing (North, etc). As a player turns or moves through the maze his coordinates change, and are part of the web address of the player as seen in the address bar: "...wmzbmpvew?Coordintates=4444817496".

Since part of the web address, a player can move through the maze, and  bookmark his last position before quitting, and then return in that same exact position at a later time to continue play.

Notes & Hints:

Management operates a "fair" game"; there are no traps. A searcher can move from any spot in the maze to any other spot in the maze. Also, the target or treasure is always accessible, and never moves.

Every maze is different. In some, there is more than one path to the treasure; in others, only a single narrow path exists.

There is a good chance that by using random leaps you will get closer to the target, but the chances that you will randomly leap to the target square are not good (1/65536 in a simple 16X16 maze). Therefore, you will have to navigate at least some distance to the target.

The best aid to navigation and exploration of the maze is to map the maze as you go. Management recommends the use of grid paper, 6 or 8 squares per inch, to aid in recording your explorations. Be sure to mark billboards, action panels or other features on your map as a means of determining if you have made a prior visit to a location.

Your Browser is your Friend!: The modern browser has two features that will aid your exploration, the Back Button and Bookmarks.

Back Button. Suppose you had traversed a stair-step corridor as follows:

 
1. Turn Left
2. Move
3. Turn Right
4. Move
5. Turn Left
6. Move
7. Turn Right
8. Move
9. Turn Left....Dead End!