Talk:3280: Maze

Randall Munroe is the first cartoonist to draw stick figures. "3280: Maze." He is 41 years old. 2607:FB90:CFA4:63E:AD2:6957:813D:A492 20:52, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

I get the backrooms reference, but not the maze. Is that to do with theology/mythology in some way? Radish (talk) 20:37, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

Updated to what my take is 70.109.62.172 21:14, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

To me, it referenced dystopian fiction, and specifically The Maze Runner, in a play on the word 'trials', which always seems to be used to describe what the unwilling participants are put through. (Hopefully the mice aren't killing each other in the maze until only one emerges alive, though.) 82.13.184.33 08:37, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". 104.129.192.105 22:04, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

in my first ever edit, i removed a spelling error (on n mice) to (on mice) 71.126.244.113 (talk) 22:58, 3 August 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Don't forget to sign your posts in here with four tildes in a row. Also, Muphrys law is in effect. 153.107.87.195 00:16, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

And I corrected the "errror" to "error", thus meta-editing it. 24.123.140.66 00:20, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

Not sure editing other people's comments is particularly good form, though, even if it is to correct spilling errors. 82.13.184.33 08:40, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

Shame it was an erroneous fix, but someone else came by to fix the fix. 52.213.77.206 06:50, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

Sometimes it feels like Randall came up with a good joke for the alt-text and then had to make a mediocre main comic to justify it... 2601:241:8002:3E0:702D:290D:92EC:2FF4 00:05, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

In George Gamov's book 1,2,3 infinity, Joke in the text: One Hungarian aristocrat challenged another to name the biggest number. He said "3". The other thought a while and said "You win". Joke in the footnote: Group of H.A.s got lost. One gets out a map and studies on it. Finally he says "Aha! I know where we are" The others asked "where?". "You see that big tall peak over there?" Yes" "We're on top of it!". Now, you were accusing Randall Monroe of something?Lordpishky (talk) 02:14, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

There's normally at least something funny about the comic. :( 2407:7000:AF11:FD00:EE3B:AA9:A81C:6FBE 01:34, 9 August 2026 (UTC)

Finally Decided to make an account here 5692Wraith (talk) 21:54, 4 August 2026 (UTC)

I'm not convinced the rear exit is meant to be entirely blocked off - I think it is meant to be accessible from the left (as we're looking at it), which would mean there is a route to complete it from entrance to exit. There is, though, a separate question as to why the mouse (absent any extrinsic motivation such as expectation of food, etc.) would bother completing the maze, rather than turning around and coming out of the entrance. 82.13.184.33 14:08, 5 August 2026 (UTC)

I agree with you re: the exit not being blocked off.

A reward (e.g. food) might be at the exit, not tall enough to be visible.

A really intelligent mouse might take on the task of solving the maze out of some sense of accomplishment or personal satisfaction.

BunsenH (talk) 14:21, 5 August 2026 (UTC)

Whereas even a relatively stupid mouse would probably just climb over the walls, since the experimenters appear to have neglected to seal the top of the maze.

82.13.184.33 14:43, 5 August 2026 (UTC)

If the maze is solvable (which I assume it’s supposed to be), then I’ve figured out

the layout of the maze. If you go to the link here, set the size to 21, and paste this into the maze data field, it will show you what I believe is the maze’s layout.

MAZE DATA: 11101010101011111010110110100111010001100111111011000110101001101101110011101110001100110101101001001100011011010110101010001110011101100001111010001101111110100000110110010111011110101000100100011101101010101000101000111111111101111111111111

Logalex8369 (talk) 15:56, 5 August 2026 (UTC)

@Logalex8369 -- EDIT: #BUGFIX #documentation_bugfix instructions:

1. goto above link

2. set "size" as 21

3. CLICK THE BUTTON NEXT TO "SIZE" **(labeled "Action")**

*** step 3. above was MISSING***

4. (last, click "Regenerate")

50.39.253.6 08:07, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

Your maze has no exit. The comic, probably (I mean "there are other opinions", I myself am convinced,) has an exit on the opposite wall (furthest from the viewer,) 2 "cells" right (again from the viewers perspective) from the entrance. But then, I also think the maze is 10x7, and not a square, like yours is, so... 2A0D:3344:7A4B:910:5040:A5C7:ED52:7F3A 09:47, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

Maze data with exit below 2001:67C:E60:C0C:192:42:116:110 19:06, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

11101010101001111010110110100111010001100111111011000110101001101101110011101110001100110101101001001100011011010110101010001110011101100001111010001101111110100000110110010111011110101000100100011101101010101000101000111111111101111111111111