Mobile Electronic Maze Game with Personalized Path Generation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional life-size maze games require costly and complex infrastructure, leading to a lack of engagement for players due to predictable paths and limited interaction, especially when played with larger groups or in smaller spaces.
Innovation Solution
A mobile electronic maze game with lightweight infrastructure, where players use mobile devices to interact with terminals at intersections, creating personalized paths with varying difficulty and length, and the option to include questions or riddles, allowing for a unique experience in both outdoor and indoor settings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional life-size maze games use fixed paths and walls, then the infrastructure is stable and easy to set up, but the player experience becomes predictable and loses interest quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses mobile devices to create virtual copies of multiple maze paths simultaneously. Each player receives a personalized virtual path through their mobile device while physically moving through a simple outdoor space. This allows unlimited path variations without building multiple physical mazes, resolving the contradiction between path variety and infrastructure complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical maze structures with electronic/virtual path generation through mobile devices. Instead of building intricate physical walls and paths, the system uses software to define personalized routes, substituting mechanical complexity with computational simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a large group of players enters a conventional maze, then social interaction increases, but players tend to follow each other instinctively and only the first player feels the desired sensation of being lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes each mobile device self-sufficient by embedding the complete personalized path, questions, and navigation logic within the device itself. Each device independently manages one player's entire experience, eliminating the need for additional terminals or infrastructure to support multiple players simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
Each player's mobile device autonomously provides navigation guidance, question delivery, and path management without requiring external terminal interactions. The device serves the player's complete needs independently, allowing unlimited players to experience unique paths simultaneously without proportionally increasing terminal quantity.
3Loss of information
If the maze paths are made visible and accessible, then players can see the exit and other players' progress, but the illusion of being lost and the challenge are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides path information selectively to each player based on their personalized route. The mobile device displays only the next required action or question relevant to that player's current location and progress, maintaining information secrecy for other paths while ensuring clear local navigation guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device acts as an intermediary between the player and the environment, filtering and presenting information selectively. It translates the complex maze state into simple local instructions (next turn direction, question to answer), maintaining navigation clarity while preserving the overall mystery of the path.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides sustained player engagement by ensuring each player has a unique path, adjustable difficulty, and configurable game duration, maintaining interest across different audiences and environments without the need for extensive setup or high costs.
Implementation Method 1
The mobile device which is entrusted to each player at the start of the game detects and identifies any terminal in the immediate vicinity of the player
Implementation Method 2
the terminals emit a code which is specific to them and which is picked up and identified by the mobile device
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a mobile interactive electronic maze game. Mazes built in corn fields fail to provide a searching sensation when a large number of persons are present; players tend to follow one another and said mazes are not mobile. The invention solves said problems by providing a maze in which the pathways traced on a playing area comprise intersections where terminals (6) are placed. Players carry a mobile device (2) which interacts with a terminal when the player is near the latter. Players move around the playing area freely, but the circuit of the mobile device triggers a signal which informs players that they are following the correct route when the received code corresponds, stage by stage, to the route recorded by the operator. Players do not follow one another, since the route is different for every player. The invention can be used in leisure and tourist locations.