Daniel Solis

Ernest Pazera just made this great little Java implementation of Minoqaur. You can see an example of it up at the top of this post and download it from his blog here . Here is how to run a .jar file on most OSes. Are you on a mac? You can run .jar files with the Jar Launcher under /System/Library/CoreServices and select it as the default app for .jar files. Ernest also shared two interesting findings: "The sword is so immensely powerful that not picking a nearby starting point seems foolish." The sword is very powerful, but also farthest from the treasure. It takes twice as many steps to get to the treasure from the sword's entry than from the cloak's or key's entries. "I learned looking into QR codes, not all QR codes have the "treasure chamber" until they are a minimum size. Additionally, larger QR codes exist with multiple such chambers." Now that is surprising! If a QR code does not have a treasure chamber, then place it as far...

Next time you're on a plane and the magazine's crossword puzzle is all filled in, just look for a QR code. With it, you can play this solo puzzle game! It's not like you were going to actually scan the code, right? Your quest is to enter the maze, escape with the treasure, all while avoiding the minoqaur! Stuff You Need One player (That's you!) A QR code A pen Setup Every QR code has three squares along the corners of the code and a fourth, smaller square embedded in the lower-right. In this game, they represent chambers for special items that you can equip as you explore the maze. Draw a sword, cloak, key and treasure as shown above. Finally, draw a little dot in the center of the code, or as close to the center as you can. This is the minoqaur. Begin You can enter the maze at any of the blue dot noted above. Rules You and the minoqaur will take turns. In each turn, you will move or tunnel, then the minoqaur will move or tunnel. Keep track of all moveme...