Mirror Maze Fun Facts and History

Since we have the most amazing mirror maze in New England, we thought we would share some information about these mind bending attractions. I bet you’ll find something that you didn’t know already. Read on.

What exactly is a mirror maze?

It goes by many names. It is also known as a hall of mirrors, a mirror house, or a maze of mirrors. It is a maze that has mirrors for walls, which adds to the difficulty of a regular maze.

There are two main types of mazes:

Fun House of Mirrors

A fun house of mirrors uses mirrors and glass. The glass will create a barrier, showing you an area of the maze that you can potentially reach. These are the types of mazes that you will often find in travelling fairs and carnivals.

Infinity Mirror Maze

This kind of maze gives the illusion of infinite hallways in multiple directions.

In some cases, there could be infinite reflections. This is accomplished by the angles of the mirrors in relation to each other.

This type of maze also has a more modern feel. Maziply Toys is infinity style. Here's a view of ours:

History of the Mirror Maze

Let’s take a dive into the history of the mirror maze:

In the Beginning

The first Mirror maze was believed to be made by Peter Stuyvesant. His inspiration came from a visit to the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, Yvelines, France. The Palace had a Hall of Mirrors that was built in 1689.

Upon returning to New Amsterdam (now known as New York), he constructed a mirror maze and charged one Dutch Gulden to enter.

The First Patent

The first patent for a mirror maze was granted to Gustav Castan of Berlin, Germany. He opened his first maze in 1873. Here’s a look at the first patent:

Most mirror mazes were part of traveling carnivals. In fact, in the 1800s, there were only two permanent Mirror Mazes in the entire world. One was located in Switzerland and the other in the Czech Republic.

By 1900s, there were more mirror mazes in the United States than any other country in the world.

Museum of Science

In 2018, the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago created an exhibit that visited multiple Science Museums, including the Boston Museum of Science, which is local and inspirational to Maziply Toys.

The exhibit was called A Mirror Maze: Numbers in Nature. The main attraction of the exhibit was a mirror maze spanning 1,700 square feet. This exhibit was designed to introduce natural patterns in our world. It did this by immersing visitors into the maze to introduce how those patterns work in a mathematical way in nature.

Today

Today, modern effects such as choreographed colored LED lights, black lights and music systems have been incorporated into some of these classic attractions.

Maziply Toys is proud to be a part of that as the most amazing mirror maze in New England.

Mirror Maze in Pop Culture

The mirror maze has been in pop culture in a variety of ways:

Literature

• 1911 - The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• 1986 - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Film

• 1928 - The Circus
• 1973 - Enter the Dragon
• 1974 - The Man with the Golden Gun
• 1974 - Zardoz
• 1983 - Something Wicked This Way Comes
• 1984 - Conan the Destroyer
• 1993 - Manhattan Murder Mystery
• 2017 - John Wick: Chapter 2
• 2019 - Us

Television

• 1963 - Twilight Zone - In Praise of Pip
• 1980 - Gulding Light - Soap Opera
• 1989 - Macgyver - Brainwashed
• 2004 - Teen Titans - Betrayal
• 2019 - Stranger Things - Season 3, Episode 7

Music

• 1977 - The Hall of Mirrors by Kraftwerk
• 1993 - House of Mirrors by Allan Holdsworth
• 1994 - House of Mirrors by the Insane Clown Posse

Interestingly enough, Maziply’s Mirror Maze was used to film a music video by singer/songwriter, Jona Ferreira.

Visit a Mirror Maze

Wherever you may be, we encourage you to visit a mirror maze. It’s certainly a unique experience to “reflect on”. If you’re in New England, we invite you to visit Maziply’s Mirror Maze.

Maziply Toys

Maziply's Mirror Maze is located in Kingston MA and one of only a few in New England. It's a featured attraction at on of the largest toy stores in the country, Maziply Toys. You’ll find us located between Boston and Cape Cod, only five minutes from downtown Plymouth, MA.