The Sweet Spot; How to Score With Mazes October 29, 2009 In Sports, the sweet spot is the area on a club, racket, or bat, where a ball is most effectively hit. When it comes to brainteasers, the sweet spot is a bit more mercurial. It is not a fixed spot, but an experience that must strike a balance between a person’s capabilities and the difficulty of the task at hand. A good puzzle finds that sweet spot — the right balance of ability and challenge. And that’s just what Mazes has accomplished. The Mazes exhibit is a flexible environment that can fill a space up to 9000 square feet of mind-bending challenges and is filled with more than 60 interactive experiences. In February Minotaur launched Mazes at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario delivering their most successful spring break in years. Mike Duggan, a Bluecoat at Science North, worked in the Special Exhibitions Hall where the new Mazes exhibit challenged curious minds of all ages. “By observing our visitors tackle and solve each maze,” Mike says, “I have come to really respect anyone who can create a good puzzle.” And that’s just what he experienced with Mazes. “I saw everyone, from pre-school children to adults with a PhD, get themselves into some sort of flow to solve the puzzle in a maze. There are simple mazes that anyone can solve — great for those whose skills are still developing. And there are some humdingers, which have sent many away scratching their heads.” Mike feels that the key to creating a good brainteaser is to keep the user within a certain flow, quoting a famous psychology professor whose study of flow goes something like this; “His theory,” Mike says, “is that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow — a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. In other words, when you’re in the zone with your focused attention fully invested in what you are doing, you are in a state of flow.” The mathematical equation might look something like this: Mazes + visitors =sweet spot. Check out the Mazes exhibit to discover all of that for yourself and share it with your visitors. << more news