Scary Maze — Play Free Online

Scary Maze is a steady-hand prank game played in the browser: you guide a small white dot along a twisting light path, and the dark area around it is off limits. The early stretches look easy, the corridors get narrower as you go, and the whole thing is built toward one moment that the game does not warn you about. This version also adds an optional camera feature that captures your face when that moment arrives.

How to play

Press START on the menu. On a computer the game then asks you to move the mouse onto the start point, and from there the dot follows your cursor exactly. On a phone or tablet you press on the dot and drag it with your finger instead. Touch the dark at any point and the run ends at once: you go back to the menu and the next attempt starts again from the first stage. A short hint at the start suggests turning the volume up, and the game is designed with sound on.

Moving slowly is the whole skill. The dot sits exactly under the pointer, so a quick flick of the mouse can clip a wall you were nowhere near a moment before. On a touch screen, lifting your finger stops the drag and brings the drag prompt back, so you press on the dot again to carry on.

The stages

A label between stages counts them out of five, as in "Level 2/5". The path gets thinner each time, and the third stage is where the game shows its real purpose instead of a fourth stage. We will leave the details there, but anyone who is easily startled, or playing next to someone who is, should know the game ends in a deliberate jump scare with a full-screen image, loud audio and, on phones that support it, vibration.

Failing is part of the joke. Each time you touch the dark, a new line of text appears, starting with warnings such as "Don't touch the dark with the white dot" and "The dark is bad", then moving on to taunts like "Give up already" and "Are you scared yet?", and finally a countdown.

The camera option

Before the START button becomes active, the game asks for permission to use your camera, and you can choose ALLOW or DENY. If you allow it, the game takes a snapshot of your reaction at the moment of the scare and shows it on the end screen. On a computer you can save the picture straight from the browser, and on a phone you hold your finger on it to share it. If you said no at first, an ENABLE CAMERA button on the end screen arms the camera for your next scare. Press TRY AGAIN to return to the menu.

Settings

• Audio calibration – on Android devices the game shows a slider so you can line up a ticking sound with a green flashing light. This keeps the sound and the picture in sync.
• Reset – puts every setting, including the calibration, back to the defaults.
• Privacy policy – opens the game's privacy text inside the settings panel.

Tips

• Keep the mouse movements small and steady; the narrow corners in the later stages leave very little room.
• If you want to play the prank on a friend, let them take the mouse and turn the volume up first, as the game itself suggests.
• Decline the camera request if you would rather not be photographed; the maze plays exactly the same either way.