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Description
The Toy Man’s Maze

The Adventurer was seated on a bar stool sipping beer out of a frosted mug. He hooked his thumb toward the window and asked the grey-haired bartender, “What’s the story on the old house painted with the crazy colors that’s boarded up with all the NO TRESPASSING signs?”

The bartender glanced out the window, scratched his nose and looked directly at the Adventurer. “That’s where the Toy Man used to live. People used to come from all over just to buy his creations. He specialized in little robot animals. Sold ‘em out of a sales room he made in his den. After he didn’t open the store for a week somebody called the Sheriff to check on him. The Sheriff found the Toy Man in the basement. That’s where his workshop was. Apparently he died of a heart attack.”

The Adventurer wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh. Well, why does the place have a big fence around it?”

The bartender leaned in closer. The smell of strong alcohol was on his breath. “A dead body wasn’t the only thing the Sheriff found. There’s a door in the basement that leads to a giant underground maze. A couple of weeks after the Toy Man died some kids broke into the house. Probably to rob it, but they found the maze and wandered in. The kids got lost and separated from each other. One of the three found the way out and went for help. The Sheriff and his deputies had to rescue the other two. While they were searching the maze one of the deputies was attacked by a mechanical spider. It scratched up his leg pretty bad.”

“He was bitten by a toy spider?”
“It was the size of a dog. He had to shoot it to put it down!”

The Adventurer frowned in disbelief.
The bartender cleared his throat and continued, “So the next day one of the kids told his mom he saw a life-size robot digging down there.”

“Life size?”
“Yeah. I guess the Toy Man programmed it to dig the maze before he died. It’s still down there working to finish the maze. The County put up the fence to keep anybody else from getting in there. The newspaper said they are trying to find the Toy Man’s heirs, but I don’t’ think he has any.” The bartender polished a spot on the bar with a rag and asked, “You want anything else?”

Pointing down the bar, “Let me get some of those peanuts.”

The Adventurer took a long sip on his beer and turned his head toward the window. He gazed at the boarded up house and thought, “A life size toy robot would be worth a lot of money.”

Later that night when the Adventurer broke into the house and entered the maze he realized that he wasn’t the only person looking for treasure…

_______________________________

The maze has several solutions. This started off being just a maze for your computer wallpaper, but I decided to put elements of old videogames in to make it more interesting. Then I came up with the backstory above.

Think of this as a deluxe version of Night Stalker, the Intellivision game from the early 80's.

Description
The Toy Man’s Maze

The Adventurer was seated on a bar stool sipping beer out of a frosted mug. He hooked his thumb toward the window and asked the grey-haired bartender, “What’s the story on the old house painted with the crazy colors that’s boarded up with all the NO TRESPASSING signs?”

The bartender glanced out the window, scratched his nose and looked directly at the Adventurer. “That’s where the Toy Man used to live. People used to come from all over just to buy his creations. He specialized in little robot animals. Sold ‘em out of a sales room he made in his den. After he didn’t open the store for a week somebody called the Sheriff to check on him. The Sheriff found the Toy Man in the basement. That’s where his workshop was. Apparently he died of a heart attack.”

The Adventurer wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh. Well, why does the place have a big fence around it?”

The bartender leaned in closer. The smell of strong alcohol was on his breath. “A dead body wasn’t the only thing the Sheriff found. There’s a door in the basement that leads to a giant underground maze. A couple of weeks after the Toy Man died some kids broke into the house. Probably to rob it, but they found the maze and wandered in. The kids got lost and separated from each other. One of the three found the way out and went for help. The Sheriff and his deputies had to rescue the other two. While they were searching the maze one of the deputies was attacked by a mechanical spider. It scratched up his leg pretty bad.”

“He was bitten by a toy spider?”
“It was the size of a dog. He had to shoot it to put it down!”

The Adventurer frowned in disbelief.
The bartender cleared his throat and continued, “So the next day one of the kids told his mom he saw a life-size robot digging down there.”

“Life size?”
“Yeah. I guess the Toy Man programmed it to dig the maze before he died. It’s still down there working to finish the maze. The County put up the fence to keep anybody else from getting in there. The newspaper said they are trying to find the Toy Man’s heirs, but I don’t’ think he has any.” The bartender polished a spot on the bar with a rag and asked, “You want anything else?”

Pointing down the bar, “Let me get some of those peanuts.”

The Adventurer took a long sip on his beer and turned his head toward the window. He gazed at the boarded up house and thought, “A life size toy robot would be worth a lot of money.”

Later that night when the Adventurer broke into the house and entered the maze he realized that he wasn’t the only person looking for treasure…

_______________________________

The maze has several solutions. This started off being just a maze for your computer wallpaper, but I decided to put elements of old videogames in to make it more interesting. Then I came up with the backstory above.

Think of this as a deluxe version of Night Stalker, the Intellivision game from the early 80's.