Guide
Blast Maze: fuses, chain reactions and the three kinds of foes
A bomb waits 2.5 seconds, its flames stop at the first crate, and the exit stays shut until every foe is gone. How the twelve stages work and how to clear them safely.
Blast Maze is a top-down bomb maze on an 11 by 13 grid. You move one tile at a time, drop bombs to break crates, take out the foes that roam the corridors, and walk onto the exit. Twelve stages, three worlds, and a few exact rules that are worth knowing before you light the first fuse. You can play it in your browser.
How a bomb really behaves
- Fuse: a bomb explodes 2.5 seconds after you drop it.
- Flames: the blast shoots out in a plus shape, up, down, left and right. Each arm stops at a stone wall, and it breaks only the first crate it reaches.
- Chains: if a flame touches another bomb, that bomb explodes immediately. Lay two or three bombs along a corridor and one blast clears all of it.
- Safe spots: flames only travel in straight lines, so stepping around a corner, out of the bomb’s row and column, is enough to stay safe.
You start each stage with one bomb at a time and a range of one tile, so the first few crates are slow work. That changes quickly once you find power-ups.
What hides in the crates
Some crates hide an item. Each stage has a different chance, from 12% of crates in the first stage up to 24% in the last.
- Bomb capacity: one more bomb on the field at once, up to 8.
- Blast range: one more tile of flame, up to 6.
- Move speed: each pickup makes your steps a little quicker, up to a limit.
- Shield: absorbs one hit from a flame. It does not protect you from touching a foe.
- Extra life: one more life, up to 9.
Three kinds of foes
- Wanderers (world 1) drift around at random and are the easiest to trap.
- Chasers (world 2) head toward you and step a bit faster.
- Dodgers (world 3) chase you too, are the quickest, and steer away from flames. Chains and dead ends work better on them than a single bomb.
Touching a foe or a flame costs a life, and you respawn at the start with a short moment of safety. The exit only opens once every foe is gone, so clear the whole map before you head for it.
Stars and the last three stages
Stages unlock in order. You get three stars for clearing a stage without losing a life; on stages 10, 11 and 12 you also have to finish within 95, 100 and 120 seconds. You get three lives in most stages, but only two in stages 11 and 12. Stages 10, 11 and 12 also have a clock of 120, 150 and 180 seconds, and running out of time costs lives, so on those stages plan your route before you start breaking crates.
More on the Blast Maze page, or drop your first bomb.
