Sorry for the delay on the October post, the end of the month managed to sneak up on me. Luckily this means you should get two posts in November. You know, unless I forget that time doesn’t stop and November is as sneaky as October.
Welcome to Cthulhu Mom Games – a blog about my experiences raising a child in a gaming family.
This time last year we started a new tradition. We went to a local farm, wandered the corn maze and bought a pumpkin for carving. This time this year we continued the tradition that has now managed to span two years, which for us is an achievement.
We enjoyed the corn maze, but…
We didn’t necessarily enjoy the company of the others in the maze, or those who came before us.
What does this have to do with gaming? We followed the rules of the maze and used the map to navigate to the check points inside the maze. It was a challenge like a puzzle game is a challenge to us. We saw goals to be accomplished. Maybe others already knew this, we discovered it this year. Despite the fact that my husband and I have been doing corn mazes on and off since college. Sometimes the obvious thing is hard to see…
To some, the maze was just a walk through a corn field. And honestly, I’m all right with that. My favorite part about the maze is spending time with my family while getting a little exercise, so I get it. What I don’t get is being disrespectful to the owner/creator of the maze and fellow maze goers.
Within the first five minutes of being in the maze we caught up with another, rather rowdy group. I have no problem with rowdy people, I am often that person. The problem I had was that they were throwing dried corn cobs and had one not been intercepted by one of their party Yog was in the path of the flying corn and could have been hit. Dangerous? Kind of. Rude? Yes. Against the rules laid out for using the maze? Definitely.
And that’s where I realized the biggest problem we had with how others were using the maze. We saw the experience as a game with rules to be followed. Others did not. And in and of itself that is not a problem. Except when it was. See, the weather in the past two years has left some pretty fragile corn stalks for maze building at the end of the growing season. So sometimes when navigating the maze you can see through the maze and spot the check point post. Instead of figuring out how to get to the post, some people walked through the corn (against the rules of the maze as well). Again, not in and of itself something I care about. If they want to spend the same amount of money just to walk through corn that I spent for a challenging experience, it’s their money. However, remember the fragile corn stalks? They don’t survive that kind of abuse for long. Which means that when many people decide to cut through the corn instead of sticking to the path, the corn falls down. Which makes the path hard to find. Which makes the map almost useless. And makes it less of a maze. And now the choices of others is impacting my ability to enjoy the game I came to play.
So I came to play a game, but had a hard time doing so due to others playing the game by their own rules (or not playing at all). We were reading a map, and figuring out the puzzle. In one section of the maze, literally. This maze had a “find the clues” game. These posts were not marked on the map, so you had to first find the sign post. On the sign post would be a picture with a suspect, location and weapon. You would mark off those items. The idea was process of elimination – whatever was left was the solution. I loved that it was completely done with pictures, making it possible for Yog to solve the puzzle on her own. Mostly. She was too short to see the pictures without being picked up. Lucky for us she’s still light enough for that. Yog loved playing the game and whined less in this maze than in the other two (this location has three separate mazes). She discussed it at length, making predictions as to who she thought committed the crime (it couldn’t have been the doggie…maybe it was the pig…). Once we figured out who the culprit was she wanted to discuss that topic. At length. Loudly. We tried to explain to her that since we were near the start of the maze this line of conversation could ruin the surprise for others who hadn’t done the puzzle yet. She didn’t get it, so we ventured back into the maze (we did the “find the clues” maze in the middle) where hopefully her little voice would be covered in the rustling of corn stalks. Or she would move on to her second favorite topic of the day – how tired she was from all the walking. Unfortunately for us it turned out to be the latter, but we weren’t surprised.
Despite our worries about our maze mates and whining child, we still had a great time. Though my husband probably could have done without me randomly walking quickly through the maze without looking at the map. I wanted to distance myself from those enjoying the maze in a different way than we were. I justified it by saying I was increasing his challenge level.
We ended the trip with ice cream (what happened to fall?!) and picking out our pumpkin.
If you have the chance to try out a corn maze before the end of fall (some operate until mid-November), I highly recommend it. Enjoy an active, outdoor gaming experience that’s easier than an Escape Room and slightly less physical than boffer larping. Then share your experiences, especially if you find a maze you love. Let us all know where you like to visit.
Happy autumn and happy gaming!
Cthulhu Mom Games 