Maze Generator (SVG / PNG)

Pick a grid size (up to 60×60), cell pixel size, and a numeric seed. The tool runs a recursive-backtracking depth-first search to carve a perfect maze (exactly one path between any two cells) and renders it as SVG. Start cell is green, end cell is red. Toggle the solution overlay to see the BFS-shortest path drawn in blue, and download as a sharp SVG or a 2× PNG for printing on a worksheet, party game card, or escape-room handout.

A perfect maze has no loops and no unreachable cells, which is another way of saying it is a spanning tree of the grid. That guarantees exactly one route between any two points, so the shortest path and the only path are the same thing and the solution overlay is not choosing between candidates. It also means the classic wall-following trick always works: keep one hand on the same wall and you will reach the exit, because there is no loop to walk around forever.

The algorithm leaves a signature you can see once you know it. Recursive backtracking carves as far as it can before retreating, so it produces long winding corridors and few junctions, which reads as difficult to a person and is quick for a solver. Prim's and Kruskal's algorithms on the same grid give short branches and many dead ends, a maze that looks busier and is usually easier. Difficulty here comes from corridor length rather than from the number of choices.

The seed makes a maze reproducible, which is what you want for a worksheet you will print twice or an answer key generated separately. The same seed and the same grid size always give the same maze; change either and you get an unrelated one.

SVG is the format to download for print because the walls stay crisp at any size. The 2× PNG is for a context that cannot take vector, and at small cell sizes its walls will soften where the SVG would not.