Maze

A maze level is a type of level found in the floors before the Castle and in Gehennom. As the name states, it is set up like a maze, with narrow passages and dead-ends. There are zero, one, or two Minotaurs, H, generated on each maze level.

Strategy

Some form of magic mapping is a good idea when in a maze. Maze walls are diggable, so a wand of digging or pick-axe can be handy to navigate and to make a clearer path between the stairs.

Note that traps in a maze are always generated in specific spots in a "roster-like" pattern. Suppose your maze looks like this in the top left corner:

-----------------
|           |   
| --- ----- | ---
|   |   |   |   |
|-- |-- | ----- |
|   |   |       |
| --- ----- ----|

then traps can only be generated on the spots marked ^ below:

-----------------
|^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^|^ ^
| --- ----- | ---
|^ ^|^ ^|^ ^|^ ^|
|-- |-- | ----- |
|^ ^|^ ^|^ ^ ^ ^|
| --- ----- ----|

When you realise this, it is easy to see why it is important to walk diagonally whenever possible:

-----------------
| .,. .,.,. | .,.
|.---.-----.|.---
| . |   | . | . |
|--.|-- |.-----.|
| . |   | . .,. |
|.--- -----.----|

If you avoid dead ends and the corners of passages as much as possible (follow the dots and comma's), the chance of you hitting a trap is reduced significantly (only the spots marked with a comma are really potential trap spots; the dots are safe).

History

"Maze"-type levels appeared as far back as Rogue, although not in any set location.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, mimics found on a maze level are more likely to mimic a statue than a mimic found elsewhere in the dungeon.