Pierre the Maze Detective: The Search for the Stolen Stone by Hiro Kamigaki and IC4De\ESIGNPierre the Maze Detective has a new case. Mr X has stolen the Maze Stone, which has the power to turn the whole of Opera City into a maze. Can you help Pierre and his friend Carmen find their way through the mazes – and stop Mr X before it's too late?
Who hasn't grown up with Where is Waldo? I spend hours and hours just searching for that guy. Well in Japan they now have something different. Pierre the Maze Detective. As with Horrorgami, an arts and crafts book that MidasPR send me for review and which is also published by Laurence King publishing, Pierre the Maze Detective isn't a book that I would normally review, since I normally stick to fiction. But when I am confronted with such a book I cannot say no. I love to puzzle and when you like it as much as I do Pierre the Maze Detective is right up your alley.
Now besides being a puzzle book, the name Maze Detective should already say enough, there is a definite storyline that you follow across all of the 34 pages and 15 mazes that you have to figure out. Meet Pierre the Maze Detective, a short little man with a red coat and a magnifying glass ready at hand. One day he is casually reading a book and sipping some tea, but as you know bad guys never rest. One of those bad guys, Mr. X has gotten hold of a powerful artifact known as the Maze Stone which turn everything into a Maze. Luckily Pierre is a very good detective and sets out to retrieve the Maze Stone from Mr. X.
This adventure takes Pierre through many different scenarios starting with the crime scene the museum followed by the busy street and plaza, even a chase through the air and water and lets not forget the train tracks and treehouses! Every new scenario is presented with a short introduction of what Pierre has to do and what Mr. X is up to. Added to each of the scenarios are also extra objectives to find objects or other persons, giving it that extra challenge. This also adds much more difficulty to the scenarios as you first are trying to figure out the correct way, which becomes increasingly difficult, as well as trying to find all the different items, which also become much more abundant.
I really have to say that Pierre the Maze Detective is definitely a very cool and well worked concept. Everyone can and will enjoy this book. I can already see my kids, they will be occupied with this books for hours if not weeks. When I was doing the scenarios I got very competitive, I kept the score and when I lent the book friends I kept check to what they could and couldn't find, emphasis on the latter part of course!
I do have to give credits to the designers Kiro Kamigaki and IC4DESIGN for the high quality of and diversity of the mazes that they managed to create, they are beautiful. I mentioned that I loved to do Where is Waldo but there was always that moment of when I couldn't find him. I got frustrated with it, Just when you thought you had him, the pattern of his sweater was just a bit off. THey are more playful and definitely more approachable, Even if you just want to do one, you end up doing the whole book. It was just neat to follow the trail with your finger. You can do it in your mind, but it just won't be the same.
Pierre the Maze Detective is just amazing. I loved the concept from the start. This book will keep everyone from all ages occupied for ages. It's just a whole lot of fun to do. Get your copy asasp, and make a family challenge. Make sure you shield the solutions at the end though!
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