The Maze

Welcome to "The Maze," a green tangle of hedges swarming with hundreds of tiny characters, each caught up in their own little drama. This scene belongs to the beloved "Where's Wally" series, dreamed up by British illustrator Martin Handford at the end of the 1980s. The game is delightfully simple: hidden somewhere in this leafy chaos is Wally himself, easy to spot in theory with his red and white striped shirt, matching hat, and round glasses, but tricky to find among the crowds. Half the joy is the hunt, and the other half is everything you discover along the way.

Handford drew every figure by hand, and his fondness for small jokes shows up in every corner. Wanderers hit dead ends, objects go flying over the hedge walls, and mini disasters unfold all across the maze. Each illustration took him as long as eight weeks to complete, which explains why there is always something new to catch your eye no matter how many times you scan the page. The busier it looks, the more it rewards a patient search.

Rather than art meant to be admired from a distance, these scenes were made to be pored over, laughed at, and puzzled through. Kids and grown-ups have spent countless hours leaning close, hunting for that stripey little man. It is more of a game than a masterpiece, and that is exactly the point.