How a Funhouse Mirror Maze Works
If you ever been to a carnival, you may have wondered how a funhouse mirror maze works. The funhouse mirror maze is a very interesting attraction that uses mirrors to create visual distortions that you work through to complete the maze and find an exit.
The combination of the maze and the many different mirrors equates to a great brainteaser and a challenging good time. Funhouse mirrors can make you look very different from the way in which you are in reality, which is part of what makes them so very interesting and fun. The maze is made ever more complex because images the mirrors create are not only barriers, but also distractions that make navigating through the maze more complicated.
History of Fun House Mirrors
In order to understand how a funhouse mirror maze works it is good to have information about the history of these mirrored mazes work. The first known mirrored maze stems from the Palace of Versailles. Commissioned by King Louis XIV , the Palace of Versailles is one of the most popular buildings in France, King Louis XIV held a great affection for the city and wanted to position his entire empire in this very city.
Within in the Palace of Versailles, a hall of mirrors was constructed. This same concept was later introduced to the public after Peter Stuyvesant, the director-general of the colony New Amsterdam which later became New York, paid a visit to the Palace of Versailles to discuss land agreements with the French. Upon seeing the hall of mirrors within Versailles, Stuyvesant was amazed and decided to build his own house of mirrors in New Amsterdam. In 1651, Stuyvesant created the House of Mirrors and charged admission fees to those who wanted to enjoy the sights.
How a Funhouse Mirror Maze Works
A funhouse mirror maze can create images that are very confusing to the eyes. When you look at yourself in one of these mirrors, what you see is not the reality. You may be wondering how a funhouse mirror maze works. These mirrors are specially made. Oftentimes the mirrors produce distorted images because of the make of the glass.
By using either concave or convex curved glass, the images produced can be changed. The concave mirrors bulge inwards while the convex mirrors bulge outwards. The surface of the mirror is usually shaped like a sphere, which helps to create the distorted image.
The composition of the convex mirrors is usually much exaggerated in order to create an image a lot smaller than it really is. Thus, if you should stand in front of a convex mirror you will appear to be littler than you truly are. The concave mirrors can produce a variety of different images, depending on the distance between the object and the mirror.
In particular, the object that appears in the mirror is larger or smaller depending on how far in the distance the object is from the curvature of the mirror. For example, if you are standing very close to a concave mirror, the image reflected may appear larger than normal either in a vertical or horizontal direction. Thus, it is the composition of the mirror itself that creates the images that are found in mirror mazes.
Popular Funhouse Mirror Maze Attractions
Everyone loves to have fun navigating through a very interesting maze that is complete with mirrors that produce distorted images. It is not enough that you are already have to find your way through a winding maze. By adding mirrors that make everything look very different than reality, the funhouse mirror maze is an attraction loved by young and old alike. Many local carnivals and fairs have a funhouse of mirrors people can walk through. In Chicago, there is a Funhouse Maze at Navy Pier that many people visit and at Virginia Beach there is the Mirror Maze Funhouse kids and adults can enjoy as a side trip when in the Virginia Beach area.