Make an endless maze-puzzle generator from a puzzle your child loves with Gemini

Posted: Jun 5, 2026 by paolovictor (Hacker News)
Last checked: Oct 18, 2026
Method:: How we verify

Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.

Outcome

A Hacker News commenter's daughter had finished every printable version of a favourite maths maze puzzle they could find online. The parent uploaded a picture of the puzzle to Gemini and asked for a website that generates random ones; in under a minute it produced a working generator. Gemini then added the child's ideas (more operations, larger grids), and they went on to build generators for other puzzle ideas on the spot. The commenter admits the code wasn't pretty but says it did the job.

Agent

Gemini

Prompt Recreated prompt

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points.

Goal: Make a simple web page that generates new printable puzzles like the one in my picture.

What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing):
- A photo of the puzzle my child likes
- My child's age and the maths they're working on
- Any changes my child wants (bigger grid, harder sums)

Rules:
- Copy the puzzle's rules and layout faithfully before changing anything.
- Make each new puzzle printable on one page, with an answer key on a separate page.
- Add simple controls for difficulty (grid size, operations).
- Check that every generated puzzle actually has a solution.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A single web page I can open in my browser, plus a short note on how to change the difficulty.

You'll know it worked when: my child gets a fresh, solvable puzzle each time I print one.

Try this in:

ChatGPT Gemini Used in source Grok

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Optional stronger version

Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.

Before you start, ask me 1–3 short questions about anything important that's missing below. Keep them quick. Then do the task, checking in with me at the key points.

Goal: Make a simple web page that generates new printable puzzles like the one in my picture.

What I can give you (ask for whatever's missing):
- A photo of the puzzle my child likes
- My child's age and the maths they're working on
- Any changes my child wants (bigger grid, harder sums)

Rules:
- Copy the puzzle's rules and layout faithfully before changing anything.
- Make each new puzzle printable on one page, with an answer key on a separate page.
- Add simple controls for difficulty (grid size, operations).
- Check that every generated puzzle actually has a solution.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- Test the generator on ten puzzles and tell me if any came out unsolvable.

Output: A single web page I can open in my browser, plus a short note on how to change the difficulty.

You'll know it worked when: my child gets a fresh, solvable puzzle each time I print one.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48419696

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