Joe Hoeddinghaus: Graham has maze game: Graham Hospital is offering a solid challenge to the Rubik’s Cube craze. It’s the Graham Maze. It’s a new game sure to challenge the smartest and complicated enough to throw the most determined. The game is sure to frustrate the weak of heart and just enough to keep every player going until the end. The player must make full use of all senses. The game goes something like this: The player enters the hospital and tries to follow usual paths to desired goals. Once the player is headed safely for his or her goal, the player must try to continue along long-established habits. Now remember, it’s a game. Assume if everything was the same now as it has been it wouldn’t be much of a game. So be cautious. Look for pitfalls. Expect the unexpected. Take advantage of every possible clue. Look for direction signs. Any player who has spent any time in Graham Hospital in the past 10 years already knows how easy it is to get confused for a moment. Infrequent visitors have come to expect that and to rely heavily on direction signs. Obviously, Graham has spiced up things lately. The hospital is having the central portion of the facility demolished so that the ultimate in modern medical facilities can be constructed. This updating of the physical character of the hospital inspired the new game. A player does not have to consent to be a participant, such as a patient must sign a consent form before surgery. A player can be anyone, including someone who just wants to go from the north to the south end of the second floor. Or a player can be someone who just wants to go to the cafeteria for a meal. There are all combinations of ways to play the Graham maze. The game will vary from player to player. Some will wind up in a fire escape. (Actually, fire escapes offer excellent passageways once you learn which ones to use). Players can find using traditional landmarks and direction signs particularly helpful—once you passed by such spots three times. Most players ignore such help. After 30 minutes of playing, traveling up and down, back and forth, without reaching the desired destination, a player can get frustrated. When the game stops being fun, a player can always take one of several actions. The best is to look for one of the game’s proprietors. They are dressed in all white, blue, green or pink. They’re all great. Take it from a player who has had opportunities to meet many of them. None will give a player even a hint of being stupid. It’s almost as if they know a player cannot succeed through the maze without their help. The people of Graham are great. They’ll almost take a player by the hand—they’ll go a mile out of their way to help a player reach their destination. No player gets lost, at least not for long. And it’s worth playing the game just to meet understanding strangers.
