For Parents

Quiet screen time, actually.

No ads, no chat, no third-party trackers. Just hand-drawn mazes that teach the 50 states, one drawn line at a time.

A quiet kind of focus.

Your child picks a state, opens it, and starts drawing. The maze is hand-drawn, threaded through the shape of that state, so finding the path is like exploring a place rather than solving a grid.

As they draw, things start to happen. A landmark appears with a short fact about that place. A state symbol gets uncovered. A "did you know?" pops up about the state's geography or history. Trivia comes at the end, and a passport-style stamp lands in their Travel Log when they finish.

What's not happening: no timer counting down, no streak guilting them back in, no leaderboard comparing them to other kids, no ads breaking the flow. The whole experience is built around the quiet absorption of figuring something out.

What’s not in the app.

The app is built around what's worth doing, not what's profitable to add.

  • No ads. No banner ads, no video ads, no "watch this to continue."

  • No third-party trackers. No analytics SDKs from advertising networks. No data leaving the app for marketing purposes.

  • No chat, no messaging, no social features. Your kid can't be contacted by strangers through this app, because there's no way to message anyone at all.

  • No premium currency or loot mechanics. No coins to buy, no spinning wheels, no randomized rewards designed to keep them playing.

  • No links out to the open web. Gameplay stays inside the app. No surprise YouTube videos, no browser handoffs.

  • No data collection beyond what Apple requires for App Store distribution. Crash reports and basic install metrics only. No personal information, no behavioral profiles.

What they'll learn:

  • All 50 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico: shape, location, capital, nickname, population, area, statehood date

  • State symbols: flag, seal, bird, flower, tree, and dozens of less-expected ones (mythical creatures, fossils, sports, foods, mottos)

  • U.S. landmarks with real history: the Alamo, Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the Golden Gate, Harpers Ferry, Pearl Harbor, and 250+ more, each with kid-friendly facts attached

  • Geographic features: rivers, mountain ranges, ports, deserts, climates

  • The Lewis & Clark Expedition: six stages of real history, real waypoints, real Native nations the Corps met along the way, told from primary-source journal entries

  • Hundreds of "Did You Know" facts: short, emoji-tagged, written for early readers

What they'll practice:

  • Fine motor control: drawing inside narrow corridors with a finger or Apple Pencil

  • Spatial reasoning: reading a path, planning ahead, recognizing dead ends

  • Reading comprehension: every landmark, symbol, and trivia question is a short reading exercise

  • Persistence: the app gently teaches that backing up and trying again is part of the work

  • Memory recall: end-of-maze trivia tests what they noticed while drawing

Who it’s for.

Designed for ages 6 and up. Younger kids can play with a parent or older sibling helping them follow the path. Older kids and adults will find the harder mazes and Challenge Mode genuinely satisfying — this isn't a toddler app dressed up to look more mature.

Apple Pencil recommended. The app is designed around the precision and feel of drawing with an Apple Pencil, and it's where the experience shines. The Apple Pencil Pro adds a subtle haptic pulse when you discover a landmark; a small, satisfying detail that only that hardware can do. Finger drawing is also available for non-Apple Pencil users.

Reading isn't required to play, but it helps. Trivia questions, landmark facts, and "Did You Know" snippets are written for early readers — short sentences, plain language, no jargon. A parent reading along works well for kids who aren't reading yet.

What it costs.

Free Version:

Five states. The Empire Coast region: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

Plus the first stage of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Try the app fully, no time limit, no nagging to upgrade.

$4.99 one-time unlock:

Everything else.

All 50 states. Plus D.C. and Puerto Rico. All six stages of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Every landmark, every state symbol, every piece of trivia.

No subscription. No recurring charges. One purchase, yours forever.

Future Adventures will release as optional add-ons. The states themselves stay unlocked.

Who made it.

United Mazes of America is an independent, one-person project. Every maze in the app and the book was drawn by hand by Ben Uelk, an indie maze artist who has been drawing mazes since the mid-2000s.

The book funded on Kickstarter in 2024 with 45 backers. The iPad app picks up where the book left off, designed by the same person who drew it all.