The Fastest Maze-Solving Competition on Earth
20 million views⬩ #1 viewed Veritasium video in 2023
It all began when I stumbled across grainy YouTube videos of the Micromouse competition one evening. Within 30 seconds of watching a robot mouse dash across a giant maze to wild cheers, I was hooked.
I knew I wanted to make this video, but the team took convincing — after all, “I want cover a trivial competition where tiny little robot mice run tiny little mazes” is not a compelling opening. But there’s nothing as human as the mix of fun insignificance with deep devotion. Yes, the contest means nothing to the rest of the world. Yes, the trophies are made of plastic. And still, people’s hands shake from nerves when they place their mice in the maze…
I leaned into this earnest, playful spirit in the video, striking a new tone for the channel. The result: Micromouse was our #1 video of 2023. As of 2024, it’s sitting at 18 million views and over 99% likes.
This video was made by an a-maze-ing team: thanks to Tom Lum, Trenton Oliver, Ivy Tello, Yusaku Kanagawa, and Derek Muller.
THE WORK
When I began work on the video, the biggest race of the year was starting in Japan in only two weeks. I sent a flood of inquiries, coordinated with organizers, found a local shooter, and built a remote filming/interviewing plan. Weeks later, the team flew to Orlando to film a race ourselves.
While reviewing all the footage, I saw Japan had a heated fight for 1st & 2nd place, making for a great storyline. I decided to design the video to take us through Micromouse as if we were there on competition day.
The search algorithms of Micromouse are well-suited to video. My animator and I designed a base maze, then demonstrated paths generated by different search algorithms in the maze, offering a one-to-one comparison of their differences.
We designed this visual explanation so even a casual viewer with no computer science knowledge could grasp how they work. In the Flood Fill explainer, we started with a simple example, built up to a mathematical model, then ended with an analogy.
My storyboard here is for the friction explainer in the video (17:50-18:45). Instead of animating the scene from scratch, my editor and I designed motion graphics to go over existing racecar b-roll.
Not only did this choice save time, but drawing the free body diagrams over real footage helps situate the physics concept (friction forces and banked turns) in the real world.
I combed through old Micromouse videos for weeks alongside my writer and editor. Our searching paid off, with enough archival footage to build a thrilling sizzle (0:00-0:40), provide examples for all design principles in the video, and create a fun disco sequence of the contest through the ages (2:40-3:15). We also found a long-lost Micromouse theme song, which made for my favorite ending to a Veritasium video ever.