How to beat a Survivor table maze

In South Pacific (season 23), Ozzy and Cochran faced off in a duel at Redemption Island. Each had to snag a bag with a grappling hook. Then they had to roll a ball through a hanging labyrinth to a net in the center. If the ball fell in a hole, it went back to the start.

Ozzy built a big lead on the maze. Then he lost his ball at the last hole. Cochran had been tilting his table hard to catch up, and soon both balls were at the center ring. Ozzy rolled his in. Cochran tried to flip his ball into the middle, and it rolled back out. Ozzy won.

Both players were fast. The duel was decided at the center, in the last few moves. Speed gets you close, and control gets you in. That’s what this guide teaches.

We found 38 US episodes with a table maze, from 2004 to 2026.

How a table maze works

A table maze is a flat wooden board on a pivot. You tilt it, and the ball rolls downhill. Rails stop the ball. Holes catch it.

On the show, players tilt the board in many ways. In South Pacific, they pulled handles. In Survivor 50, three players steered with three ropes tied to one ring. In Kaôh Rōng (season 32), teams tilted the table with their own body weight.

There are three main kinds of board:

The labyrinth. Rails make a maze, and trap holes sit along the way. You roll one ball to a cup or a net. A dropped ball goes back to the start.
The paddle. A long board with holes at the far end. You land one ball in each hole. Philippines (season 25) and San Juan del Sur (season 29) used six holes. Edge of Extinction (season 38) used a dish with five dimples.
The snake. A long track that winds back and forth, with a goal at the end.

Our game has all three. The method below works on each one.

Step 1: Trace the way back from the cup

Before you tilt anything, find the whole path with your eyes. A good way is to start at the cup and work back to the ball. Once the ball is moving, you won’t have time to look.

In our mazes, most dead ends hold a trap. One wrong turn can cost you the whole run.

Find the way from the cup back to the ball first. Then roll it.

Step 2: Roll one straight run at a time

Break the path into straight runs, corner to corner. Roll the ball to the next corner and stop it there. Only then tilt toward the next run.

It feels slow. It’s faster than starting over.

Step 3: Tilt back to stop

A level board does not stop a rolling ball. It only stops making it go faster. To stop, you have to tilt the other way.

We measured it in our game. Tilt all the way for one second, and the ball rolls a little over one square. Now level the board. The ball keeps going for about six more squares. If you tilt all the way back instead, it stops in under two.

That’s why a hole just past a corner is so dangerous. A ball that comes in too fast runs past the turn and drops into it.

Roll right to the corner, then up to the cup. Stop on the corner before you turn.

Step 4: Lean on the far wall

Sometimes the holes sit along one side of a straight run. Don’t try to roll down the middle. Tilt a little toward the wall on the other side, so the ball hugs it. The wall becomes a rail that guides you past the holes.

Holes line the top of this run. Keep the ball against the bottom rail all the way to the cup.

Step 5: Go slow at the end

Ozzy lost his ball at the last hole. Cochran’s last flip rolled back out. When you are close, use small tilts and let the ball come to you.

What the winners did

Kept going after a drop. In South Pacific, Ozzy dropped his ball at the last hole and still won. A drop costs time. It doesn’t have to cost the race.
Learned the board early. In David vs. Goliath (season 37), Alec got through the obstacle course fast. That gave him time to get the feel of the snake board, and he won immunity.
Talked clearly. In the blindfolded versions, a caller guides players who can’t see. Gabby’s directions got Tiva through first in David vs. Goliath.
Landed the last ball. In Game Changers (season 34), the race came down to the final ball. Varner dropped Nuku’s. Andrea landed Tavua’s for the win.
Stuck with the last ball. In Edge of Extinction, Rick had an edge that cut his dimples from five to four. He still had trouble landing his last ball. He kept at it, landed it, and won immunity.

If you’re the caller

In some versions, the players on the board are blindfolded and a caller guides them. These tips are our own advice, not rules from the show.

Agree on what “left” and “right” mean before you start. Use the caller’s view or the players’, not both.
Call one straight run at a time, and say “stop” before each corner.
When the ball is close to the goal, call smaller moves.

A practice plan

Start in Practice mode on a new random maze. Press “Show the way” if you get lost. After each drop, the game tells you which mistake it was.
Move to Challenge mode. Learn the labyrinth, then the snake, then the paddle.
Play the Daily. Everyone gets the same maze, and only your first finish counts.
On the results screen, compare your time with our test bot. It stops on every corner, just like this guide says. Beating it means you are rolling faster and still stopping in time.

Two surprising facts

A heavy ball does not roll faster. A ball rolling down a slope speeds up the same way whatever it weighs or however big it is. Only its shape and the tilt matter. For a solid ball, the speed-up is 5/7 of what it would be with no friction at all. So the cannonballs in Cook Islands (season 13) and the billiard balls in Millennials vs. Gen X (season 33) would pick up speed at the same rate on the same tilt.

A very fast ball can skip right over a hole, because a ball needs a moment over the hole to fall in. Our game works the same way. That’s not a plan, though. A ball that fast will hit the next wall hard and bounce somewhere you didn’t choose.

Play the table maze