AMAZING MAIZES CORNFIELD OF GAMES GROWING.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

CAMARILLO - A larger-than-life maze carved from a four-acre cornfield will return for a second year, promising more intricate pathways to test the skills of the most avid puzzle-solver.

Plans are under way to design an Aztec-style calender for this year's Amazing Maize Maze at Las Posas and Hueneme roads - two miles of winding, mind-boggling paths through 10-foot-high stalks of corn.

``It's a work in progress,'' said Manager John Burton. ``We are developing this each year. We are looking for a six-month run with a new theme, new stuff and new application. ``

The maze debuted last July as the West Coast's first attraction to combine agriculture and entertainment.

Co-owner Pacific Earth Resources plans to extend this year's playing season by planting two mazes, adding night-time and holiday-themed games and expanding the educational curriculum for schoolchildren and team-building curriculum for executives.

Also this year's maze will be more theatrical, with characters in costumes reflecting the Aztec theme.

Players this year also will see an increase in ticket prices - from $8 to $10 for adults and from $5 to $6 for children.

Beth Rogers, owner of Pacific Earth Resources, picked the Aztec calendar because it reflected the Mexican influence in California and because of the new millennium.

The first maze will be planted in late March and debut June 8. The maze then will go into a brief hiatus in September so workers can set up the second maze, which should run to the first of the year. Both mazes will have the same theme but different twists and turns.

Last year's maze of a California Mission ran for 10 weeks until it was closed because of high winds and dry weather.

More than 50,000 visitors spent anywhere from 30 minutes to 2-1/2 hours testing their wits by making it through the labyrinth.

One family - by its own choosing - spent a whopping six hours and 38 minutes among the more than 100,000 stalks, said Burton who helped a dozen others cut the maze in three days.

Burton hopes this year's maze will attract 150,000 people who will test their skills reading clues and answering ``kernels of knowledge.''.

``There is an intrinsic, team-building, cooperative element to it,'' Burton said of the game. ``There aren't many things out there where a family can work as a team. The maze relies on people working in a team.''

This year's players will be treated to four games: the two separate mazes, a moonlight maze in October, where visitors play in the dark with flashlights and a Christmas maze with lights and ornaments, he said.

``It's wonderful getting lost in all that corn because you kind of lose yourself in that different kind of experience,'' said Nancy Mayerson, spokeswoman for co-owner, The Amazing Maize Maze Co.