In New Zealand that board game is known as Cluedo. Another tidbit: Where’s Waldo is Where’s Wally in NZ.
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I believe this is true in all English speaking countries that aren’t the USA
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Weird. Our IKEA has a cut through rgh at the top of the escalator that takes you right to the end of the maze and the stairway down.
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Why would customers go up the escalator simply to go back down the stairs to the exit?
no, it takes you to the lower level where you can actually get the stuff you want… better than walking all the way through the maze…
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Every time I be been to ikea, I have had the feeling I’ve made a Terrible Mistake and wanted to leave immediately, so it suits me.
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See, this is why I love IKEA. If you know the rules of engagement, you can get in, follow your shopping list, and get out. My personal record is two tall bookshelves selected, retrieved, paid for, and arranged for delivery in under 30 minutes. My kind of furniture shopping.
Pro tip: Check things out on the web site first, make your decisions (at least down to a short list), and check inventory after the store had closed for the night. Then go first thing in the morning, enjoy the cheap breakfast, and then finish up quickly, following your list.
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But then why not just go left and walk through the cashier area instead? It’s the up-and-down aspect that seems weird.
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It’s a 1-hour drive each way for us. No way we’re going in for 30 minutes…we want to enjoy the entire ride if we’re going to spend that much time getting there!
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Because the cashier area is to the left at the New Haven store, duh. 
Well, plus that only is efficient if you only want the warehouse stuff (which, by the way has Big Ass Fans brand fans on the ceiling, which my kids always find funny – okay, I do too). If you want, say, frames or plates or lamps, it might not be more efficient to go against the flow.
OK, let me see if I get this: this particular shortcut takes you to the cafe/stairs so that you can either eat first or do the entire bottom floor without having to wander through the showrooms first.
Have I got it now?
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Yes, that is correct.
Oh, but wait… we were talking about bypassing the bottom floor maze, we’re we… d’oh! no wonders I am not making sense 
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The entrance doesn’t typically have a way directly into the start of the “marketplace” from ground level. It’s literally on the other end of the store from the cashiers. The marketplace entrance is literally on the other end of the maze from the entrance. So you are encouraged to go up, stroll the room layouts, examine the fake books, have lunch, and then stroll into the marketplace.
However, if you know your way around you can take a shortcut or two and jump to the marketplace. I know this sounds odd, but knowing the New Haven one, the marketplace stairs are adjacent to the escalator, so unless you are a shopping cart or an employee with a badge to get through the door, you have to go up to go down.
It’s not weird, it’s trying to put you on a track and encourage you to loiter like any other store. You think it’s coincidence that the bread is always on the other end of things from the milk which is always as far away from the checkout as it can be?
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I thought that was because grocery store owners have a sadistic side and enjoy seeing chaos ensue whenever a storm or other natural disaster is predicted.
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Ah, the hilarious plan of moving something in the hope that you’ll wander down new aisles and buy stuff you weren’t planning to, instead of, say, giving up and leaving.
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Makes IKEA almost as intriguing as Disneyland!
Does IKEA interfere with the natural progression of copyright law? That’s kind of why Disney is not really on my warm fuzzy want to patronize list.
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I would guess if they had something up for copyright expiration, they would.
IKEA-philes might enjoy reading this… http://www.amazon.com/Horrorstor-A-Novel-Grady-Hendrix/dp/1594745269
My understanding is that most large stores have a system of codes, or possibly more than one. Some are terse, like the IKEA examples given. Others are more verbose and have secret meanings. I was told that in one famous London store, the phrase “All area managers please go to see their department heads” was a coded warning that there was a credible bomb threat against the store. Other apparently anodyne phrases may be used to alert security to a robbery in process, and so on.
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