For rule number 3: Location: Dead End

Defined as "an end of a road or passage from which no exit is possible." The player must go there.

Does it still count if the player finds a way past the dead end? Or, should the player be at a dead end where there literally is no exit possible forever?

As long as it is a dead end at some point, it qualifies. It doesn’t have to be a dead end forever. Plus, people can go backwards from a dead end to the entrance of it to escape.