The Crystal Maze, a prime candidate for a Virtual Reality (VR) Game

Yes, this is a virtual graphic and not the real thing!

Since The Crystal Maze aired back in the 90's, we've seen the handheld game, PC DOS Acorn CD-ROM game in 1993, the Pub Quiz Machine Skills with Prizes (SWP) games and the 2008 Dynamo Crystal Maze Phone App game. We have even heard fictional fan made versions on YouTube of the Maze theme in nostalgic Sega Megadrive/Genesis 16-bit formats. The best quality game so far was the JPM Crystal Maze Machine, seen below in this YouTube Clip:

Now, in 2019 we are in an era of VR (Virtual Reality) gaming experiences. You can fly planes, walk around worlds, ride rollercoasters. The choices of realistic VR experiences today are off the scale. The definition of Virtual Reality (VR) is: "It implies a complete immersion experience that shuts out the Physical World".  Now isn't that what Crystal Maze did for us originally back in the 90's? It provided us with the illusion that we were escaping to this real life fantasy world of time zones.

When the Nintendo Wii came out, I thought to myself: "This gaming console where you have to really move and wave your arms about stupidly with the remote to bowl, golf and play tennis would be perfect for a Crystal Maze Nintendo Wii game wouldn't it?". Of course that never happened. Can you imagine the endless hours of family fun as you play a virtual Aztec game at home to win a Crystal?  A game like Gag the Gods for example.

Now, even better there are Virtual Reality headsets widely available and affordable, such as the Occulus Rift and Playstation VR headset. Anything is possible these days pretty much. I know there is the real life Crystal Maze Live Experience, but how cool would it be to walk around and explore virtually inside the original massive 1990's Crystal Maze hangar set and play all the old games, without spending £50 odd pounds a ticket?  We would be able to get wet in Ocean Zone as well, whilst staying dry.

The closest I have seen to a Virtual Reality Crystal Maze game thus far, is this truly fantastic modification by a Doom player. See clip below. He shows us all around the sets and plays some games. It's like Goldeneye meets Crystal Maze!

The Crystal Maze was built for TV, it has evolved into a Live Experience. But it's not over yet. It is also a clearly perfect and incredible choice to evolve into a VR game. I know the Producer of the new series told us that producing a brand new Crystal Maze App would cost hundreds of thousands, in terms of development, marketing, updates etc. So let's hope someone is out there, reading this who can turn our dream into a Virtual Reality to play at home. Nothing is impossible. There will be hoops like licencing, development, game updates etc. But it would be absolutely stunning and hugely popular, with massive potential. Here is another fan made effort of a Maze VR game:

Ironically enough, Richard O'Brien gave out a random Virtual Reality Prize at the Dome round in the TV series. I dread to imagine how bad that was. I remember how he said "Virtual Reality" in a funny American accent.

Massive thanks to Jacob of Jaywalks Blog, for providing us with his incredible virtual mock ups of the Crystal Dome. He has also started work on recreating some of Futuristic, but he still has a long way to go. His blog can be found here. Now can somebody please make this VR project happen? The hugely popular show Crystal Maze was built for escapism, and so was VR. Combined with nostalgia as well, and they are a match made in heaven.