With the exciting news of the Eastern Zone expansion pack coming out soon for the awesome Crystal Maze board game, we thought this would be a great opportunity to take a look back at some official Crystal Maze merchandise that has been released throughout the years.
Most of you will already have the fantastic ‘The Crystal Maze Challenge’ by Neale Simpson, Chris Lore & the team. This 224-page book not only contains ‘play at home’ games & puzzles, but also has some superb on-set pictures and informative interviews with presenters & crew, talking about the maze from its premiere in 1990 right up to the modern version we all know & love today. The Crystal Maze Challenge by Headline is, by far, the biggest & thickest book there has ever been about the show. If you haven’t got a copy yet, we truly recommend it.
This was then followed by the very heavily packed Crystal Maze Board Game by Rascals. Again, this contains puzzles to test the whole family with some of the game pieces double-sided for even more ‘Maze Madness’ with the main game board itself having the 4 zones on one side & the Crystal Dome on the reverse. (Soon to have the Eastern Zone expansion pieces to place over any zone you desire - or play it as a stand-alone game).
But now, let us travel back in time to see what other Crystal Maze merchandise was out there on the shelves. There’s been a number of puzzle books in the past. The majority of which being written by Peter Arnold & Gill Brown. One from 1990 being re-released in 1992 with a different cover. These were standard page by page puzzles that you could dip in & out of at your own leisure.
A later release in 1991 took the reader on a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ type journey, where giving certain answers took you to different pages of the book. (This written by Dave Morris & Jamie Thomson). The ‘Crystal Maze Challenge’ book came out in 92 & featured a pull-out game board and pieces in the center spread, as well as the usual puzzles & tasks to play at home. This book also featured many behind the scenes facts on the maze itself and was accompanied by some amazing photos of the zones and games within. The piece de resistance of this book, however, was a competition inside to win a day on the Crystal Maze set and meet Richard O’Brien himself! (Did any of you reading this win it?)
Then came a totally different style of book in 93/94 - ‘The Crystal Maze Mystery’. These were a comic strip style adventure, where you followed a team of children helping Richard O’Brien through various scenarios & solving puzzles to find the elusive crystals. (Again by Peter Arnold with illustrations by Ben Cort, Mick Reid & Steve Cox).
The final books to be released were in 94/95, with ‘The Crystal Maze Puzzle Books’. These, again, were page by page puzzles, but this time you were escorting Ed Tudor Pole through the various tricky challenges. Their front covers featured series 5 & 6 Christmas Special games (and two of my games appeared on the 2nd puzzle book cover).
There was also the usual in-store advertising material for the books too, including large and small book standees and posters.
In 1992 ‘GRANDSTAND’ released a hand-held electronic game with LCD display. This was a battery-operated handset in which the player had to guide a jumpsuit-wearing contestant through ever-moving Aztec columns - getting faster & faster with each level. The packaging contained some rarely seen close up details of Medieval, Aztec & Future.
1993 saw the release of ‘SHERSTONS’ Crystal Maze computer game for the Acorn 32 bit series. This was a set of 3 floppy discs that gained you entry into the computer world of The Crystal Maze. It took the player(s) round Aztec, Medieval, Future & Ocean - even having a cameo appearance by Mumsey. The games were a mixture of ones seen in the show and generic parlour puzzles such as ‘Pairs’, slide puzzles & ‘find the objects’. You could pick up to 6 players from the on-screen characters where each had their own individual ‘talents’. The background sounds were quite good in each zone, not to mention the thumping theme tune as you collected the gold and silver tokens in the end challenge of the Dome!
EDITORS NOTE: I recently reviewed the game, honestly, here
On-Pack promotions were also popular back in the day. In 1991 & 93 Sugar Puffs ran 2 different series of in-pack pocket puzzle games, where each promotional box contained 1 of 4 different puzzles to build at home. Series 1 included an ‘Industrial Zone’ game, whereas series 2 replaced it with ‘Ocean Zone’ puzzle. Different size boxes had various ‘Maze Facts’ down one side & on the other side, an offer to collect tokens and send off for CM jewellery. This promo was also accompanied by TV adverts for each series.
The chewy sweets ‘Fruit-Tella’ also did an on-pack promotion in 1995 where the multi-packs contained a small booklet with more puzzles inside plus a chance to win a holiday in Mexico or runner-up prizes of ‘Juicy Zone’ t-shirts. This involved each booklet having a crystal logo inside which revealed underneath if you were an instant winner or not. There was also an on-pack promotion with ‘ELASTOPLAST’ too. Which involved scratchcards inside each box giving you the chance to win TCM books or a trip to the maze studios to watch an episode being filmed.
Then, of course, there was the original CM board game in 1993. Made by MB Games, it came with the usual ‘Zone board’ and a series of plastic puzzle games and card pieces, that all had to be completed before the sand timer ran out. There was a good mixture of Physical, Mental, Mystery and Skill games - with the ultimate challenge of shaking as many gold & silver tokens out of the plastic dome at the end. I personally think the artwork on the box lid is truly amazing & captures the spirit of the show entirely. This game was reused in France as the game for "Les Mondes Fantastiques", a children's show broadcast in France inspired by TCM. However, one of the most common Crystal Maze sights were the SWP pub machines. There were quite a few different versions of these through the years - covering most eras of The Crystal Maze show. They originally came as purely CM branded machines with the show’s logo stuck on the sides but nowadays they crop up on-screen as part of multiple puzzle/gambling game machines.
Finally in 1994 ‘Wienerworld’ released ‘The Best of The Crystal Maze’ VHS. It ran for 152 minutes approx and contained select episodes from series 4 and the children’s Christmas specials from series 3 & 4. A great opportunity at the time to watch our favourite show as and when we pleased. Hopefully one day in the future we’ll see The Crystal Maze on DVD
Phil can be found on Twitter @PhilNew98167545
(Editor: Yes, the publisher really was called Wienerworld)
On-Pack promotions were also popular back in the day. In 1991 & 93 Sugar Puffs ran 2 different series of in-pack pocket puzzle games, where each promotional box contained 1 of 4 different puzzles to build at home. Series 1 included an ‘Industrial Zone’ game, whereas series 2 replaced it with ‘Ocean Zone’ puzzle. Different size boxes had various ‘Maze Facts’ down one side & on the other side, an offer to collect tokens and send off for CM jewellery. This promo was also accompanied by TV adverts for each series.
The chewy sweets ‘Fruit-Tella’ also did an on-pack promotion in 1995 where the multi-packs contained a small booklet with more puzzles inside plus a chance to win a holiday in Mexico or runner-up prizes of ‘Juicy Zone’ t-shirts. This involved each booklet having a crystal logo inside which revealed underneath if you were an instant winner or not. There was also an on-pack promotion with ‘ELASTOPLAST’ too. Which involved scratchcards inside each box giving you the chance to win TCM books or a trip to the maze studios to watch an episode being filmed.
Then, of course, there was the original CM board game in 1993. Made by MB Games, it came with the usual ‘Zone board’ and a series of plastic puzzle games and card pieces, that all had to be completed before the sand timer ran out. There was a good mixture of Physical, Mental, Mystery and Skill games - with the ultimate challenge of shaking as many gold & silver tokens out of the plastic dome at the end. I personally think the artwork on the box lid is truly amazing & captures the spirit of the show entirely. This game was reused in France as the game for "Les Mondes Fantastiques", a children's show broadcast in France inspired by TCM. However, one of the most common Crystal Maze sights were the SWP pub machines. There were quite a few different versions of these through the years - covering most eras of The Crystal Maze show. They originally came as purely CM branded machines with the show’s logo stuck on the sides but nowadays they crop up on-screen as part of multiple puzzle/gambling game machines.
Finally in 1994 ‘Wienerworld’ released ‘The Best of The Crystal Maze’ VHS. It ran for 152 minutes approx and contained select episodes from series 4 and the children’s Christmas specials from series 3 & 4. A great opportunity at the time to watch our favourite show as and when we pleased. Hopefully one day in the future we’ll see The Crystal Maze on DVD
Phil can be found on Twitter @PhilNew98167545
(Editor: Yes, the publisher really was called Wienerworld)
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