Crystal Maze Live

By Jonathan Harris

In 2016, I backed a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to support a team called Little Lion Entertainment rebuild a popular 90’s TV Game Show as a live Interactive attraction in the heart of London, so that you could relive the experience that the show’s contestant’s would’ve experienced, but in real-time.

I went to the Maze to enjoy my opening night perk and was greeted by 7 other team mates, who were all Crystal Maze fans in themselves, and we were the first ever team to enter via the Industrial Zone, which corresponded to our coloured bomber jackets. Three other teams were also to enter the maze at the same time as us, all via their own allocated zone – Future being Blue, Medieval being Green and the Aztec Zone assigned Orange.

Taken to our entry point into the Maze, we watched a 90’s flashback video which highlighted popular things at the time – Tamagotchi, Supersoakers, before eventually focusing on “The Crystal Maze” and showing some highlights from the TV show, including Richard ‘O Briens introduction to an episode…

“Put out the fire and throw another log on the cat!”

“Get the slack out of the pants. Ooh! That’s not a nice thing to say!”

We then get to the scene recorded for the introduction of series 5, where Richard was writing a letter to Ed Tudor Pole…. however, instead of handing to Ed, the video goes and cuts out – and then our maze master bursts into the room in full character, channeling their 90’s vibes and the ecsentric vibes of Richard ‘O Brien – So, on my first run, I’m greeted by Tilly, who reminds me of some kind of Absoloutely Fabulous character!

So, Tilly’s role at this point is to ensure a fair balance of loss and win, and entertainment – but winning the games is very much down to us, the players! Tilly makes sure we know how to play the Crystal Maze, what our objectives are (being the Time Crystals which grant time in the end goal seen above, The Crystal Dome) and the game categories.

Tilly is also here to act as a bit of an Icebreaker, as are all the Maze Masters, and before long, we’re all laughing – I think it helped in that we were all fans of the Maze and were keen as mustard to get into the maze. One last thing before we enter the Maze and start playing games – we have to nominate a team captain, and a Vice Captain – Pedro, seen to the right of me in the photo above, was Captained, and myself brought as Vice Captain. So, with that done, and a loud cheer, we’re off into the Maze! I don’t wish to spoil the games, so i won’t be saying what we played, but what I can tell you is that the new “Lock in” handling method is well done. 

Obviously, health and safety wouldn't let folks be trapped in cells and unable to escape – (There’s this thing called “Fire” apparently) – So, what would happen is that when we move to the next zone, the prisoner would be taken off to complete a “Prison Puzzle” – They then had until the time we left the zone to complete the puzzle and leave the prison without costing the team a Crystal – However, if they failed to complete the puzzle, the team would AUTOMATICALLY forfeit a Crystal. This also handles the issue of members from other teams being left in the zone whilst other teams were about.

So, with each zone complete, the music kicks in, and we’re off the the next time zone to play more games throughout! Transitions are still made possible in the Maze, and leaving Industrial to enter Future Zone, Tilly opened a massive steam pipe cover, revealing a small crawl space – so down on our knees, we start crawling along and find we have to each choose a channel to “drop into” – once everyone is in place, we’re told to drop into the Cryogenic Pods and wait for our Maze Master to open the pod door – we’re then around the corner to climb down a ladder one at a time, and enter the main deck of Future Zone! Future to Medieval is presently is just walking through a doorway, so I can only imagine something is in the works.

Medieval to Aztec, however, we have to climb up a wall, through another small crawl space and down the steps the other side of an Aztec temple, into the Aztec zone, which is also rather hot and the floor is covered in sand! So, we’ve done 4 zones – we’ve got 12 Crystals, and 60 seconds in the Dome itself! So, we’re off to the final objective!

“TOOO THE CRYSTALLL DOOOMMMEEE!!!!!”

We then run up some hidden stairs leaving the Aztec Zone sand trailing up the said stairs, and just before we get to the exit doors, our maze master tells us to yell and cheer like we wanna scare the other teams – we burst out of the doors, to meet the Blue Team, who had obviously ended their run in the Industrial Zone. We wait on the other 2 teams to make their way back through the maze, and arrive at the dome.

It’s time for the face off. First, the maze masters commence their Crystal Counts, mainly to see which team got the most crystals (just a bit of fun) – Once that’s done, we’re briefed on the crystal dome gameplay. There are no silver tokens, and we are not to

1) Take tokens from the floor
2) Take tokens from below the knee

We’ve to start collecting on the maze masters signal OR a Green Light is shown. Blue team commence their run for tokens first, and the magic call is made. “WILL YOU START THE FANS PLEASE!” True enough, the magic of the Crystal Dome, just like in the TV show came alive – the fans whirred into action and the golden tickets started flying into the air – The dome itself had turned it’s lighting to a golden amber…… just wait… just wait and ….. GO! The dome lit up Green for just a second and the time the team had accrued from the maze itself started running down to 0, whilst white lights pulsed and flashed, the legendary “Forcefield” played over the loudspeakers in the Bar Area, and we cheered them on from outside the dome. The tokens were all gathering in the receptacle and quite surprisingly, at a good rate! So, of course, the team are busy shoving tokens into the box as the last seconds drip out, the music stops and the dome is bathed in Red Light. Their time was up. The red light faded back to the calm, dormant white of the dome and the fans had powered down. The doors opened and we applauded the team to come out.

Once the tokens had been taken over to a weighing device which allowed them to make a very quick and accurate count, the box was replaced into the holdster and our turn in the dome was next. I couldn’t beleive this. I was about to actually enter the crystal dome! I walked up the steps, through the doorway and held onto the rail – and once we were all in, the door was shut. I’m looking at my team mates with the excitedness of a 10 year old… It was time…..

“WILL YOU START THE FANS PLEASE!”

So, being on the inside this time, the fans kicked in and the amber lighting took effect – we just waited for the green light to show and get going…. the fans kick in with a lot of noise, and whilst you’re aware of the air stream, it’s not enough to make you want to keep your mouth closed. We had 60 seconds in the dome, Forcefield is playing, I’m catching tokens, and trying to reach desperately for the deposit box – part of the trick to the dome is letting the tokens find you, rather than trying to the catch the tokens. Another couple, one flies into my face – I’ll have that! We can see our Maze Master pleading with us outside the dome, more tokens! more tokens! In the end, our time comes to a halt and the dome bathes us in Red Light as the fans come to a halt.

It was done. I had completed a childhood dream. I had run the Crystal Maze. I’d had the same experience as one of the contestants on the TV Show – whilst I had missed out on the Cyberdrome Crystal Maze, I think what I’ve experienced is far more worth the wait than to be guided around by a computer and play some poorly maintained arcade games and computer games. We had been running from Cell to Cell, picking up physical, tangible Crystals, and a completely 90’s eccentric bonkers Maze Master character. The Maze Masters are as much fans of the show as we, the players were. This was worth every penny of the £100 perk I had pledged for, and I would be one of the first few to experience The Crystal Maze – LIVE, in the time it would be running.

So, whilst those thoughts ran through my head, we cheered on the remaining two teams who went through the same sequence and completed their runs. Sadly, we had rolled home in 3rd position so we had not won this particular face off, but with a score around 200 points, who the hell cared? We had all been there for some fun – The Maze Masters completed their final bits of acting and thanked us for playing… THE CRYSTAL MAZE!

Since it was opening night, I milled around for a little bit with Pedro and fellow team mates, and we were greeted by a champagne reception and a Free Bar! I had to settle for Coca Cola as I’m not able to consume alcohol, but we all cheered on the following 8 teams, and I had the opportunity to chat with Little Lion Entertainment – Sadly, my hopes of Richard O’Brien, Ed Tudor Pole or the lady who played Mumsie / Aunty Sabrina were not to come to fruition, but that didn’t even occur to me at the time. We were all still on hype mode from our runs, and the high carried on through the night as the drinks flowed and the fans shared their passion about the Maze.

As of Feb 2018, there are Live Experience Crystal Maze Venue's in both London and Manchester. Visit https://the-crystal-maze.com/ and run round the maze, and live the dream yourself.