Original Series Crystal Maze Games Designer and Fan

"I Designed Games for the Original Crystal Maze"

One of our Blog Contributor's is Phil Newton-England. Our very own Phil designed a variety of games for the Original Series starring both Edward Tudor-Pole and Richard O'Brien. He is also a big super fan like the rest of us on this blog. He was voted as Challenge TV's No 1 Crystal Maze Fan. (I'd argue that with him, but he designed the games so he has one up on me!). Phil in the 90's had a dream job, that was to generate ideas and draw plans up for games to be built for the cells. The games themselves were built by Artem.

A highly imaginative and rewarding job, Phil put forward his plans and four of them were accepted and built. He designed the Hazard Symbols game in Futuristic (Above). This is the game in which a Meteor Storm happened to strike the Futuristic Zone, which featured pretty cool Special Effects of sparks flying around the abandoned Space Station. The game involved placing no two like symbols in adjacent spaces in a metal frame. 

Phil said: "I was 19 years old & remember getting home after work and switching on the TV. I saw this strangely dressed, bald-headed guy showing these people around a medieval castle...and locking the odd one or two inside. I thought ‘What is this weird show?' It was like NOTHING I’d ever seen before. Checking the TV guides it was called The Crystal Maze - from that moment I was hooked. ‘When’s it on next?’ I asked. Next Thursday 8pm my VCR was set to record this wacky, way out show (& yes...I still have the original airings recorded on VHS tapes in my wardrobe.

Phil-Newton England, Original Games Designer

Well, after watching & loving the show for 4 years my mind decided in a dream to place me, as a contestant, in the maze itself. I played one game unsuccessfully. The following morning I sketched the game I played on a piece of A4 & for some strange reason decided to mail it to the producers at Chatsworth TV. (I didn’t have emails & interweb back then).

They wrote back saying it was a great game but a bit too similar to one that had already appeared on the show. (Which to be fair, it was). They also said if I had any more game ideas they would like to see them. I got pen to paper & came up with eight new game designs.

Inspiration For The Games Inside The Crystal Maze

I drew inspiration from things I saw around work and out on the streets - people trying move certain objects from one room to another, parts of machinery that looked like they could be some part of a puzzle. I eventually sent my 8 designs to them & after various ‘phone conversations it was decided they would use 4 of the games I’d created for Series 6.

Build the Clock Face - Ocean Zone

These were the ‘no matching hexagons’ (Future), Ship & Cubes, Build the Clock Face & match the Octopus Tentacles (All in Ocean Zone, my favourite zone) the latter game appearing only in the kids special.

I was paid a one-off fee of £500 as I was told they alternated each year between payment or on-screen credit. They later asked me for some more ideas for series 7, which I started working on-but, unfortunately, the show was then de-commissioned.

I still have some of the unused game designs from back then & have since created another 60+ all locked away in a water-tight container & buried in the Aztec sands for Future archaeologists to find.

Built a Boat - Ocean Zone

Phil added: "As a little thank you, I was given one of the ROB era original jumpsuits (red) & 2 game crystals which now form part of my private collection, alongside my Crystal Maze fruit machine, all the puzzle books, board, LCD & PC game, jigsaws, original medic jacket (from series 6). I also decorated my old bedroom as the maze & Dome."

Tentacles, as used only in the 1994 Christmas Special