The Maze tonight

Another superb episode tonight. Both Richards got into a pickle. Richard Madeley got locked in and Richard Ayoade fell into the Medieval water! P.s. I want a Richard O'Brien Medieval banker coin desperately! Word is on the street that after the last Celebrity episode in the next week or two, there will only be a break of about three weeks before the six civilian episodes air. Wohoo!

Hopefully we will see the release of the eagerly awaited Maze Merchandise, and also our photos from our time at the studio soon.

Richard Ayaode falls off the Medieval beam this Friday!

Hillarious, make sure you watch Friday!

The Brystal Maze Gromit!

Keep your eyes peeled around Bristol soon, this incredible Gromit with a Crystal/'Brystal' (Bristol) Maze design will be featured in a forthcoming 'Gromit Unleashed' Trail. The four iconic zones are incorporated onto him, alongside Bristol Landmarks - with the nose being the Crystal Dome. A work of art, I must admit. Incase you didn't already know, the current revived Crystal Maze series is filmed in Bristol at Bottleyard Studios.

Aardman Animations, also Bristol based, created Wallace and Gromit.

This is in aid of Bristol Children's Hospital so please donate / visit the Brystal Maze Gromit and support both the Maze and this great charity. We will try to check it out ourselves.

https://www.grandappeal.org.uk/latest-news/make-way-brystal-maze-gromit/

**UPDATE** The Brystal Maze Gromit will be located at Hengrove Promenade, Bristol (around the corner from where the Maze is filmed), from 2nd July.

Well done Liam - and Crystal Maze Celeb Series 2 ep 3 this Friday

Congratulations to our own Liam Tate for winning a Series 2 Crystal via the Maze Twitter Competition. Thrilled for you. We now have quite an impressive collection between all of us here at the Maze Fan Blog. Can we trade them all in for time at the dome now? ;) Maybe next year we can! This Friday 22nd June we will see a lovely ground breaking episode featuring a disabled contestant, proving that the Maze is open for all.

This weeks Contestants: Judy Murray, Tennis Coach, Wayne Bridge, Ex Footballer, Charlotte Crosby, Reality Star and TV Presenter, Rachel Riley, Countdown Presenter. and David Weir, Paralympian.

2nd Celebrity Episode...

Wow what an episode!

Former footballer Dennis Wise captains, with DJ Roman Kemp, Made in Chelsea's Binky Felstead, Happy Mondays' Bez, and Katie Price

Tonight's episode was the best yet, even though they only one two Crystals and collected a pitiful three gold tokens in the dome!. Games are so fantastic and well thought out. I also caught glimpses of a few of the games I tested for the show. The first one was a coloured ball sorter game in Futuristic - I was so out of breath testing this game, but managed to win the Crystal. It wasn't won in this episode, so I felt good about myself! I love how they have now implemented first person go pro shots into the episodes now, as well, a great touch.

My favourite game which I tested at the studio for this series was the Aztec Symbol Water game. It involved a grid of 9 gates, with ropes and ladders - a similar used game from the original, but this time involving water. When I tested the game, I got stuck in the far corner. There was no rope or ladder, and I panicked and forgot that I could swim underneath one of the gates. To confuse me, there was also a little ledge I tried to climb up on, but it didn't work. I finally made out from all the shouting from my team mates, to swim under water. I chuckled to myself this evening to see that one of the improvements from my testing was to add a red arrow, to indicate for the contestant to swim under water, where I got stuck haha.

Amazing stuff, best episode yet. The wall closing game in Medieval was genius as well, a bit like the 'when is a safe not a safe' game from the original. There was also a blue maze with various opening doors in Industrial, with a modern take. The room lit red when the contestant was locked in, very impressive. Claustrophobic games work really well, as it brings some kind of fear to the viewer they can relate to. Our fan group all loved it tonight. The lottery game Katie Price was one I also did not get, the 'Kinder egg' balls were evil as there were so many to open, it was just luck of the draw. We loved the Skull knocking game, which Dennis Wise got locked in with!

Anyway, big thumbs up from us all, we love the current series. Channel 4 have upped their game with the games, that's for sure. We just wish that they could bring the on screen timer back for the Crystal Dome.

Crystal Maze Scheduling

Here at the Maze Fan Blog, we have been asked numerous times what is happening to The Crystal Maze in the Scheduling. It has seemed to have been moved around numerous times, confusing viewers, (ourselves included!). On 4 on Demand it is stating Series 2 to be Series 4. We also believed that there were three 'missing' episodes of Series 1 still not aired, (yet previewed in Australia!). 20 were recorded last year and only 17 appear on Catch Up. Were three episodes canned for fears of stale games? Who knows. The original series had a consistent 1-6 easy to follow Series run. So, we put your questions to Channel 4 themselves, and received an official response from them today:

"In regards to your point on the last three episodes of Series 1 having not been aired, we can very much assure you that Channel 4 have aired all the episodes we intended to for the first series.

"We also want to clear up any confusion regarding All4 and the series numbers that are listed on there. We looked into this further for you and can inform you that this is down to an internal process within All4 in which episodes are 'bunched together' in what is considered a series based on when they are transmitted. The first and fourth series on All4 are celebrity specials, with the second and third series being the original format. 

"Finally, we would like to assure you that we take all your comments and feedback on board. Everything you have addressed in your email, from more consistent scheduling to wishing to see less celebrity editions and your desire to once again see the zones connected, will all be logged and noted." 

Channel 4 Viewer Services.

We gave them positive constructive feedback on our honest thoughts so far, and of course high praise, because the new zones and games are fantastic. We just want to see these minor niggles ironed out. 

The Crystal Maze 2: Electric Boogaloo

And so it's out in the world, new series, new games and Ayoade's got new suits. 

General opinion on Twitter seemed positive, there was a swarm of millennial's praising Alfie's every breath, as well as people warming to Big Narstie's enthusiasm and his lack of filter "All I could hear was bleeping." 

I really enjoyed the vast majority of the games, only one I took issue with was Alfie's first Aztec game being a virtual carbon copy of a 90's medieval game just with symbols replacing shields. HOWEVER I am not the only target demographic. Since the vast majority of viewers won't remember that game or weren't alive when it was on, why not do a bit of recycling, there's plenty of brand new games to keep me smiling. 

Now there's been a few articles put out as a bit of publicity, as they did last year they invited journalists to try some games, and according to a couple of pieces, some superfans were invited to test the new games. Those lucky swines. Well, lucky and probably at least in one case devilishly handsome.

Wired.co.uk  - How hordes of fans helped design games for The Crystal Maze

Huffington Post - 'The Crystal Maze': 46 Secrets We Unearthed While Going Behind-The-Scenes

1 down, 11 to go probably with a break after the first 5 specials. So here's a treat Channel 4's Youtube is streaming over the weekend. Plenty to spot: the first contestant using a wheelchair, the celebs featuring on this year's Xmas special (Unbelievable Jeff, it's not Xmas without _______), and a soggy Richard, which isn't street slang, I hope.

Endless loop preview of the rest of the series - "Polystyrene windows rammed full of ass"

Crystal Maze Behind the Scenes Secrets

Click here for the article

Series 2 starts tonight! We were one of the aforementioned guinea pigs who tested some of the games for this series.

Preview For Series 2

As it stands, the chronology for the series is getting somewhat convoluted, so as far as we're concerned everything that was filmed last year with the first selection of games is Series 1. Which means that what Channel 4 have started advertising is Series 2. We could really confuse matters and call them series 7 & 8 but for now, let's keep it simple.

So there's a few games that can be seen

Light Beam Reflection

Jarhead's moved jars to a cosy spot in Medieval

The planets are back but on springs rather than hanging from poles

A maths/shooting game

A take on Gladiators Hit and run, at a guess fall in the water and go back to the start.

And this.... Saying nothing till it's broadcast

And as a bonus, I stumbled across this picture online possibly an automatic lock-in, I'm guessing knock off the white skulls with the hanging one, knock off 3 black skulls and ALIS

First Preview of Crystal Maze Series 2

Advert this evening.