At time of writing, we haven't yet been made aware of the airing date for another Christmas Special of the revived Crystal Maze on Channel 4. We are monitoring the Radio Times Twitter like a hawk. Last year The Crystal Maze Christmas Special aired on 14th Dec, so expect a similar sort of time frame. For me, the Christmas Special last year was fantastic.
I loved seeing not only the Zones transformed into a festive wonderland, but the amount of work that went into individually Christmas themed games as well. This is something which wasn't done as extensively in the original series. The episode featured Carol Singers in the Medieval Zone, Winter Tundra in Aztec and spinning Christmas Puddings in Industrial. Absolutely fantastic stuff. As well as my usual Christmas Home Alone fix, I truly cannot wait to tune into The Crystal Maze Special to see how they've transformed the Zones and games this time round. The Christmas Special would of been recorded a few weeks after I tested the games at the set in April this year, so it will be pretty fascinating to see how they adapted the set for Christmas again.
I am really grateful for this year, not only have I fulfilled my main childhood dream by working on the Maze testing the games at the Studio and meeting all the lovely crew - (my highlight was playing a water game in Aztec) - But I have recently discovered I am going to become a dad in June 2019, so this year has truly exceeded my wildest expectations. Dreams really do come true.
We will keep you posted with The Crystal Maze Christmas Special air date as soon as we have it.
11/11/2018
Adventure Game Shows, Further Reading/Watching
I'd say this blog makes it quite clear which adventure game show I and many others consider to be the best of the genre but there's plenty of others that many people under a certain age have missed out on. Not to say they're all great, missing out can sometimes be a stroke of luck.
"Les Mondes Fantastique" - because Fort Boyard is too obvious.
After The Crystal Maze had been on UK screens for a couple of years, in 1992 Jacques Antoine (the brains behind TCM) brought a cross between TCM and Fort Boyard to French television. Primarily a children's game show, it borrowed a few elements from TCM such as the colourful wireframe map to show where the contestants were, as well as a very familiar lightbulb themed steady-hand game (see below from 2:00). The show was so closely related it even took the original board game for The Crystal Maze and repackaged it under the LMF name.
"Les Mondes Fantastique" - because Fort Boyard is too obvious.
After The Crystal Maze had been on UK screens for a couple of years, in 1992 Jacques Antoine (the brains behind TCM) brought a cross between TCM and Fort Boyard to French television. Primarily a children's game show, it borrowed a few elements from TCM such as the colourful wireframe map to show where the contestants were, as well as a very familiar lightbulb themed steady-hand game (see below from 2:00). The show was so closely related it even took the original board game for The Crystal Maze and repackaged it under the LMF name.
04/11/2018
The Crystal Maze - Another Evolution for its history
This week, we have seen impressive mock up artist impressions of what the new Crystal Maze West End Venue could look like, once finished. The London Maze in Angel - originally crowd funded on Indiegogo back in 2015 - is shutting down next year and relocating to London Trocadero - a prime location in Shaftesbury avenue, near Piccadilly Circus. As a massive fan of the original show in the 90s, (well, after all, I do run this fan blog), I never could have envisaged such a grand project could lift off two decades later, especially in the heart of London like this.
Since 1990, The Crystal Maze has had SIX Physical locations! (3x for TV sets - Shepperton, North Weald and Bottleyard, 4x if you include SU2C Special filmed at Angel) and now 3x for the Live Experience - (London Angel, Manchester and now London's West End). That's before counting all the Cyberdrome Crystal Maze interactive attractions from the 1990s, and even the Maze that was in a Dubai Shopping Mall. Who can think of a TV programme which has been so popular and has spawned in so many different forms? (TV Show, Board Games, Pub Machines, LCD Game, Puzzle Books, Jigsaw Puzzles and Live Experience Venues). It is incredible, and another reason why I love The Crystal Maze so much - maybe it is here forever now? Let's hope so.
It just comes to show how enduring the show still is. The new Maze will host 32 brand new games, a Maze bar and will be bigger than the existing Angel and Manchester Mazes. Finally, we will get a full scale Live Experience Maze. The Mock up drawing below does show two Zones and the Crystal Dome on the ground floor. The other two Zones will be upstairs. The question on a lot of Crystal Maze fan's lips is - Is Ocean Zone returning? I would love to see it back, because Industrial has been done to death, and it was replaced for a reason in the Original TV series. Obviously we cannot expect Water tanks and such like in an era of Health and Safety madness, but a lot of the Ocean Zone games didn't actually involve water at all. Ocean Zone was one of my favourite Zones. I cannot see Ocean coming back anytime soon, but we should be grateful for this awesome new venue. I cannot wait to visit in Spring 2019. Tickets are already on sale.
In other news, Little Lion Entertainment have also promised a Top Secret Live Immersive Experience for the United States. Could this mean that The Crystal Maze could possibly go transatlantic? My guesses are that it could be a Live Experience form of Legends of the Hidden Temple, an American format similar to the UK's The Crystal Maze, but that's just a wild guess. I look forward to visiting the West End Maze in 2019. Keep tuned into this blog for more news on this exciting development.
Head to The Crystal Maze Live Experience Website to book tickets for the new West End Maze. The Angel Maze will be closing as of 27th January 2019. Myself and Adam have snapped up our tickets for the Opening Day of the West End Maze, 29th March 2019.
We will be one of the first guinea pigs once again to test this Maze. We have already tested Manchester, Angel and the real Studio Maze. We look forward to testing this West End one and blogging all about it here with a first review! Next month is Christmas, and that means another Crystal Maze Christmas Special as well. It's a good time to be alive.
Since 1990, The Crystal Maze has had SIX Physical locations! (3x for TV sets - Shepperton, North Weald and Bottleyard, 4x if you include SU2C Special filmed at Angel) and now 3x for the Live Experience - (London Angel, Manchester and now London's West End). That's before counting all the Cyberdrome Crystal Maze interactive attractions from the 1990s, and even the Maze that was in a Dubai Shopping Mall. Who can think of a TV programme which has been so popular and has spawned in so many different forms? (TV Show, Board Games, Pub Machines, LCD Game, Puzzle Books, Jigsaw Puzzles and Live Experience Venues). It is incredible, and another reason why I love The Crystal Maze so much - maybe it is here forever now? Let's hope so.It just comes to show how enduring the show still is. The new Maze will host 32 brand new games, a Maze bar and will be bigger than the existing Angel and Manchester Mazes. Finally, we will get a full scale Live Experience Maze. The Mock up drawing below does show two Zones and the Crystal Dome on the ground floor. The other two Zones will be upstairs. The question on a lot of Crystal Maze fan's lips is - Is Ocean Zone returning? I would love to see it back, because Industrial has been done to death, and it was replaced for a reason in the Original TV series. Obviously we cannot expect Water tanks and such like in an era of Health and Safety madness, but a lot of the Ocean Zone games didn't actually involve water at all. Ocean Zone was one of my favourite Zones. I cannot see Ocean coming back anytime soon, but we should be grateful for this awesome new venue. I cannot wait to visit in Spring 2019. Tickets are already on sale.
Head to The Crystal Maze Live Experience Website to book tickets for the new West End Maze. The Angel Maze will be closing as of 27th January 2019. Myself and Adam have snapped up our tickets for the Opening Day of the West End Maze, 29th March 2019.
We will be one of the first guinea pigs once again to test this Maze. We have already tested Manchester, Angel and the real Studio Maze. We look forward to testing this West End one and blogging all about it here with a first review! Next month is Christmas, and that means another Crystal Maze Christmas Special as well. It's a good time to be alive.
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