The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze - An Experts Account, Photos and Mid 90's Cosplay

From the desktop of Phil Newton England, original series games designer:

Now I’m sure most of you reading this will have, at some point, visited the London or Manchester Crystal Maze Live Experiences. But did you know that back in the early ’90s there were actually 6 interactive Crystal Maze venues around - not just 4 in the UK, but also 1 in Japan & 1 in Dubai!

More Names For Part Two of This Years Series

I've already covered a multitude of names after picking apart a trailer the social media team put up but thanks to a tiny little slip by whoever manages the Youtube channel, a thumbnail for a future show has shown us a couple of names to add to the list.

On the left, we can see former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United and Manchester United player Michael Owen. The man who scored THAT goal against Argentina in 1998. Alongside him is Kimberly Wyatt, the second former Pussycat Doll to take on the challenge after Ashley Roberts last year. In the middle is someone who I have no idea about but I'm going to take a wild swing at him being from a reality show, probably Love Island. (Thanks to Danker1990, it's Kem from Love Island) Bringing up the rear are two names we've already established: Radio 1 DJ (who always sounds surprised with himself) Matt Edmondson and finally the lovely Debbie McGee. Not my word, simply the often-repeated line by her late husband, magic icon Paul Daniels.

Meet Next Week's (26th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

Alas, it's that time again, next week sees the last in the current run of The Crystal Maze before it takes a break. Fear not however as it's not the end of this year's series, it will be back later in the Autumn and again at Christmas. If you struggle between now and then, there's always TCM's sister show Fort Boyard. So for now, let's meet 5 more faces you probably can't place.

Aztec floor plan - this series game cells (2019)

Our blog member Phil has been busy drawing up this year's games held within the sunny Aztec Zone.

Did You Know You Can Watch French Fort Boyard For Free Online And Not In A Piratey Way?

Well, you do now.

EDIT: Seems they've made more recent content private, but there's still plenty available on YouTube

In the last few weeks, following on from the post which featured a clip of Richard O'Brien hosting the British pilot episode of Fort Boyard, I've found myself watching the full French episodes of the newest series on YouTube, and it's only just hit me that I was doing so on the official Fort Boyard YouTube page. As such I wasn't watching something that a fan had uploaded to share with the world, I was watching it because the production company was letting me.

Floor Plans of Eastern Zone and Futuristic Zone - 2019 series

Thanks to our very own blog member Phil, he has created these hand-drawn plans of the brand new Eastern Zone, as well as Futuristic and the games that appear within them. Phil designed a few games for the original 90s series. Top work Phil!

Possible Hosts for Nickelodeon's Crystal Maze, From Someone Who Hasn't Watched Nickelodeon in Well Over 15 Years

There's going to be more than a hint of guesswork here as I haven't actively watched Nickelodeon in the UK in a very, very long time. I've no idea who's a current presenter on 99% of the UK network, never mind the US channel making the show, so I apologize beforehand for being ill-informed and just generally wrong and old.

Meet Next Week's (19th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

It seems tonights choice of contestant, naming no names, has been a sore topic online. Hasn't so much been a kick of a hornets' nest as it has been a good, hard, wet towel flick to a raging bulls danglers. However it's over, done with and out the way. 

Moving on, here's next weeks intrepid interlopers.

Melvin Odoom (Captain)

Currently heard on BBC Radio 1's 9-11pm show Mondays through to Thursdays alongside Rickie Haywood-Williams and Charlie Hedges, the trio having worked together on the Kiss FM breakfast show previously. However to those of a certain age/immaturity level, he'd be more recognizable as a regular on mid-00's BBC Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, joking and dancing his way through various sequences usually whilst covered in a variety of... everything.

Are you in the market for a new puzzle book whilst you jet off for the summer?

Friend of the blog, previous interviewee and live experience game designer Charlie Wheeler has added puzzle book writer to his CV.

It's Not 'Mumsie', It's 'Mumsey' ( I'm Looking At You @CrystalMazeHQ )

I don't usually intend on going all grammar nazi during my day to day activities, although I'd consider this closer to the level of spelling community support officer.

Allow me to share with you a little ditty from Series 3 Episode 9, with Richard O'Brien tinkling the Medieval ivories (anyone points out the anachronism, I'm going after your spelling, somehow)

Meet Next Week's (12th July) Celebrity Crystal Maze Contestants

It's Friday again, which means tonight it's another episode of that game show we have always gone on about (and always will). Next week, I'd say it's some faces which are slightly more obscure than normal that you may not have seen before, so here they are in the regular comment and clip form.

Sunetra Sarker

Starting as an actress in her teens on the Channel 4 soap 'Brookside', Sarker has appeared in numerous shows since her TV debut in 1988. Counting dramas such as 'Casualty' and 'Ackley Bridge' amongst her credits, Sarker has also, like many celebrities seem to have done now, taken part in 'Strictly Come Dancing' doing so in 2014.

Fort Boyard PS4 released in UK tomorrow!

After a slight delay, Fort Boyard for Playstation 4 will be released in the UK tomorrow, Friday 5th July 2019. This is the closest to The Crystal Maze on the Playstation we will get yet. (Here's hoping for that one day). The game is already available to order on Amazon UK right now. My copy is arriving tomorrow. Very excited to see TCMs sister show on the Playstation for the first time ever.

Two Tiny Issues With The Show So Far

I'm going to preface this by saying "Yes, we were involved in testing, but we didn't test this game so couldn't raise any issue at the time". Now that little disclaimer is out the way, onto my main first point.

So far, I'm loving the new games. I love the look of them, I love the details behind some of them, a good example being the cause and effect mechanical crystal release for the Aztec wobble board game. However, there's something niggling at me in regards to the Eastern Ying Yang game.