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!

Going under the title ‘The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze’, these attractions were basically the same as the ‘experience' maze’s of today, but most of the games were played on a monitor screen - similar to the SWP gambling machines still seen in pubs today. There were, however, plenty of physical games to play - swinging across a pit by a rope, trying to avoid ‘alarmed’ rods hanging from the Futuristic ceiling, an upright pod to drop ball bearings from a height into small holes, a numbered pressure pad floor you had to cross in the correct order & various other fun challenges - some taken from the show, others brand new games.

The main difference between the show & these Cyberdrome venues was the presence of a screen guide. Rather than an actual person taking you around the 4 zones, there was a computer-generated Maze Master called ‘MERLIN’. He appeared as a white-bearded, old wizard. (The use of Merlin’s image - and not Richard O’Brien’s - was purely down to image rights & copyright).

I was lucky enough to visit 2 Crystal Maze Cyberdrome’s - Oakwood, Wales (once) & Blackpool - Where I’d try and go every weekend dressed as either Richard O’Brien or Ed Tudor Pole. I’ve honestly lost count of the times I visited the Blackpool venue.

One of the special points in certain Cyberdome venues was the inclusion of Ocean Zone. (The zone that the new immersive’s haven’t yet got round to featuring, and bear in mind that over 3/4 of the games in the TV Ocean Zone didn’t actually involve water).

Now, as I mentioned earlier, some of the games were physically ‘hands-on’, whilst others were played on monitors. Each team had a special swipe card (see pic), which allowed them access to first type in their team name and also to log their progress throughout the maze. The team would then be told which Zone to start in (this varied on every playthrough). After the first game was played, Merlin would then give a cryptic clue as to which zone to go to next - so you could find yourselves in Medieval one minute, then crawling through a tunnel into Futuristic to play the next game, then possibly being sent BACK to Medieval for the next challenge! It certainly kept you fit! If a contestant DID fail the game and not press the escape’ button in time (A means of coming out of the cell) they wouldn’t be ‘Locked-In’, instead, Merlin would automatically take a crystal out of your ‘pot’.

At the start of the game, whilst ‘Logging In’, you had a choice of playing 3 difficulty levels. This was always an incentive to play the maze over & over again, choosing harder levels on later visits. Once you’d finished the games (the number played depended on how fast you could complete them), it was time to go...”TO THE DOME!!!" Unlike the series and new venues, gold & silver tokens didn’t flutter around inside the dome but instead, you had a series of push buttons fixed to the interior of the dome. The idea being that when they each lit up for a split second, you had to press them before they went out again. Lighted buttons pressed equaled Gold, unlit pressed counted as Silver, so you still had to have 100 Gold after deductions.

Once this final challenge was over, you handed your swipe card back and each team would get a certificate of the games they played along with their final score. A nice memento to take home and see which games you needed to practice on more for next time. There was even a tear-off voucher at the bottom to get discount on various items.

As expected, there was quite a bit of ‘CYBERDROME CRYSTAL MAZE’ merchandise available at the venues....including baseball caps, sweaters, T-shirts, Pens, Keyrings, Puzzles, etc and the obligatory branded carrier bags to take them all home in!

One other exclusive item on sale was the Crystal Maze instruction booklet. These cost £1 & included floorplans of that specific venues zones, descriptions of the games to play & tips on how to beat them - Even having a section for the public to send in THEIR tips if they thought they knew any better & quicker ways. There was also a ‘members card’ that you would get stamped each time you played. So many stamps would get you discount on your 5th or 10th visit. Maybe something these new ‘Experience’s’ should do? (Cheeky Hint).

All in all, the CYBERDROME MAZES were big venues, well detailed & great fun to play but unfortunately, due to the original show ending in 1995, the interest in the Cyberdrome Mazes eventually waned, However, some of the ‘sets’ are partly, still around & can be seen on some YouTube channels - well worth checking out, if not just to get a ‘feel’ of what it was like to be there.

I was lucky and fanatical enough to spend my money on most of the merchandise at the time (and I ‘acquired’ an original ivy leaf from Aztec)....and it is a great pleasure to share some of my collection with you all, here on the fan blog.

I hope you all enjoy.......Keep Rockin’

Phil can be found on Twitter @PhilNew98167545