Incredible Games. Remember The One With The 'Dark Knight' That Wasn't Batman, That One

In the early 90's, with the success of The Crystal Maze doing wonders for Channel 4, it was inevitable that others would jump on the adventure gameshow bandwagon. So I thought I'd make my next few Friday posts all about the shows that sprung up on TV that had a lot more imagination behind them than a simple process of standing at some podiums and answering questions.

The first show that sprung to mind was a childhood favourite of mine from CBBC, and the one that is normally the answer to "What was that kids game show I don't really remember?"

Take 3 kids and shove them in a lift that could take them to different games within a tower block, each with elaborate settings ranging from a giant soup bowl to a dungeon to a Victorian school classroom, and you've got yourself 'Incredible Games'.

The Crystal Maze US Production for @Nickelodeon Is Underway (We Think)

We've got no idea what 'Day 1.' entails but all indicators point to production having started. We knew it would be the end of August based on a job listing that was dated around now and this picture has popped up on a social media feed (anyone know what app it's from? EDIT: found it, Instagram story)

ID removed in case she/he shouldn't be posting

The Crystal Maze - USA

We've heard from sources that The Crystal Maze USA is currently in Production in Bristol. (I never dreamed I would write that - who could have possibly thought). I'm still coming to terms with the fact that the show is back and filmed on my doorstep, let alone the fact the Maze is going to be exported to America for the first time.


We won't be able to post anything else about it for now as it's all kept firmly under wraps. We don't even know who the American Maze Master will be. (Unless they decide to use Ayoade again). Right now, it's hard to believe that American teams of intrepid adventurers are being flurried across the Atlantic on jets to become Crystal Maze Contestants...in a studio in Bristol.

In the original series, Richard O'Brien used to joke that another team was arriving into the Crystal Maze, whenever there was the sound of an aircraft flying overhead. This was to cover the fact they were filming the show at North Weald, an active airfield.

Will new games be devised for the American version, we wonder. Or will they reuse and recycle games from our own current UK series? What tweaks will be made, if any?

I am interested to see how the American version develops, and how American audiences take to the format. We are also going to be expecting a lot more website traffic from Americans across the pond, once the Crystal Maze is aired over in the USA. Including bloggers, YouTubers and more. It's certainly an interesting time. Maybe the Crystal Maze was part of the Brexit Trade Deal!  In other news, another UK 90s' classic game show Supermarket Sweep is currently in Production as well.

Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #4 - Fun House

Cards on the table here: for years, for some reason, I was under the impression that Fun House was a Nickelodeon show. Turns out it isn't, but nuts to it I'm going to talk about it anyway. This mid-series break is dragging on and there are weeks that need filling with posts. Plus it's Fun House and it was a building block in the television habits of 90% of the UK population that grew up in the '90s.

Interview With Games Designer David J. Bodycombe

In another entry in our series of interviews, Phil Newton-England talked to a fellow designer of games for the original series in David J Bodycombe

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up in the North-East of England. I lived in Darlington and studied maths at Durham University. At the end of the academic year, it was normal for there to be quite a lot of dead time waiting for exam results to come out, in addition to the usual summer holiday lull. So, there was often lots of time to do something creative. I wrote a few puzzle books which were published by a company called Robinson Publishing (now 'Constable Robinson') who were able to use my Crystal Maze credits as part of the blurb. After university, I lived a double life for a while. By day, I was a management consultant. By night, I was still writing puzzles for various books and magazines. After three years, I was earning enough to work in games and puzzles full-time, and have been working as a freelance TV producer, games consultant and question writer/editor ever since. 

 When did you first become interested in designing games/puzzles? 

A French Language Look At Adventure Game Shows by @Meeea

Here's a little something for the 13 of you reading this in France, and for anyone else who understands French. I've been picking the language up from watching Fort Boyard every Saturday night recently but not enough to fully appreciate this video. Here's a 40-minute history looking at adventure game shows by YouTuber MrMeeea

There are shows included that even those who didn't grow up in France may recognize such as TCM, Fort Boyard, Treasure Hunt, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and French versions of Knightmare and The Desert Forges. May have to do something on Knightmare and even The Desert Forges after I do Fun House next week. I'm soon running out of shows during this TCM mid-series break.

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #3 - Robot Wars

In 1998, long before he was traveling the world with James May and Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson became the host of ‘Robot Wars’ on BBC Two. A series which pitted homemade radio-controlled robots against a series of tasks, which tested the builders' control of their machines and the machine's abilities, and fights against one another testing their durability. Created after producer Tom Gutteridge saw a tape of amateur robot battles in the US, Robot Wars became a Friday night hit for the channel. With commentary by experienced football commentator Jonathan Pearce and pit coverage by Phillipa Forrester, then already known for presenting technology program ‘Tomorrow’s World’, the show became a well-established franchise in the UK market.

With Any Good Franchise Comes Merchandise - The '90s Merch

From the desktop of Phil Newton-England

With the exciting news of the Eastern Zone expansion pack coming out soon for the awesome Crystal Maze board game, we thought this would be a great opportunity to take a look back at some official Crystal Maze merchandise that has been released throughout the years. 

Most of you will already have the fantastic ‘The Crystal Maze Challenge’ by Neale Simpson, Chris Lore & the team. This 224-page book not only contains ‘play at home’ games & puzzles, but also has some superb on-set pictures and informative interviews with presenters & crew, talking about the maze from its premiere in 1990 right up to the modern version we all know & love today. The Crystal Maze Challenge by Headline is, by far, the biggest & thickest book there has ever been about the show. If you haven’t got a copy yet, we truly recommend it. 

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #2 - Double Dare / Run The Risk

In 1986, Nick introduced its first game show in Double Dare. After conducting focus groups in order to improve their programming output, they established that children enjoyed watching game shows with their family but Nick at the time did not have a game show on their schedules. After a pilot recording in May 1986, a full series was greenlit in June and broadcast followed in October the same year.

Following in the slime-covered footsteps of ‘You Can’t Do That On Television’, Double Dare invited teams of two to take on a variety of messy games interspersed with trivia questions. Hosted by Marc Summers, and with the same VO artist Finders Keepers would later use in Harvey, DD was a huge success in terms of viewership and popularity. It tripled Nick’s afternoon ratings with over 1 million tuning in each week.

Rascals Announces The Crystal Maze Eastern Zone Mini Game

Here's a pleasant surprise for us at the blog, we've received a press release:

Rascals, the makers of The Crystal Maze Board Game and the Mr & Mrs Board Game, is pleased to announce the release of The Crystal Maze Eastern Zone Mini Game.

Nickelodeon Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #1 - Finders Keepers

 So I'm flicking through Youtube, and I'm thinking to myself "What on Earth am I going to jabber on about in blog posts until the series starts back up again?" At this point, I'm scrolling through my subscriptions and I see friend of the blog Jack's Throwback Attack has uploaded a big, long compilation of 90's kids' TV themes. And when I stopped worrying about why I still know the words to the Sooty & Co theme 25ish years after last hearing it, I saw some reminders of shows which dropped an idea in my lap.

 Later this month, 10 groups of 5 family members from America will be flown across the Atlantic and will find themselves in Bristol. They'll maybe see some of Banksy's, and numerous other artists, finest on various walls, they'll take advantage of the hotel amenities, and they'll film their own adventure in The Crystal Maze to be broadcast back home in the States on Nickelodeon in the hope of winning a huge cash prize.

 This isn't the first exchange of formats between a UK broadcaster and Nick however, although in the past it's been their shows getting remade over here. This week, I'm starting off with everybody's favourite CITV show featuring teams of two, a house and an awful lot of mess...

Finders Keepers

 Yes OK, don't worry, I'll get to that other one another time. It was too obvious to start with.