Series by Series - My Favourite Games, '90s Edition

 "My favourite game?" It's a question that could have several different responses. Resident Evil. Kerplunk. That song by The Cardigans where the video had her driving. But there was always games that would pop up on The Crystal Maze where young me, and old me, would pay a little more attention. Games that I would enjoy watching being played a little more than others. Maybe I found them more creative or just more fun. So, here's some games I just felt outranked the rest of each series offerings.

Series One (1990) - Timebomb

The first series, none of the games were all that complex. It was a new production so everything felt a little bit simplistic. Whether it was simply dropping a ball bearing in a hole with utmost precision, or having to identify objects by touch alone, the games weren't yet the most imaginative. So my choice for series one is the game that went a bit further in setting a scene. Timebomb saw the contestant have to connect coloured wires to pictures of objects to create a link. For example, a yellow wire to a picture of some pages. Yellow Pages. But rather than just have a timer counting down the time allotted for the game as with all games, there was also a nuclear bomb in the room counting down too. Fail to complete the game and... the lights got turned up. Last 30 seconds the bomb started smoking, the tension built, there was a bit of imagination here, a milligram of plot, and I still like seeing it even though I know no-one ever beat the game. 

Noel's House Party - Saturday Night Marmite

 When I was small and weirder, I was highly entertained by shows that would merge fiction and reality, TCM being the obvious example but there were plenty of others. Shows that would take real people and have them experiencing life in, to some degree, a fantasy world. Knightmare took its contestants and made them have an adventure through a swords-and-sorcery style greenscreen-scape. Scavengers took contestants to a derelict space cruiser and made them work in the recycling sector for the viewing public's "entertainment". Gamesmaster - Oil rig, hell, heaven, island... they were determined to inject a little fiction into the art of having children play Mortal Kombat II. This mixture of fiction in reality would spill into BBC1 Saturday nights with the help of a short beardy bloke off of the radio.

Two Key Members of the Maze Blog, And as Such Crystal Maze Superfans, Shortlisted for The Crystal Maze Live Experience Superfan Competition

"These old doomsday devices are dangerously unstable. I'll rest easier not knowing where they are."

- Professor Farnsworth

Great words by a great man, and words we can all live by I'm sure you'll all agree. But another great quote of his, far more relevant to anything going on today - 

As you may have guessed from the overlong title, two of our number have been shortlisted for The Crystal Maze Live Experience's Superfan competition. 

The '90s Was The Golden Age Of Television, And Has Filled My 2020 So Far

The '90s was the golden age of television. Nothing will sway me from this opinion. Could I be slightly biased in that the '90s were my formative years? Absolutely. Were my years from the age of 1 to 11 based solely around that box in the corner and whatever was projected on the screen? Definitely. Did I learn to read age 3-ish by using the TV guide so I knew when my shows were on? Odd but true. It worked and I could read to a level where my nursery school ran out of books for me, all because I needed to know when The Crystal Maze and Fun House were on. However, it doesn't alter the fact that all the best TV was around during the '90s.

One of the perks of living in the here and now is that everything is online somewhere. Whether officially available through services like iPlayer and All4, or if it's a forgotten series that's just been uploaded by a YouTube user who enjoyed a show, had it recorded on VHS and wanted to share. 

With the recent situation seeing a lot of increased TV time, I've found myself trawling a lot of older TV shows. Sitcoms like 'Drop the Dead Donkey', 'Red Dwarf', 'Bottom' and 'Absolutely Fabulous' have kept me amused and dramas such as 'Crime Traveller' and 'Jonathan Creek' have filled a few hours. I found a show I'd forgotten existed called 'Harry' which was a BBC One drama set in and around Darlington, a town I'm very familiar with. I spent most of it infuriated by moments where I found myself saying "...and that street doesn't lead into there" far more often than I'd have liked to.

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)

Original Series Crystal Maze Games Designer and Fan

"I Designed Games for the Original Crystal Maze"

One of our Blog Contributor's is Phil Newton-England. Our very own Phil designed a variety of games for the Original Series starring both Edward Tudor-Pole and Richard O'Brien. He is also a big super fan like the rest of us on this blog. He was voted as Challenge TV's No 1 Crystal Maze Fan. (I'd argue that with him, but he designed the games so he has one up on me!). Phil in the 90's had a dream job, that was to generate ideas and draw plans up for games to be built for the cells. The games themselves were built by Artem.

A highly imaginative and rewarding job, Phil put forward his plans and four of them were accepted and built. He designed the Hazard Symbols game in Futuristic (Above). This is the game in which a Meteor Storm happened to strike the Futuristic Zone, which featured pretty cool Special Effects of sparks flying around the abandoned Space Station. The game involved placing no two like symbols in adjacent spaces in a metal frame. 

Phil said: "I was 19 years old & remember getting home after work and switching on the TV. I saw this strangely dressed, bald-headed guy showing these people around a medieval castle...and locking the odd one or two inside. I thought ‘What is this weird show?' It was like NOTHING I’d ever seen before. Checking the TV guides it was called The Crystal Maze - from that moment I was hooked. ‘When’s it on next?’ I asked. Next Thursday 8pm my VCR was set to record this wacky, way out show (& yes...I still have the original airings recorded on VHS tapes in my wardrobe.

Phil-Newton England, Original Games Designer

Well, after watching & loving the show for 4 years my mind decided in a dream to place me, as a contestant, in the maze itself. I played one game unsuccessfully. The following morning I sketched the game I played on a piece of A4 & for some strange reason decided to mail it to the producers at Chatsworth TV. (I didn’t have emails & interweb back then).

They wrote back saying it was a great game but a bit too similar to one that had already appeared on the show. (Which to be fair, it was). They also said if I had any more game ideas they would like to see them. I got pen to paper & came up with eight new game designs.

Inspiration For The Games Inside The Crystal Maze

I drew inspiration from things I saw around work and out on the streets - people trying move certain objects from one room to another, parts of machinery that looked like they could be some part of a puzzle. I eventually sent my 8 designs to them & after various ‘phone conversations it was decided they would use 4 of the games I’d created for Series 6.

Build the Clock Face - Ocean Zone

These were the ‘no matching hexagons’ (Future), Ship & Cubes, Build the Clock Face & match the Octopus Tentacles (All in Ocean Zone, my favourite zone) the latter game appearing only in the kids special.

I was paid a one-off fee of £500 as I was told they alternated each year between payment or on-screen credit. They later asked me for some more ideas for series 7, which I started working on-but, unfortunately, the show was then de-commissioned.

I still have some of the unused game designs from back then & have since created another 60+ all locked away in a water-tight container & buried in the Aztec sands for Future archaeologists to find.

Built a Boat - Ocean Zone

Phil added: "As a little thank you, I was given one of the ROB era original jumpsuits (red) & 2 game crystals which now form part of my private collection, alongside my Crystal Maze fruit machine, all the puzzle books, board, LCD & PC game, jigsaws, original medic jacket (from series 6). I also decorated my old bedroom as the maze & Dome."

Tentacles, as used only in the 1994 Christmas Special