Series by Series - My Favourite Games, Revival Edition

 I fully intended on doing this a few weeks ago while my 90s favourites were still fresh in my mind, but then life got in the way. However, I was watching one of my preferred Twitch streams (If someone's watching game shows on Twitch I'm either lurking or annoying the streamer and chat room inhabitants with a pile of pointless info) and it just got me back to wanting to get this done. 

This list is going to be distinctly shorter as I'm only choosing one game from each round of filming. All4 might have the revived series down as 8 series, but those have been put together as 8 runs from 3 rounds of filming. One round a year in 2017, '18 and '19. This is why most games were seen in multiple series.

So, my 3 favourite games from the revived incarnation of The Crystal Maze. Here we go.

2017

Crystal Maze Games That Were Too Hard 2: 2 Hard 2 Crystal

Ok, I admit it, that title is terrible. I apologize and I promise I'll never do anything that atrocious again until the next time I do it.

Following on from my last post covering all the '90s games that nobody won, I just wanted to have a quick look at all the games that have been used since Richard Ayoade took over which saw nobody walking out one crystal heavier than how they walked in.

Before I start, for reference and photos I'm using David Newton's website www.crystalmazedatabase.com. Much like if you want '90s show details you use Marc Gerrish, David Newton is who you can rely on for revival stats. Marc and David are to adventure game show fans as Stanley Gibbons is to stamp collectors. I only know that thanks to The New Statesman, I've been really ploughing through the boxsets lately.

Crystal Maze Games That Were Too Hard To Win

One problem I've got with TCM since it came back, too many people going home with a prize. It's partly down to 50+ gold getting a middling prize but, and there's a mild spoiler for the US version rapidly approaching here so keep on reading at your own peril, out of 10 shows there was at least 3 and maybe 4 top prize winners.

A 100+ gold winner should be a treat, a rarity, there shouldn't be nearly half a series of winners. People are clearly winning too many games and earning too much time. A little conversation I had the other night started at frogs and ended up at games that were never won and as such, here's the '90s games that were never won, and should be looked at so as to stop people winning quite so often. I'm not including any of those one-off games made for a kid's Christmas Special as it's a lot easier to be an unbeaten game if only one small person has a go.

Series 1 - 1990

Nuke Defusing - A nice simple two minute game sharing a room with a nuclear bomb. It needed defusing by connecting the correct coloured wire to the associated image on the wall. For example connecting the YELLOW wire to a picture of some PAGES, or a GREEN wire to some FINGERS. The trouble comes in knowing what word was meant to be shown by the image, while it was meant to represent fingers, it's clearly a picture of a hand. With a two minute time limit, there was an explosion every time. Or the lights were turned up. Same thing.

98% Sure There's More Crystal Maze Coming This Year - Bunim/Murray Post a Casting Call

It looks like there's going to be more TCM getting made for viewers on both sides of the Atlantic. Bunim/Murray have posted a new casting call for more families to take part in the US version. As seen on the site, filming will again take place in the UK (safe to presume Bristol's Bottleyard Studios) and participants must have a valid passport by July 3rd 2020.

US readers can click the splat to apply

Another hint as to what's to come came in the form of a tweet from @mockrockuk

'The Crystal Maze' comes to Nickelodeon Jan 24th 2020

At long last, we've seen officially released material regarding Nickelodeon's incarnation of The Crystal Maze (and not just us borrowing from industry sites). Thankfully I can say that what we've seen so far looks like a rare case of an American remake done right.

Some Resources for Teachers Planning Crystal Maze Themed End of Term Stuff

It's getting to the time where teachers give up because it's close to Christmas and usually just throw a  movie on. I remember my RE teacher's go-to movie was Terminator 2, and that wasn't even for Christmas. One thing I've seen a lot of on Twitter has been teachers and schools having TCM themed events for their pupils making use videos and graphics online so I thought why not group the suitable stuff together and throw some suggestions in:

Christmas Gift Ideas For The Discerning The Crystal Maze/Puzzle Fan

'Tis the season where for one day a year, it's socially acceptable to drink with breakfast. And, unless your name rhymes with Jebeneezer, it's quite common to buy your loved ones/not as loved ones/the couple next door/your sister's partner's niece's goldfish a present. So should they have even a passing interest in our favourite challenge based game show, then perhaps these ideas will stuff a stocking or two:

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 - 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.

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? 

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.

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.

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.

New Games Trailer

With a week to go before the new series starts, a trailer has been released showing off some of the new games and Eastern zone. Now we can finally show off some of (games designer) Anna Kidd's marvelous creations.

Interview with the games designer of the new West End Live Experience Maze - Charlie Wheeler

Designing games for the Crystal Maze must be a very rewarding process, and while Anna Kidd designs fantastic games for the new TV Series, today we interview Charlie Wheeler, who is only 22 years old and was not even born when the Crystal Maze originally aired. Yet the Maze still captivated him enough to design all 32 games in the brand new West End London Live Experience maze.

When did you start coming up with ideas for the West End Maze games? Did you design games for the previous experiences? How many have you devised?

I guess "to devise" is not really a singular task as so many elements make a Crystal Maze game a reality. The whole design and development process is quite huge and involves loads of people! The rough process of getting a game from start to finish began with the Crystal Maze directors, we would talk (about a year ago now) about ideas, often having an old favourite from the TV show or maybe someone might have seen something out and about and thought ‘that would make a cracking game!’, and from this the directors’ treatments would be created. Each treatment would be totally different: some just a sting of an idea or a sketch or for others much more of a solid vision for a game. This is where I joined the ‘production line’ as it were, attaching this idea to reality (and the space it would soon inhabit) and turning an idea or a brief into a full size digital 3D representation of how the game and room would turn out like, fully dressed and decorated and lit as it would turn out in the end. This - I guess fairly unique - prototyping method really helped everyone get a feel for just how immersive each idea could become. From me the designs were passed onto the production team or the games manufacturers to make the physical products. In terms of numbers, there were 32 games used but almost double that number designed.

Wired.co.uk article on how the games are designed and tested

Now, for reasons you either will or won't know, I want to share this quick interview last year with Anna Kidd, the Crystal Maze games designer, from Wired.co.uk where she discusses the process behind the games. From initial ideas through to having a ready and willing group of games-testers try them out on set to ensure they work as expected when the cameras are on.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/crystal-maze-season-two-game-design-channel-four

"In one game, contestants sit on a rope swing suspended from the ceiling and have to push a number of buttons placed on the walls within ten seconds. Many contestants spend the three minutes allotted for the task hopelessly bouncing off the walls. But one completed it after just a couple of goes, with more than four seconds to spare."

I'm still far too smug about that. Only just outdone by that bloke from Derry Girls. Who is now my sworn nemesis.

Behind the Scenes Experience Testing The Games of The Crystal Maze

WE GAINED ENTRY. TO THE ONE. THE ONLY. THE CRYSTAL MAZE ITSELF!

So, in 2018, a 2nd series of the Crystal Maze hosted by Richard Ayoade was commissioned, and I entered a team along with 4 friends – little did I know that I was actually quite close to competing on the show itself, as we were invited to attend auditions in Bristol! As for myself, I had to go through the ringer TWICE as both my teams had been picked to audition stages!

Sadly, neither team made it to the Maze as a team that would be televised. One of them, Team Superfans, had made it to the final 10, where there were only 6 team slots available. However, one day, a phone call comes through from the show’s producer, Neale Simpson.

Having come so close, we were invited to be guests at the Bottleyard Studios to test the new games coming through the next series!

So, April 16th, 2018, we make our way to the Bottleyard and Steph Hopgood, Casting Assistant Producer is there at the gate to bring us in, show us to our Green Room and we settle down, and fill in the paperwork. Non-disclosure agreements and so on! Also, we meet Oz, the safety guy for the show who is about if anyone has an incident.

It was finally time – WE HAD GAINED ENTRY TO THE CRYSTAL MAZE!

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INDUSTRIAL ZONE

We enter the studio door, take a right and walk up the corridor a little bit and then a quick left, and there we were, at the gates to the industrial zone!

Of all the zones, this is probably where we played most games. We’re recognising faces from the auditions day and everyone is having a laugh as well as building the maze right around us! The maze was coming to life around us! (Literally, they were putting the set up around us!)

We’re split into two groups so we can test two different games and alternate around. I’m off to play “AIRMAZE” first of all. Remember the new game cell with 4 doors, that had the pipe the contestants had to pull the crystal around? Yep, brand new game. We were briefed on the instructions for the game, and in dives our player!

Here’s the thing folks – you know that nice top-down view you get as a home viewer? We don’t get that. We have literally got the view through the upper set of doors and we can’t see the top down view of the layout used in AIRMAZE.

My Industrial Game – well, this didn’t go too well for me. I had the 10 Buttons / 10 Seconds game. Unfortunately, I’m a pretty heavy guy, and not the fittest, nor the strongest. So swinging around on a rope swing trying to hit the buttons meant I was top-heavy and was not going to win the game, as I would not be able to hold onto the swing. As this was an ALIS game, I wound up putting a foot on the floor – but as it was debug day we had free buyouts!

There was also the Donkey Kong Gutter Ball game which I exposed a fault on, due to crystals getting stuck in the tubes, and a connect the pipes puzzle with an awesome smoke effect that they were testing that day.

After Industrial, we’re off to the next zone – however, we take the “non-official route” 

Neil, wearing an original 90's Crystal Maze jacket, in the new revived Crystal Maze!

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MEDIEVAL ZONE

We only get to play one game here, I’ve called it Minecraft – I get to work behind the scenes, and play with an expensive fog generator machine – yes, I made a foggy bog! So I'm around the rear of the set, and as I'm walking around, I spot bits from the previous series! (The access code doors from Industrial!) – I’m waiting on my cue as I watch one of my teammates play the game. The idea being that the 3 gems of each colour need to be mined from the coal pile, loaded to the cart, then the player has to heave themselves up the ramp in the cart to load the main wagon. Once all 9 gems are loaded, The Crystal is released! And that is what I was waiting on.

When I come back around, we have a surprise! James Dillon, the man himself, is there signing our books of the new series! We get to chat about the sets, see some Zone set models and then James asks if we have had a go at getting in the maze. So Steph takes us around to the main gates of Medieval, and we’re told – away you go!

We open the doors to find a closed portcullis! there are also 5 chains dangling from the ceiling – yes! The old style entry was back! So we work out which chain is the good one, open the gate, and I start to crawl under to have my next great fail…. yup. I stuffed up gaining entry…

I had a wardrobe malfunction and got snagged by the spikey bits on the portcullis – so I couldn’t stand. So I had to lay flat on my belly and pull myself forward under the gate – which then meant I slid down the steps. Yup, I belly slid into Medieval zone!

We came back and the gate was reset after 3 of us got in, the rest of the gang laughing at my failure. I didn’t care, I’d done it and it was fun =)

However, our time in the zone was over. We were off to FUTURISTIC ZONE!

Taken moments before my belly slide into the zone….

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FUTURISTIC ZONE

COLOURED BALLS DROP

My Future Zone Game – BALLS! Lot’s of them! If I had been playing this on TV I would’ve not lived it down. I walked into this empty room, to find 6 empty tubes, colour coded. I read the sign. “Sort all the balls by colour to release the crystal” – then I hear this noise over the set wall. I catch this black plastic bin being heaved up, sneezing out a chroma burst of plastic ball pit balls at me! So I’ve to shove all the balls up the vacuum tubes to be collected. Unfortunately, my health beats me on this one. I’ve got to stop after about a minute as I've nearly exhausted myself and need to breathe! I miss my team playing the game afterwards as I’m sat in the airlock getting my breath back and some oxygen in my blood. Neil was able to win the Crystal in this game.

**Just in case anyone is worried, I am addressing my general health issues. It’s not going to be an immediate fix issue, but I am working on it, and I hope to be a bit better for applying in the next series.

Lottery Machine

Only a couple of us played this due to the reset time needed, but this was our second encounter with the new “Red Crystals” being used in Series 2 of filming. On one side of the room is a cylinder with 5 changeable tumblers – it has a 6th which is locked in place. On the opposite side of the room is the machine, which starts up just after you enter the room. In the machine, you can see a single capsule to begin with (The Real Crystal!) – and every few seconds, another capsule enters the machine through another tube. The longer you take to solve the tumbler puzzle, the more capsules with red crystals enter the machine, making it harder to find the genuine crystal!

Crystal Lettering
This game is yet to air at the time I write this, but it’s a play on the “Extinguish all the lights game” – the contestant has a console of buttons, which light up or turn off depending on the state – They control some edge-lit acrylic hanging off the rear wall, which spells “CRYSTAL” and has the Crystal Icon on the end. The objective was to turn the word from Blue to White!

Space Invaders
Although we didn’t get to test the game (it was partially built at the time) only I and one of the other team members got to see this area. This was where the infamous “Planet Spinning” incident of Team Cosplay occurred! (Little did I know that the planets were to come back later on!) – But it also gave us a chance to see how the ‘airlock’ of future zone worked, which allowed the cell to stand free from the actual Future Zone set itself!

AZTEC ZONE

I decline, thinking about my own health and my own oxygen levels just getting back to normal, but i go around with Steph to the other end of the tunnel, and wait for the guys to crawl on through! Phil, being a bit claustrophobic, was a concern to us all, but he had absolutely no issues whatsoever.So we’re starting to come around the zone, and we come across the entry point. Steph then asks if we want to have a go at entering through the tunnel!

The guys all came through absolutely beaming, and happy they’d done it. As for me – maybe another time should it come up!

Whilst we’re here, we see the sand being readied to spread out over the floor, and we discover the middle game's cell across from the tunnel into the zone is actually empty and not populated with a game! We also see the new ramp that’s been built especially for Aztec zone, which was seen in the celebrity episode featuring a wheelchair-bound contestant!

So Neil R & 2 other teammates go to play the anagram game that’s set up for the time being, and myself and Adam are chatting with Steph whilst they do so. It’s nearly time up in the zones, as the only other game we get to play means Neil gets very, very wet indeed. He played a 'gated' water game which involved climbing over gates, as well as swimming underwater underneath them, with a series of Aztec Symbols on floats. They all need to match a corresponding pattern. Neil got stuck in one corner of the cell and didn't realise at one point that he had to swim under one of the gates. Funnily, in a recorded episode, a red arrow was added to remind contestants to swim underneath!

Team Superfans & a soggy Neil!

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THE CRYSTAL DOME

Just a few of the Crystal Crew needed to put together this show – we cannot thank them enough for making our day so memorable!

We were not originally meant to be going to the crystal dome, however, the guys had been working on the lighting throughout the day whilst we had been debugging the games, and for this, we were off to a separate studio. Since Tipping Point had moved in and pinched the Dome’s previous studio, it had relocated. We walk in…. and there it is, white LEDs sparkling away and the dome looking absolutely amazing – I literally stopped in my footsteps when I saw it in person. My jaw almost fell off!!

We walked around the front, and get a close up of the control console where the crystals sit, and then we get gathered up. “Guys, you’re going in the dome. 10 crystals for your score!” – WHA! We got a full complement of 50 seconds to collect tokens!! The guys in charge of the dome give us the long-winded rules of the Dome (Health and Safety, y’know how it goes.) – and then whip off a bit of Richard’s script before saying the final words — “I now invite you, to enter the Dome!”

Was this happening? Was I dreaming? I couldn’t believe it! I duck slightly as I enter the dome itself through the door frame, and then take my place, absorbing my environment…. “Good luck guys, I’m locking you in now!” – The door was sealed, and we were standing by to play. We could see the tokens down the perimeter of the play area….

then, we hear the magic words….

WE CRACKED THE CRYSTAL MAZE!!

“WILL YOU START THE FANS PLEASE!”

Soon, we were in a blizzard of airstreams and golden and silver tokens! A few moments pass to let us adjust to the stream,
and then

“GO!!!”

It was game on! 50 seconds, you wouldn’t believe how quickly it goes inside the dome itself – A lot of people think it’s difficult to tell which colour the tokens are – but they are very easy to differentiate. So as we run in a circular fashion around the perimeter, grabbing tokens, some fly in my face and I dump them in the collection point.

Then, just as I catch a golden token from the air – “STOP!!!” and the fans power down. Our time was up. As the debris of the token storm comes to rest, the door opens and we are allowed to exit. Now, it was just waiting on the results….

We collected 30 gold overall! Now – you might be reading this and thinking – “50 seconds! what were you doing!? Picking your nose?” In fact, the dome hadn’t been fully reloaded with tokens, and had considerably fewer tokens in it, compared to the TV airing! This was due to the relocation of the dome to the new studio. We were told that if we were to take it in scale, then we probably had a winning run of 100+ gold tokens!

With that, our day was done – We had cracked the Crystal Maze, and just before we say our farewells to the Dome and its team, Steph gifts us all a special memento – a golden token from the dome itself! One each, and then it was photo time, with us as a team, and then the WHOLE production crew!

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After that, it was back to the green room, thank Oz for his care and then say farewell to Steph and the guys from Bottleyard.

We all piled into the car, and it was back to normality… well, for 2 days for me anyway, I had to do more time travelling, as I was off to the USA for a wedding and to meet a friend!

I had a great time, and all of us were on a high – we were very privileged to have been invited to test the Crystal Maze. I’ll be honest, I think the maze cracked me with some of the goofs I made, but it was part of a special memory I would cherish for all time.

My advice for anyone who wants to enter the Crystal Maze – Be Honest. Be Yourself. Leave your inhibitions at the door and enjoy being part of a bigger family of crystal maze fans and geeks – once you’re in the maze, you never really leave it 

Can you crack it? Good luck! - Jonathan Harris. 

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