After booking month’s in advance, our time for nostalgia and puzzle solving had come and we were going to take on ‘The Crystal Maze’.
Rather embarrassingly, I had forgotten some of the main details about The Crystal Maze, if I’m honest I think I’d gotten sidetracked by the idea of afternoon tea. But never mind, my trusty teammates were there to remind me and you know, laugh when I attempted to find crystals*.
For those unfamiliar with the program, I’ll briefly explain…
The Crystal Maze was a popular TV program aired from 1990-1995, the show had 4 different ‘zones’ and in each ‘zone’ there was a series of puzzles for the team to complete.The zones are; Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval,and Industrial. Once you are in the zone, the team captain will allocate a person to complete the challenge and there were 4 different games based on; skill, physical,mental and mystery.
The aim was to complete the challenge and collect the crystal before the time ran out, your teammates are able to offer verbal guidance to help you along the way.
Why do you collect crystals? Because each crystal will give you longer in ‘the dome’.
What happens in the dome? Contestants are shut in a large dome, the famous catchphrase is shouted “Will you start the fans, please!”. Then suddenly lots of silver/gold tokens whirl around through the air. The aim is to collect as many gold tokens as possible, the goal is a 100 or more. However, a silver token would cancel out a gold token, so you had to be careful. If the team collected more than 100, they would receive a prize along the lines of an adventure day.
Back to my experience, I spent 50 seconds in the dome with my friends frantically collecting the gold tokens, there was no prize but it was rather surreal and exciting. If you enjoy that kind of thing.
Okay, so you may now be wondering if visiting The Crystal Maze Experience is worth your time? In my opinion, it’s 100% worth a visit even if you hardly remember the original program. The set up is easy to locate, the staff were friendly and happy to get involved/excited with you and it’s fantastic unique entertainment.
I don’t want to say too much about the challenges, as they are very strict about no mobile phones and keeping it a surprise for new visitors. Expect to climb into a barrel and feel like a hampster in a wheel, piece together a giant cube, swing across monkey bars and solve a tricky padlock combination.
The maze is completely in line with the original program (except for no water puzzles), it was hard not to feel like a child again. My adrenaline was pumping whilst running from zone to zone, and my heart pounded each time I entered a room. Team sizes are not set, our team was made of 8, the smallest team was 3 and the largest team was 10. If you want more time in the rooms, then I would recommend a smaller team. Whilst you are in the maze there are 3 other teams competing in different zones, at the end you all meet up to enter the dome (obviously each team is comparing their hoard of crystals, everyone wants bragging rights
If you do visit...Wear comfortable clothing and trainers and keep it light hearted, after -all it’s fun and sometimes clapping and cheering every time a team member gets another crystal is just the right thing to do.
You can find out more information here
Do you remember The Crystal Maze? Or am I just showing my age? Is this something you would try?
Katie
x
**I think I’m the only person who didn’t find a crystal, there’s always one….
***The chap who took us around said we were the best entertainment and most fun team he’d ever met, you have that to beat…