Last Christmas, my Stepmum and Dad bought CBC and I a really cool present together with my sister and her boyfriend. A voucher for us to visit the Crystal Maze Experience in London.
For a child of the 80's/90's, this is the ultimate excitement!
In case you don't know what I am talking about, the Crystal Maze was a game show which began in 1990. The premise of the game was that a team of 6 were quickly hurried through four adventure zones by a Maze-master. The four zones were The Medieval zone, the Industrial zone, the Futuristic zone and the Aztec zone. In Later series, the Oceanic zone replaced the Industrial Zone.
In each zone,the team's elected captain was asked to select the type of game they wanted to play:
Physical, Mental,Skill or Mystery.
They then selected one of their team to play it. The team member was then grasped by the host/Maze Master and then taken to a closed door. They were told they had either 2minutes, 2 and a half minutes or 3 minutes and thrust through the door whilst the rest of the team watched through a window or a screen.
The selected team member then had to figure out how to solve the puzzle/challenge with help from the rest of the team shouting out.
If they were successful, they would win a crystal which would be grabbed and the team member would then bang on the door to be let out.
Beware though, if you didn't get out in time, you will get locked in!!!
The only way you could escape from the locked room would be if the team sacrificed one of their precious crystals.
The first host of the game was the wonderful mercurial Richard O'Brien, Creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show! He was wonderfully eccentric and really created a brilliant atmosphere. After several series, Richard O'Brien left and was replaced by Ed Tudor-Pole.
The game was revived a few years ago with Richard Ayoade as host.
Back to the present, finally, it was hugely exciting to know it had been made into an experience that everyone could have a go at but I'd never got around to investigating it!
It was so exciting when we received it as a present but we didn't really get around to booking it.
We finally booked a date for last Sunday but sadly, last minute, my sister's boyfriend couldn't make it as he had a job interview about 4 hours drive away. Luckily, my stepmum came in his place.
So...what was it like?
We arrived and were sent to wait in Figaro's bar upstairs, a really pretty and attractive place to wait. You can just go there for drinks if you want.
Teams were fetched and asked to leave their belongings in a locker. You aren't allowed to take phones or cameras with you, to keep the maze secret.
We were then ushered into a vestibule where they played the theme music and credits on a screen and our maze master appeared through a door!
Our host was called Byron and he was really sweet and fun and had all the energy necessary for a Maze Master.
We went into the Medieval zone first.
We'd selected my sister as Team Captain and me as Vice Captain.
The first game was a mystery and I offered to go first.
Before we'd gone in, they all knew I didn't want to do a physical if possible as I am very clumsy and uncoordinated!
When I ran into my first game, I was DELIGHTED as it featured a set of different sized bells on the wall, all tuned to a different pitch with colours. Those colours were the same as my glockenspiels as my school instruments!! I took one look at the first set of colours and named the tune without playing it as it was one I actually taught to my kids this week (and I use the colours on my work sheets!). The third one I just sang to check what it was. The second tune was a little harder to know without playing it so I played it on the bells and my Stepmum named it! I won my crystal!
Next, CBC played a Skill- which was IMPOSSIBLE! No crystal! My sister followed with a Physical- also hard- no crystal! My stepmum played a Mystery and won her crystal!
There are always new teams going through the maze behind you so they move you on quickly. You get 4 games in each zone, the zone is subdivided into two parts so they can move another team in. There are lots of rooms- I was itching to know what was behind all the other doors!
The Medieval zone had really cool decor and I really did feel nervous and scared like it was the real TV show!!!
Going between each zone was really fun with some active crawling or climbing, sometimes in the dark!!
Next, we went to the Futuristic zone where we had 4 games- each of us had one. I had a Skill which was sooooo close- I ALMOST completed it but for dropping a kidney at the last minute! CBC won a crystal with his mental- we helped alot! My stepmum did well again! My sister did a skill one and hit all the targets - we all helped with morse code but we couldn't work out the anagram!!! My sister did another physical which was an automatic lock-in- she aced it!!!
The futuristic zone was really cool and modern with and lots of space themed games! We had to crawl through
In the industrial zone, I had a mental game- AHGH!!! It was a mental game where you had to press buttons to light up a board. BUT, some of the buttons switched off the lights and you had to begin over and over again! I had a terrified feeling about getting locked in but didn't!!!
Frustratingly, I got down to ONE LIGHT!!! No crystal! My stepmum did amazingly with a mental game and skill game as did my sister- another physical!
Our final zone was the Aztec zone. You had to go down an incredibly cool slide to get to it!!
We all played a game there except my stepmum- my sister played her one instead, as the last game!
CBC did a mental game but we didn't get the crystal. My sister did a physical again (oops, we made her do them all except one!) - I managed to guess exactly what the game was before they opened the door! She got her crystal!
My game was a skill featuring a prop from the original series! It was IMPOSSIBLE!!!! No crystal!
Luckily, I managed to help answers to 2 riddles which helped my sister win the final game which was a mystery!
Our stats were:
Sister: 3 physicals, 1 skill, 1 mystery= 3 crystals
Stepmum: 2 mystery, 2 mental = 3 crystals
CBC: 1 physical, 2 skill, 1 mental= 2 crystals
Me: 1 mystery, 1 mental, 2 skill = 1 crystal.
Total:9 crystals = 45 seconds in the Crystal Dome! 7 is the average apparently!
I could have predicted that outcome. My skill and coordination skills are very lacking. Mental and Mystery were my only hope for getting a crystal. However, I helped with other games, so I helped in some useful way!
The final stage was going to the Crystal dome!
It was very cool to get in there! It was bigger than I thought and it was really hard to catch the tickets! You aren't allowed to pick up any from the floor!
After that, my stepmum and sister had to get home sadly, but CBC and I went to Bali Bali, also on Shaftesbury avenue for dinner. I'd remembered it was there. Bali Bali serves Indonesian cuisine
We ordered the Indonesian platter:Lumpia- Spring rolls, crab claws, breaded prawn, chicken wing and sate on a bed of prawn crackers- scrummy but v filling!
For mains, CBC ordered Nasi Lemak which is boiled rice with a lovely coconut- based sauce and sea food bits with picked veg on the side.
My mains were Cap Tjai- a dish of vegetables in a sauce and Tahu Goreng- fried tofu in peanut sauce and crackers on a bed of pickled vegetables. They were pleasant BUT I was a bit disappointed with them as Cap Tjai was my favourite dish in Bali and it wasn't the same at all. I am used to it in more sauce, much spicier, the vegetables cut much smaller and with egg in it.
There were so many more amazing dishes on the menu I wanted to try- but I hope to go back another time!
The Tofu was in peanut sauce which I didn't realise and I'd already eaten lots of it for my starter so it was a bit too rich and sweet for me at the time. I definitely had food regrets!! Luckily, I had brought containers with me and I took lots of my two dishes home- CBC and I appreciated them for dinner the next night!
My Sunday was really lovely!!
xx
