An a-maze-ing day!

One of the perks of event-agency life is that we get ourselves away from the office to try out the weird and wonderful activities which could potentially suit our clients. Our latest jaunt was one that made this 90s teenager squeal with delight. It was time to experience The Crystal Maze!

Pulling together a mix of friends and family to form our team of eight, we arrived in Piccadilly, donned those iconic jackets (sadly no boiler suits) and awaited our turn. The nervous excitement seemed to get the better of us as we went for the 97th toilet break and procrastinated for way too long about what our team name was to be! Then it was time ...

The zones

The maze is split into 4 different zones - Aztec, Medieval, Industrial, Futuristic - each one a faithful rendition of our 90s memories. We met our guide/maze master (in this case Miss Maze) who, absorbed in character, would join us throughout our adventure in securing those ever-valuable crystals.

As the classic theme tune started to play, we were dragged into the maze, running, crawling through passageways, and becoming fully immersed in the experience in time for our first game.

The games

The games are based on three attributes (physical, skill, mental) as well as a mystery (maze master's choice) so it’s important to play to your team’s strengths. What’s more important though, is just because you’re alone in the room, doesn’t mean you’re alone in the game. Where we could, we shouted, cheered, pointed and screamed out answers to win the crystals. Some were won, many were lost, and one teammate even suffered the ever-dreaded ‘lock-in’. We battled through though, came together as a team, and finishing with 9 crystals over 16 games (hey, not bad!) we headed to the Crystal Dome.

The dome

Again, a very faithful adaptation of the TV show, we anxiously entered the dome, armed the counter with 45 seconds (5 seconds per crystal won in the maze) and awaited for those infamous words, ‘will you start the fans, please’.

Less than a minute later we were out, exhilarated by our experience and in need of a well-deserved pint. The team chatted away telling of their experiences and smiled as the clean-up crew appeared using an amazingly effective leaf blower to get those dastardly, harder-to-catch-than-you-think gold tokens back into the dome ready for the next contestants.

Were we fans?

Fans, get it? Start the fans?…. Oh, never mind.

At £65 a pop it was more pricey than, say, an escape room, but it was brilliantly done and we were there for well over an hour of fun. The nostalgia was spot on too. So yes, we would certainly recommend it!

If you would like to find out more you can visit The Crystal Maze Live Experience website and if you’re looking for someone to organise your next team day out, get in touch!