My husband is British and he had told me about the TV show which sounded awesome. Then one day, we…read morehappened to check into our hotel in London and what was on by chance but a Crystal Maze marathon! I caught both new and old episodes while we freshened up. Amazing!
So I was delighted when I read about the live experience and I couldn't wait to play! I love escape rooms and this sounded right up my alley. We tried to convince my siblings-in-law to participate with us, but after several failed attempts, we just decided to carry forward and sign up just the two of us.
We booked a weekday night slot at 9:15 pm in December. We reserved the last two spaces on a team of 8. The website and email confirmation says to arrive 30 minutes early to register, so we did, but signing the liability waiver only took a couple of minutes. I don't think you really need to arrive that early.
They don't have a water fountain inside and I was so thirsty; they only sell a tiny bottles of water for 2 pounds, so we walked to nearby M&S to pick one up. When we got back, the rest of our team still hadn't arrived, so clearly, they're not stickler on this arrival time thing.
We met our teammates, which were 4 people out on a team work outing. I'm not sure what happened to their other 2 members, but this worked out better since we each got to play more challenges.
Each team gets to play 16 challenges total (from 4 different categories: Physical, Mental, Mystery and Skill) in 4 different zones -- just like the TV show! We had an amazing, theatrical host that really brought the game to life! We whizzed around through to the different challenges, following our wildly, fun host!
The most impressive part of the game is just how detailed everything is! The zones look just like the ones from the TV show! In the aztec zone, you actually slide down the temple into sand! Be sure to look up down and all around! It's just like Disneyland in their attention to detail. I loved it!
You start the game in the locker room where you can put on the bright colored jackets from the TV show to take some photos, but you'll leave your jacket behind. It's pretty hot running around. TIP: Just wear a t-shirt inside and comfy shoes you can run in. Then stash your stuff in the free lockers. You can't bring your phone inside either.
Then you'll watch a fun intro video that introduces you to the show if you're unfamiliar, and then you'll meet your host, The Maze Master, and elect your Team Master. I was our Team Master who helps decide what challenge the team will take on (you'll always have a choice) and who from the team will take on the challenge. I was pretty easy going about it, especially since I didn't know other 4 members (but they were cool and it's easy to get along and make friends during the game).
The challenges were fun whether you were playing yourself or just coaching on your teammate! In most of the games, it's easy to play along with and help your teammate out, so it's quite fun for everyone.
Don't worry about getting locked in like the TV show; your team will audibly help you count down the time and tell you to get out if needed. The rooms are small, so it's always easy to get out in town. Also, if you do get locked in (our team didn't), the host will give a simple puzzle or riddles to solve apparently, so you can can rejoin the game. If you can't solve it, you'll lose a crystal. Hosts are also known to give out free crystals to teams as well though, so I really wouldn't worry about it.
Each game you win, you earn a crystal which gets you 5 seconds in the Crystal Dome -- just like from the game. Our team of 6 ended up with 10 crystals (we were told most teams earn 6), We entered the Crystal Dome to try and catch as many gold tickets as we can (there's only gold tickets in this one). We ended up with 98! I think we were one of the high scores for the day! It didn't really matter; it was a load of fun!
I thoroughly loved this! I asked how much of the game (ie: what percentage of challenges did we see), and they said it was only 40%! I'd definitely love to play it again and I think you'd definitely have some new experiences! It was such a blast! I highly recommend it!