The Crystal Maze is on tonight

By | July 20, 2018

At 8pm on Channel 4. They’re probably counting this civilian run as series five, so if they split the six episodes down the middle and air the others at a later date that can be series six and then that makes this reboot as successful as the original, actually.

Tonight is especially interesting as occasional Bar commenter Will is a contestant. Let’s hope he doesn’t make a tit of himself! But if he does the last celeb special consolidated under a million, so there probably won’t be any repercussions anyway.

62 thoughts on “The Crystal Maze is on tonight

  1. Danny Kerner

    According to giffgaff they will be airing six episodes. Wether its 3 from 2 and the last 3 from 1 or all 6 from 2 i don’t know.

    Reply
  2. David

    On that Evil Monkeys clip- if two of them are named Sid and Elvis, I’ll LMAO…

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  3. Jonathan

    Well, they smashed it on the crystals. Congrats and well played.

    Reply
  4. Daniel H

    My EPG is genuinely referring to this as Series 5 Episode 1…

    Unexpected cameo on one of the zone transitions which I’ll not spoil for those yet to watch it.

    Reply
  5. Brig Bother Post author

    Yes, congrats Will. The Dome is really hard, to be fair. And referencing ‘go like the clappers’.

    Amusing Fizz synergy joke.

    Reply
  6. Chris M. Dickson

    Honestly, there is a lot to like, and I do think this series is probably better than the first, but the show continues to go out of its way to be needlessly hostile to the viewer which makes it hard to enjoy without reservation.

    In my head, the Ayoyade era has actually had a number of highlights:

    1) Wobbling off hanging planets and that whole team
    2) A team plays a perfect game, of sorts, and the Dome reaches its logical conclusion
    3) “You’re crashing it”
    4) Johnnie Peacock’s physical game
    5) the most recent episode’s throwaway gag

    Yes, it’s nowhere near as good as even Tudor-Pole Maze, but it has had its moments, even if through gritted teeth. I would be surprised if Ayoyade gets another series, but I could see 8 out of 10 cats does The Crystal Maze having legs.

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    1. David

      Jonnie Peacock wasn’t part of the Ayoade run though. He was in the Merchant special.

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  7. Will Tennant

    Thank you guys. I deliberately added some easter eggs into the episode like ‘go like the clappers’ for nostalgia purposes.

    So for my usual critique of the episode i’ll do something a little different. A little pre-warning we weren’t told what ANY of the games were before hand so me choosing people was all strategy.

    Game 1: Planets 2.0 – Knowing we started in futuristic, it was obviously going to be the case they were going to try and replicate the cosplayers to us in my mind so I knew something like planets would come out, so I chose someone that I thought could handle the physicality of the game… just!

    Laser Buzz Wire – Again knowing Lasers played a big part in series 1, I had a guess that a buzzwire type game or another lazer maze would potentially be on this series, so it was a gamble to choose Matt due to his size, but worked really well! A fat guy beats a 2 time olympic medalist in Dame Kelly Holmes.. should be a meme!

    PipeMania – I was told by the producers before hand I couldn’t play this game because of colour blindness which I have, which I did say before hand with certain colours. We didn’t know what the game was before hand though but it gave the impression of a puzzle of some sorts so I chose Ross. Thankfully the colours were all distinct enough for me to be able to tell!

    Air-Maze – This was a 50/50. Again my gut was telling me that they were going to use the 2 layer room (we weren’t told!) and I don’t wanted a risk of getting locked in so I let Neil do it instead! From what you can see, the Crystal isn’t perfectly balanced which makes the ball roll erratic in places which is why I think the main reason it wasn’t doing it’s final push at the end.

    Ball Drop imminent – My heart sank when I was told this was a physical, I had no option! Wasn’t paying attention to the timew as just focused on the task at hand. Geniunely knackered when coming through, did the fake faint as a nod to the 1992 contestant who did that after the cage maze.

    Unique Objects – Mystery games you just don’t know, this one obviously meant it didn’t matter who went in to be honest in hindsight. We actually didn’t know the tomb was open for about 10 seconds, there wasn’t any notification or noises!

    Swinging Boulders – Again gamers/Water I thought was going to happen if it wasn’t going to be Game 1 so Neil was best man for the job out of the rest of us. Too easy of a game in all honesty. Was also going to say ‘You’ve given us far too much time Richard, far too much time!’ as a nod to the old days too, but forgot!

    Rotating Puzzle : Don’t give a team that has a superfan, a puzzle which was in 1992! This is one of two things i’m a little peeved with about the whole experience. This puzzle was on the PC game if I remember right, and I watched the 1992 series ALOT so there was no way I wasn’t going to solve it, but i’m annoyed I took so long! Should’ve been 30 seconds for me.

    Light Puzzle: Between Matt and Ross left, it made sense to choose Ross on this when it was the category given. This puzzle WE all thought it was going to be restarted. That 4th wheel was SUPER stiff and we were told right at the start you shouldn’t need to force anything, but it wasn’t moving. It wasn’t until Ross broke the handle that it started to do something, which was the piece we need to move to complete the puzzle properly.

    Jarhead: Easy riddles. Matt actually said Cauldron first but they edited the “called ron” bit in for more comedic effect.

    THE DOME!: So… I need some help with this because as a team we’re quite adamant about something. We had quite a bit of tokens discounted because they were above the flap once the time ran out. We don’t believe we stuck any in after the whistle. The flap flops downwards to stop you putting any more in from the hole. The problem is we think we put SO MANY tokens in that the whole box was overflowing and that some tokens went above the flap before/during the flap closing. The camera shot on the box at the end of the episode is very hard to see. I did send a note to them on it because it would’ve been over 100 no question otherwise. Prize doesn’t matter just the principle as in the original briefing they were saying we want everything to be fair. If we’re wrong we’re wrong but I would love to see a close up shot of the box when time ran out to see if I’m right to stop curiousity getting the better of me.

    Still love the experience, Richard actually signed my Crystal Maze book, i’ll post that on twitter later! Also I did a Halo Crystal Maze as a homage to my go on the show, didn’t have much time to edit it but there’s a good couple of puzzles in there! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2OKBo_NRjs

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    1. Alex McMillan

      I have to ask Will, how exactly did they explain that one particular zone transition to you and the team?

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      1. Will Tennant

        We filmed it after Aztec so Neil was dry lol. Just told to run behind Richard. Two takes and that was the second one. As it’s in the same studios it wasn’t hard to film it. Good fun and Mr Shepherd a total gentleman.

        Reply
  8. John R

    With regards to the rotating puzzle, is it just the middle one you need to keep turning to try and find the match? (as it is on the pub quiz machine version!)

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    1. Will Tennant

      Basically yea, use the middle to move and match with one, then match the side next to it, if it doesn’t rotate middle, rinse and repeat.

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    2. David B

      I think choosing any wheel and cycling thru the six possibilities works.

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      1. Matt Clemson

        No, it needs to be the centre one, because that has influence over all others.

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        1. Brig Bother Post author

          I think it’s certainly the one that will get you to the winning combination the quickest. I can’t remember if this is classed as a mental or a mystery, it looks like a mental, plays like a mystery really.

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          1. Alex

            It’s in there as a Mental, according to the database.

  9. Greg

    After the excellent team last week, this week we have a team who don’t understand how hooks work or how to fill a vase with water.

    Reply
  10. Will Stephen

    Round Up!
    This team was the team DIRECTLY after mine. We saw them go in as we came out (albeit from a distance). So this would make sense as to why we got some repeats here.

    Hook a Key: Such a bad game, though I do hope they reuse the chest in future games.

    Jarhead: I do feel the riddles were getting easier and easier at this point… Totally makes sense this was Zone 1 to our Zone 4 from a logistic standpoint.

    Swinging Boulders: Technically the first trip should never have counted as the nice water got contaminated. There should’ve been a rule where the drink doesn’t count if you fall in on the way there, would still be very doable in 3 minutes. Also she must’ve been sore afterwards, there was a couple of bad falls

    Anagrams: I’m surprised they swapped the room over from the Rotating puzzle. Would’ve preferred to have this one! 3 Minutes for words which in all fairness were very easy to spot when it’s only two options (there’s only so many combinations on 6 letters!) Should’ve been Two Minutes.

    Grapevines: That 2nd to last one was SUPER low, but to also have the crystal potentially fall over due to a vine I think is an issue they didn’t think of before. Quite the fall at the end too!

    Planets 2.0: Nicely done, nothing can beat our attempt though! :-p

    Spectrum of Light: With my colour blindess, I would’ve had no distinction of seeing the difference in B.I.V. colours. That reveal bit looked idential. 3 Minutes and a fail I was surprised with.

    Laser Beam: I feel a little bit of editing went on near the end, it did look like she moved the ring further after the 2nd hit, but still a difficult game none the less, with that being ALIS Number 3 on game 8 (I thought they were reducing the amount of ALIS in one go?)

    Air Maze: She was doing so well to start with, that air cannister was super powerful…. either she was hitting them dead on or they replaced the cannister after our escapade (maybe we were robbed?!). Team communication led her down the wrong path.

    Ball Drop Imminent: Team communication cost them this as well, otherwise they would’ve been fine and dandy!

    Good team overall, and definitely has its memorable moments throughout. Plus trended on Twitter finally!

    Reply
    1. Jonathan

      I GOT THIS

      Good roundup!

      I enjoyed the team and the episode, but uh, not a good one for making the Maze look a bit cheap/small, particularly Swinging Boulders and breaking the statue, and then the ‘foggy bog’ looking the most like crashmats yet. Oh, and don’t do a closeup of the doors in the Futuristic zone… seeing the wood slightly come out the runners isn’t very futuristic.

      I feel like I’m slightly nitpicking but those details help the overall feel. I did enjoy it, and Richard played off them well, I should say.

      Reply
  11. Brig Bother Post author

    Your episode got 906,000 all-in, Will. 632k watched live, 136k later that night, 143k on catch-up. You don’t feature in the A16-34 Top 50.

    Cats Does Countdown in the vacated 9pm slot did 1.3m and does feature on the A16-34 Top 50.

    Other shows in that Top 50: You vs Chris and Kem.

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    1. Danny Kerner

      Wowsers that’s low but as it’s back in the soap zone kinda explains it.

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      1. Will Stephen

        Yea, I wasn’t expecting much to be honest seeing the trend you’ve posted over the course of the celeb episodes. We’ll have to see how well it does over the course of the civ episodes and if we see any increase/decrease. Definitely curious to see the London Girls stats with them trending on twitter (one clip at 250k views so far alone.)

        Reply
  12. Jonathan

    Did… did no-one playtest the skulls game? Because it’s been two instant knockouts and one ‘oh, I’ll quit’ after 15 seconds.

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  13. Will Stephen

    Let’s talk about the two new games then shall we.

    Game 1: Lights On – Very vintage style puzzle with a nice LED effect, it’s a shame some camera angles don’t make it clearer for the colour combination. Perfect for the show otherwise.

    Game 2: Map Room – Basically what every escape room company has at some point right, nothing ingenious about it. Not to say it’s bad in any way, it’s a simple and quick puzzle to churn out. I don’t understand the need for a magnet in the briefcase though!

    Editing on this episode was all over the place, it didn’t gel well. I don’t think it was the family though, quite a few camera spots as well.

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    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I did think blue on blue was a slightly odd combo for the light’s on game, but the game seemed decent.

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    2. David B

      Is it me or are we well over the ’30 new games’ promised?

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      1. David

        We’re at 30 right now I think, if you count things like the two versions of the futuristic lottery as one game.

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        1. Danny Kerner

          If we are at 30 then that’s it. We seen all the games now for S2. S1 however we are still owe 3 games. From what I have seen from the Australian broadcasting of 2 of the three remaining episode they weren’t present so it’s a case of one time showing for them.

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          1. David

            No I’ve seen all the unaired episodes and there are no new games in any of them. My guess is they counted the three new zone entrances as new games last year but didn’t do it this year.

  14. Will Stephen

    Let’s Get Medical!

    Nice fun team, let down on a few games (and worse ticket collecting than mine so i’m all for it!)

    Key Grabbing actually doing what should be done with the time limit, shame they got really unlucky and it had to be the last key hung up.
    Puzzle Board: Cross Man! :-p
    Spaceship Targets: Nice semi advanced math solving there. thats how the puzzle should be solved!
    Lights On!: The best method on a game like that is to just do trial and error, team mates can’t help realistically, so it’s great to see. As I said last time, the Blue should’ve been green.
    Crystal Lottery: Much harder word if working backwards I’d say, I still want some ruby crystals though!
    Crystal Surfing: Still bad.
    Hits all the Lights: Height definitely a factor, although she was close a couple of times. seems most people have been struggling to get a 360 degree motion around the place, I would’ve thought it be easy.
    AIR MAZE: ANOTHER Person getting robbed with the air not hitting it at the end. More noticeable that the trigger is at an angle so it’s really difficult to get any sort of direction comfortably. Doesn’t help that the hole is in between two exits so there’s no direct line to dunk it in. But it’s definite;y doable in the time scale I’d say. Neil on my team would’ve got there with a minute to spare if it wasn’t for some roll back (crystal being top heavy probably makes this harder.)
    Symbol Matching: did they change the symbols on this one, alot of one colour on one of the circles.
    Vine snatching: Nicely done, looks really off place to have the vines really high then really low on the camera.

    But STILL your best team ever in Crystal Maze history! ME! HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAA

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  15. gyroscope

    The fact that games were cut from 12 to 10 because someone thought the inane chat at the beginning was better makes me increasingly angry every week. I’ve gone from not minding Richard Ayoade to actively disliking him on this!

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    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Well barely half a mill watched it (exc +1) last night so you’d have to assume he won’t be annoying you for a great deal longer. In poor weather as well.

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      1. Will Stephen

        That means one of three things with those figures. 1: No more Maze 2: See what Christmas Special brings.
        3: Richard gets scrapped and show gets redone.

        Reply
        1. Brig Bother Post author

          Here is the problem, even just taking A16-34s into account, last week 8/TCDC and The Last Leg both did around 450k. The Crystal Maze doesn’t even feature in the top 50 shows, so less than 250k – I understand recommissioning it on the basis of a large youth audience, but it doesn’t appear to even be getting that now. It will also be considerably more expensive to make than the other two, consider the studio space rental for a start.

          I don’t know costings but it doesn’t feel like anyone’s getting a great return on this, so why bother? That said I said the same thing about the first run and they still made more anyway, so.

          Reply
          1. Alex McMillan

            I don’t understand how little they changed in the second run, because what they had clearly wasn’t working, and there was little attempt to retool.

            They’d stand a better chance completely rebooting, as Will said.

            My proposed full reboot:
            – 4 New Zones (Carnival/Polar/Frontier/Grecian)
            – Occssional 2 Player Games, with potential for 2 crystals
            – Host overhaul ,different tone and vibe (David Tennant ideally)
            – Controversial one: Replace the Crystal Dome with something more akin to Jungle Run’s Temple.

            Unfortunately they definitely don’t have the budget to risk on that.

  16. Will Stephen

    New Zones won’t change viewership, it has to be the tone of the show that has to change from realism and irony to cheesiness and fantasy. Make the dome magical again. The budget doesn’t need to be affected massively by having new zones.

    The host could be anyone, I think an unknown would work just as effectively as someone as famous as Tennant for instance. Richard’s fan base from travel man/gadget man and I.T. crowd hasn’t kept the numbers so I can’t see how Doctor Who/Broadchurch would do the same to be honest. I’ll put my name into the hat as a future host, hell if Michael Underwood as a former contestant of the Maze can host Jungle Run, there’s hope for me yet!

    Even move the set to a far off location like an old hangar to save space like the old days, I don’t feel they need state of the art facilities. Plenty of old style massive warehouses in Scotland that be dying to be filled.

    Two player games I sort of agree with, but it has to be something special to achieve this, but then we get into Boyard territory, and we’ve already seen Cube territory which didn’t gel well with the format.

    Again Dome doesn’t need to change, but more finesse on the scale of it. The dome needs special entry, not help yourself into it.

    What I think could happen is Baniijay will try to commission a reboot of an English Boyard, charting the success of the Maze as a reason for Channel 5 to pick it up again.

    Reply
    1. David B

      The thing about a hangar is that you have to first kick out the rats, and start spending money on very simple things like bringing in water and electricity, or even laying a new concrete floor. You end up paying money for things that aren’t going to end up on camera.

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  17. xr

    I think there’s basically two things wrong with the series, but they’re big ones.

    a) The set. It’s simply far too cramped. Neither the games nor the cameras fit pleasantly. As a result, physical and skill games often look stilted , and every other shot is top down. Ideally, they should have dropped a zone, and also rooms from each zone. If that meant that every 10 episodes the game set was exactly the same to skip a reset, that’s fine; only the people on this site would notice and care. Since the set is what it is now, I dunno, add GoPros and envelop the other cameras in the fiction? Or non-fiction, if the lesser Richard has its way. There simply is no way to make exciting television out of two wide shots of a person pushing buttons while yelled at nonsensically.

    b) Hosting. If you want kids and tweens to sit the family around the telly, maybe don’t rub their noses in the artificiality. If you want the audience to follow you, maybe don’t invent inane jargon. If you want your host to commentate, maybe allow him to actually watch the game he comments on. Old Richard was imperious, mercurial, honest and unexpected; a cartoon figure that could delight and amuse with a certain edge. New Richard is standoffish, miserly, repetitive and not in control; the boring adult appearing in desaturated scenes in a kid flick. I don’t understand why he does things like framing group shots, on screen, every single tiresome time, while outlining the challenge ahead is left to a sign. I don’t get why an adventure show starts with so much stilted exposition, rather than stagger it.

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  18. David B

    Some interesting points on this thread. I’ve been holding off from firing both barrels because I think it’s not fair on the production that’s tried its hardest. Buuuut, now we’re in the situation we’re in, if anyone cares or wonders what I’d do, here it is:

    1) Probably too late now, but personally I would have striven for four new zones – for all the cost involved, you might as well have built something new than re-tread the old set, and if you want to see the old set that then turn on Challenge TV instead. New zones also give you new sets of references with which to theme the games. I kinda got the impression it had to be done this way due to time constraints, to piggy-back off the enthusiasm from the Stephen Merchant ‘pilot’. I’m not a huge fan of the new Futuristic as it doesn’t seem very large compared to the others, where it was easier to get a bit ‘lost’.

    2) Following on from above, I would have tried to build the new rooms in different shapes, to allow more varieties of games (e.g. longer, thinner rooms for archery-type stuff). I’d also get rid of those large hatches, which make the rooms look really small and also slow down the action (since the outside contestants just point at stuff rather than letting the player just get on with it).

    3) Devise games that have more of a ‘clutch’ moment at the end, so that the contestant’s encouraged to spend as long as possible in the cell and make full use of their time. The original show’s producers spent a lot of time doing this, ensuring that it was hard to tell whether someone would win or not. And do more games where the contestant has to do less but more awkwardly – e.g. they only have to get two keys, but there’s things that can knock the keys off the hook on the way back. ‘Awkwardness’ was a huge part of the original show.

    4) Brighten up the colours. I find some of the industrial and medieval games are just shades of grey and brown.

    5) Drip-feed the contestant info so that you have a little chat with them before they do their first game, not all at once.

    6) Up the games back to 12. To do this, consider dropping certain sequences (e.g. could the team go straight from their final game and into the dome?; do we really need two sets of contestant introductions?; do we really need the initial ‘get into the Maze’ sequence?). And have more 2 minute games – there’s some that clearly don’t have enough layers to justify 3 minutes (e.g. the ‘press all the buttons in 10 seconds’ game).

    7) If you really, really can’t up the games budget back to 4 uses per game, then have more games that have several variations.

    8) Ditch the untimed riddle rounds – they just kill the pace, regardless of the laffs you get from them – and reduce the games that require reading paragraphs of information which are impossible for viewers to play.

    9) Use fewer ALISes. It makes a hard game even harder. Just say the game is ‘lost’ and they have to come out if they lose three lives.

    10) Improve the filming/games schedule so that you don’t burn through virtually all your new games in the first four shows broadcast.

    11) I do like new Richard – he was a good find that none of us had really considered – but I dearly wished they’d play up more on his ‘health and safety wonk’ persona and less of the ‘this is all just a TV show’ stuff. Why bother building a set if you’re not going to join in with the pretence?

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    1. Brig Bother Post author

      They might be trying their hardest, but when you bring back a *much loved* show, you can’t go around expecting the plaudits if it goes right if you’re not willing to take the brickbats if it goes wrong. If everything was judged on intent, I’d have got an A for my Media Studies A-Level, as it is I can only judge on what they’re prepared to serve up to audiences. Ultimately it doesn’t do anything *better* than the original, and if you can’t do that with 20+ years of hindsight then what was the point of bringing it back?

      The warnings were there: everyone said that the Merchant special was “good for what it was” but I got the feeling the production team took away the wrong lessons from that – the style wouldn’t sustain a series and lo and behold it hasn’t.

      I maintain they were correct to have the four original zones to start with, partly to show they weren’t messing around and they understood it, partly because there would have been no revival without the Live Experience which everyone was excited for. Once you establish the baseline you can be trusted you can start changing things.

      For all the swag about how exciting and multi-layered the new games were, can anyone think of any games that work on more than one layer? Can you say you’ve found yourselves shouting at the screen at all over the past 25 episodes? I can’t, they’re way too simplistic in the main.

      If the original series could fit 15 games in 53 minutes, there is no reason at all you shouldn’t be able to get 12 games in 47. At all. That a deliberate choice was made to play fewer games to get to know the contestants personalities, that’s the first alarm bell that the producers who claim to be fans misunderstood the appeal of the original.

      I like Richard when he’s in the moment, I find the fourth wall breaking rather tedious. One of the better changes was that he and The Head now seem to have a conversation, which I don’t understand why didn’t happen in the first place.

      Fort Boyard has had it’s own modernizing troubles over the past 29 years, but it’s basically kept true to itself throughout and is now getting it’s best numbers in a decade. I really dislike the Crystal Maze’s mate-y social media presence, it adds nothing to the building of the world, at least if it was someone pretending to the Head In A Jar it could be quite rude and funny.

      I have little doubt there’s an element of C4 commissioner putting their stamp on proceedings, and they’re worthy of just as much criticism, frankly. TCM should have been an open goal – 4m watched the special, 3.5m watched the first Ayoade ep, it shouldn’t be getting barely three-quarters of a million on a weekly basis. But it became clear after episode one the production just isn’t good enough. Yes viewing habits have changed, they’ve gone from watching The Crystal Maze to not watching The Crystal Maze.

      Reply
        1. Alex

          I know it’s a little bit apples-to-oranges, but how was Fort Boyard doing during the 5 days?

          Reply
          1. Brig Bother Post author

            Over 1.7m, at its peak. Otherwise around 1-1.5m variously.

            BARB goes back to 1998 online, so knock yourselves out.

    2. xr

      Budget / set permitting, I’m aboard David’s train, esp. 4 and 9. I suspect that riddle rooms, padding and the number of games were people adjusting to their constraints, rather than part of their intent though.

      Far as Richard goes, I see the potential. I’m inclined to blame the first season on production for neither explaining their intent, nor course correcting him as footage rolled in. I don’t understand how anyone, Richard included, would review the ratings and finished episodes and be satisfied with more of the same.

      Big yes to corridor rooms; so many physical games could benefit from a direction to put obstacles in, or at least forcefully move. A few tall rooms wouldn’t hurt either.

      I suspect a lot of the intro burden could be handled by always starting with a longish co-op game, with the occasional freeze frame card of real info and Richard trying to interview the stand-arounds with varied success. Sample Aztec game: Wall rails hold heavy envelopes with narrow slits. Jerking the envelope lets message flash past the slits. Say, “shirt”, “cup brimming with future” or “boa”: items to be scavenged from the hub for sacrifice in the room altar. For example, middle clue suggests going through a treasure chest looking for a cup small enough to leave some water in the lock clock: ample opportunities for people to look harried, or smart, or uncaring, or something characterising them.

      Reply
  19. Will Stephen

    Vikings!

    Agree with Mr Brig that intro shouldn’t have any spoilers in it.

    Just like our team, good bunch of guys that dang got loud when needed too! Got unlucky on a couple of games. Great to see the gutter memory done to perfection in a great time to boot. Talking of times, it showed with particularly the Aztec mentals that if done well are way too short.

    The map puzzle seemed a bit perplexing. I’m assuming they were told they couldn’t ribbon it unless they got all of them correct? The shape would’ve been near identical otherwise right?

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      I do think that’s an issue with the game, on the face of it you don’t have to be especially accurate. I note there seemed to be some sort of magnet lock on the briefcase, although similar to the catapult game last year I don’t understand why it doesn’t seem to be an ALIS if they pick the wrong one so there’s no way of shortcutting the game.

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      1. Matt Clemson

        Speaking of which, no ALISes this time around. Clearly you need to invoke them to please the gods of the maze and be spared.

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        1. Danny Kerner

          If & only if S3 is commissioned they need to put at least 2 ALIS maximum guaranteed each episode as it’s not fair if one team is stacked with ALIS & another with zero. Also what made the original series perfect was the intro for all the episodes were the same so no real spoilers were given. yes there were celebrations in episodes so a partial spoiler but not as bad as last night’s major spoiler. Also please please make a theme which fits a full 50sec dome & not a dodgy cut & paste as was in the 45sec episode at the beginning of this run.

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      2. David B

        I had simply assumed there would be a scroll in the other cases saying “You are locked in”. I had no idea about any electromagnet.

        Having a map game in medieval bothers me unduly in that many countries weren’t recognised in their modern form until the 18th and 19th centuries.

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        1. Matt Clemson

          If anything, the whole aesthetic of that game feels more Victorian than anything else. The battered old suitcases certainly don’t feel particularly medieval, even before you start to think about the international travel!

          Reply
          1. Brig Bother Post author

            Well the wordchain game seemed to have a mechanical till, so they’re certainly not scared of anachronisms!

  20. Brig Bother Post author

    803k all-in (527k as-live, 82k +1, 194k catch-up) for Team The One Between The Holmes Family And The Vikings.

    Reply
  21. Will Stephen

    The science nerds!

    Crystal lottery – I actually liked the idea of the phrase, maybe a bit too hard doing it back to front but I did work it out in a minute. In this scenario might’ve worked better to have the first one fixed.

    Nice to see another team not afraid to get wet by going straight under. Classic lock in situation.

    The rings a skill game? Should’ve been just said physical.

    Talking of classic moments we were given two great ones. One with the suitcase and one with the wrong button!

    See saws again just didn’t work to their attention, no skill element just arggy bargy.

    Let’s see what the Xmas special brings. Looking forward to the board game though.

    Reply
  22. John R

    I knew NINE of the ten games coming up from the spoiler opening titles this week!

    Reply
  23. Brig Bother Post author

    And this finished, with team Scottish Nerds, with 708,000 all-in (510k live, 57k +1, 140k on catch-up), 27th for C4 for the week.

    Reply
  24. Will Stephen

    And now the Xmas Special for those that remembered!

    Quite an enjoyable episode, won’t spoil anything major but sooooo many ALID again!

    We saw quite possibly the closest chance of ever being locked in ever… like corridor of blades close from knightmare.

    Let’s hope for a season 3 because I want in on it again! :-p

    Reply

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