Announcing… the Labyrinth Lab
Labyrinth Games Ltd., run by Crystal Maze and Only Connect alumnus David J. Bodycombe, is looking to run a series of new game show formats over the next few weeks. We are looking for adults who would be prepared to volunteer to help out for some or all of these games, mainly in a contestant capacity.
It is proposed that the games will be run every MONDAY EVENING, from 9pm to a maximum of 11.30pm, though usually it will be much shorter than that.
The games will be run over the Internet using a combination of Google software and YouTube Hangouts. You don’t need to physically travel anywhere, but you will need to satisfy a number of criteria in order for this to work:
1. Most importantly of all, you’ll need to be able to commit to the time and date stated. It will really screw things up if people drop out. In addition, you’ll need to be in a place where you won’t be disturbed during the length of the quiz (up to 2.5 hours maximum).
2. You need to be over 18 years old, a long-term UK resident and playing from the UK. This is due to the question material and possible time lag issues. On most of our planned formats, you will need a reasonable level of quiz knowledge – if you think you could go on Pointless and make a decent fist of it, that’ll do for us. For obvious reasons, you cannot be an active member of a TV production company – sorry.
3. You may need to edit on one screen and watch another screen at the same time. Therefore, you’ll need either a fast 2-screen PC, or a moveable second screen like a tablet or laptop you can place next to your PC. Or two laptops, whatever.
4. You’ll need a decent broadband connection – one capable of streaming 2 or 3 YouTube videos at once (i.e. around 20Mb+) with low-ish ping (suggest 40ms or less).
5. You may need to be ‘on screen’ so you’ll need a webcam that can be enabled. You’ll also need to have a plain or dark background that won’t distract viewers, and reasonable lighting for your face (preferably a positionable desk lamp or two, rather than a top-down room light).
6. For sound clarity, you’ll need a headset that has its own microphone. An in-built laptop mic won’t do.
7. You will need a Google account and maybe even require the know-how to set up a second computer with a second account. Basically, it’ll be an advantage if you’re fairly handy with computers.
The games are mainly for fun at this time. £20 will be given (via PayPal or UK bank transfer) to participants for their trouble – for formats that involve an end game, the finalist(s) will have the chance to win up to £100 as a small cash reward to generate some genuine pressure. The rules relating to any final will be explained clearly in advance.
It’s not been decided yet whether the finished products will be put online immediately, or edited first. However, we do intend to put the shows on YouTube for fan comments.
NOTE: For reasons far too complicated to go into without discussing the formats in great depth, there may be a multitude of reasons why some people may be cast in preference to others. If you are not picked, please don’t be disappointed and do try again next time. We will cast a number of substitutes where necessary – if they are not used for live play, we will do our best to give them first refusal on the next format. Likewise, the techniques we’re using are both extremely new and fairly likely to have problems – if we do have to abandon a particular week’s programme, we will offer contestants another try with either a rerun or another format.
NEXT GAME: We’ll cast each week’s “programme” separately. The first game is a multiple choice trivia quiz called WINDFALL and will be played on MONDAY OCTOBER 7th from 9pm (to 11.30pm maximum). We will need 6 players and up to 3 substitutes.
TO APPLY: Send an email to thelab@qwertyuiop.co.uk with “GAME 1” as your subject heading. In the main body, state your full name, age, usual location, any quiz experience (TV or otherwise) and a couple of sentences about your background.
We are also looking for a ‘right-hand person’ to fill the Wincey Willis/Richard Osman-type roles for score-keeping, time checks, fact backgrounds and so on. If you’re interested in this role, let us know.
Sorry, but we can’t guarantee replies for unsuccessful applicants, but we will try to update this advert once all the places are filled. Everyone, successful or not, is welcome to reapply for future weeks. Details of upcoming formats will be posted on Bother’s Bar in due course.
Thanks for reading this and I hope it’s of interest for some of you.
Best wishes
David J. Bodycombe
Labyrinth Games Ltd.
Interesting stuff. I helped roadtest one of his formats a few weeks ago as a proof of concept and it was quite fun, it’ll be interesting to see if it works properly multiplayer. Anyway those are your details, go to it!
