please empty your brain below

I've done both the original Islington site (in a very anonymous office block near Angel) and the Manchester site in the old Granada Studios. The first was soon after it opened and the second was before it officially opened as a dress rehearsal.

I went on my own both times so got paired up with randoms, but that was fine. I volunteered to be the Captain both times, which meant I managed a third game in London before we were out of time. They weren't doing the split level thing in London at the time, so it felt more personal, compared to Manchester where they were. The dome in London was in the bar area which I thought also felt better than being in an Anonymous room. The half throughput meant it felt less rushed too at that point. It felt impossible grabbing the tokens both times!

They are good experiences, albeit pricey compared to a standard escape room, especially when you consider you might only be doing something "meaningful" in the Maze for only four minutes in the hour, as opposed to most of the time in an escape room. If you watched the original shows and enjoyed them then it is still worth doing.

The guide through the Maze is a vital part of the experience as DG said. They are encouraged to come up with their own character so there is no telling what sort of weirdo you'll end up with!
Actually, have just remembered more about how Islington worked. Four teams all started at once, one in each zone, then rotated round. At the end, we were competing against the other teams to see who got the most tokens, which made the leader board less depressing. I seem to remember being told even then that the leaders had basically cheated by putting their jackets on the floor to smother the tokens,
Another Islington trip here, though as a full group of mates which makes the supporting aspects almost as much fun as competing personally.

We managed a high crystal haul and won the competition at the end against the other 3 teams, though 2 teams in a hen-do appeared more focused on the bar than the victory (they paid their money, they make their choice). We even managed second place on the weekly leader board.

As with others, the guide was brilliant and made the time fly by - certainly the best activity room I've done, helped by the plentiful doses of nostalgia.
'with tickets starting at £55 per person', I hate to think what the overheads are.

Once you've gone through the nostalgia crowd and those who've watched the recent TV return, where do future customers come from to sustain an attraction themed around a TV series they haven't heard of?
I don't know whether or not you've ever played an escape room as such...

dg writes: yes.

You clearly enjoy puzzles, so I think you've found the company in which you'd enjoy one. No, no recommendations.

Still Anon: corporate bookings, at a premium rate. (Check the web site.) Letting members of the public in just keeps the place ticking over, it's the corporate bookings that make the money.

Your point about the nostalgia crowd is fair, but I would note that that hasn't stopped a seasonal run, quite possibly by some other company, in Riyadh. I'm not sure whether or not the show is broadcast there.
"The rest of my teammates reached and leapt and tried to grab the whirling tokens, whereas I'd spotted there were hugely more on the floor so scooped those into the slot instead."

CHEAT!
I've often wondered why contestants try to catch fluttering bits of paper when it's so much more efficient to scoop them up off the floor! maybe it's in the rules!

"which somehow left me feeling old as well as incompetent."
Me, every time I try to do/play something alongside anyone under the age of 35!!
As youngsters we used to tease our Nan when she became confused with the rules of a game. That baton is now firmly in her hands of her daughter and it won't be long before it gets passed to me!
This brought back memories! I auditioned for The Crystal Maze (the TV show) when I was 16 (the age range to apply being 16 - 40). I wrote to the show to express interest and they sent me a typewritten form, and a mental maths quiz to complete. The form asked whether you had drama experience, at the time I attended an evening acting class. The mental maths quiz was beyond me, so I gave it to my mum, and she took it to work, so several people actually worked out the questions. (I still have the questions somewhere. I remember they involved a bit of logic and sequencing patterns. I'll have to dig them out one day and see if they still elude me!)

I sent back the answers and the form. In return, I was invited to audition. I was told the auditions were in two parts - one physical, and one maths based. I was cacking it re the maths, and hoped very much the first audition would be physical. The audition was held in The Langham hotel in London. I turned up, and everyone else auditioning was in their mid-twenties or older. We had to do a five-minute intro to camera - everyone else was talking about travelling solo through mountains, I spoke about going to Butlins with my mum. It soon became apparent this was the maths-based audition. Cue slowly dying over the course of an hour. To be fair, all the other hopeful contestants were incredibly kind. But it was a useful lesson to learn - don't cheat! Needless to say I didn't get a call-back. Fun experience, though!
I did the Manchester location as a birthday trip with friends a few years back, and this review sounds just like our experience as well - although I think we managed at least one "win" for every member of the group, and as a group of 7 (someone had to drop out at last minute) some of the party got "extra" games.

We didn't actually wear the shiny satin jackets in the maze though - just for the photo opportunities.

Oh, and we were warned as we went into the dome at the final that if we picked up or even touched any tokens from the floor, we'd be totally disqualified. We did pretty well though, and our "plan" for grabbing the most tokens pretty much worked!

Ours were all gold too - no "Christmas Treat" excuses though; I think that's just their standard method.
The Islington site on White Lion Street was, in a previous life, an accounting college. It was very strange going in and seeing all the classrooms and breakout areas where I’d studied about a decade earlier.

I wonder what’s happened to it now that the Maze has moved on.
A friend of mine (an actor) has worked at the Manchester one several times and the impression I got from her is much the same as you got - a really well rounded experience that’s nowhere near as seamless behind the scenes. The maze masters all have radios up there and get told when they can move on to the next zone.










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