Days Out: Step into 90s nostalgia with The Crystal Maze Live Experience

The Crystal Maze is back on our small screens – and there’s no better way to celebrate the game show’s revival than actually taking on the iconic challenges yourself at The Crystal Maze Live Experience in Manchester.

For those unfamiliar with the show, the experience started with a nostalgic VHS montage of The Crystal Maze’s best bits before our team (pictured inset)was introduced to our Maze Master – named Anytime – who brilliantly guided us through the attraction with wit and sarcasm in equal measure.

There are four themed zones – Aztec, Medieval, Industrial and Futuristic – with different challenges (skill, physical, mental and mystery) to complete in order to win crystals.

More crystals means more time in the iconic ticket dome, where the aim is to catch enough golden tickets to secure a spot on the coveted leader board.

Our first game centred around pies and resulted in abject failure.

But, thankfully, this channelled our competitive nature and we saw success with games as wacky as Space Invaders with tennis balls and what I can only describe as a giant hamster wheel.

The experience, which gets contestants crawling, running and even sliding around the extremely realistic maze, is escapism at its best – especially when the immortal words ‘Start the fans, please’ signal the final challenge of collecting golden tickets in the Crystal Dome.

It’s a thrilling rush from start to finish.

To book, visit https://the-crystal- maze.com/