Cast your mind back to the heady days of nineties telly. Are you thinking of the massive shiny dome from The Crystal Maze yet?
But enough about the bald head of host Richard O’Brien, we’re here to tell you that the labyrinth from that cult Channel 4 show is to open to the public in London, allowing thousands of people to live out long held fantasies of running the maze for real.
Set to open on 15 March, this ‘immersive experience’ will happen inside a 30,000 square between North London’s King’s Cross and Angel - for three years, so don’t worry about it selling out just yet. Speaking of which, tickets, costing £50 per person, go on sale later today with Crowdfunders given first refusal.
Much like the show that ran between 1990 and 1995, teams will complete a series of challenges designed in different zones to test intelligence, skill and physical ability, with failure to complete tasks resulting in teammates seeing the doors to these rooms shut on them forever. Or until the end of the show.
And of course, right at the end, players will enter that large air-blasted Crystal dome to grab as much cash as possible, which will translate to prizes for this experience.
If you’re wondering how the hell this came about, twentysomething friends Dean Rodgers, Tom Lionetti-Maguire and Ben Hodges launched the project on a crowdfunding site and before you could say ‘people love nostalgia’ they’d reached just under £1m in four weeks.
And the dosh is clearly being put to good use, with the chief set designer being Steve Scott, who created the builds for blockbusters including Titanic and Hellboy. Meanwhile, diehard fans of the show will be relieved to know creator Malcolm Hayworth and rights holder Zodiak Rights have been involved in the process from its inception.
What's more, as well as a viewing platform, the venue will have a bar and street food offerings.
Perhaps getting locked in there wouldn't be too bad after all.
