The Crystal Maze - Entering The Maze

Entering The Maze

When a team started the "Crystal Maze", they had to overcome an obstacle to enter their first Zone. The hosts would suggest that failure to complete the challenge would result in the team not being able to access the maze at all. Occasionally, they would jest that injury or death from unseen threats would affect "unfortunate" team members, e.g. rival tribes would eat anyone who failed to reach the Aztec zone. But the teams were given sufficient time and unlimited chances to complete the entry task. The host would even assist them by giving direct instructions. No participant has ever failed in these opening challenges. In every case, the entire group would reconvene in the centre of the zone. These challenges were:

• Aztec: Row across a river in two canoes, The captain and vice captain went in separate boats, in case one of the boats 'sank', and Richard/Ed followed usually in the boat with the Vice Captain. The teams were expected to untie the boats from one jetty, and then tie them to the other, as instructed by the host. One rare occasion, the host would offer genuine assistance.
• Medieval: Open the large doors and then open or climb over a portcullis. Regularly after Series 1 and 2 they climbed. Sometimes, the portcullis would lower or not move at all when the chains were used. If it moved, it would always become 'stuck', forcing the team to climb under or over the gate. It was unknown whether the portcullis had broken or if the Producer had made a decision to leave the chains as a red herring.
• Futuristic: Answer a question set by the computer. The question was usually a mathematical equation, but could sometimes be about historical events or general knowledge. If the team got the question wrong, the computer would supply another question.
• Industrial (series 1–3): Climb over oil barrels and wire mesh into a gap above a door, and/or open the gates or door with a key
• Ocean (replacing Industrial from series 4–6): Tie up (or in later series, remove) a metal grille and climb down a net ladder

Each episode of series 1–4 started with Richard O'Brien blowing his whistle. In series 5–6, Ed Tudor Pole used a different whistle, but the episode would sometimes start with a distinct sound; he would ring a bell in Medieval, blow a conch in Aztec, set off an alarm in Futuristic (after the question was answered), and sound a foghorn in Ocean.