This week has seen the exhumation of the lost world of Cyberdrome – a reconstruction of the original website built in the late 1990s and some more material and news that have surfaced since then. Enjoy at Cyberdrome.
Cyberdrome Crystal Maze added to Cornucopia
Thank you so much for sharing this! I really enjoyed it at the time you posted it; it was the highlight of my Christmas, without exaggeration. I particularly enjoyed the manual in the Dubai section with all the behind-the-scenes information.
The passing mention of a Crinkley Bottom attraction is particularly intriguing, and any information you could provide about it would be delightful. I have a theory about this; Noel’s House Party episodes tended to end with the Grab A Grand game, which was really not so far from the Crystal Dome, except in a smaller, squarer box and without silver tokens, so that could have been the natural conclusion to your attraction.
I went to see Noel Edmunds in about 1993 to discuss a “Crinkley Bottom” Cyberdrome. We had worked up a “storyboard” showing potential games including Grab a Grand. Despite protracted talks with his company manager, the project never got funded (he wanted us to put all the investment in and to charge us a licence fee). Instead a “Blobbyland” amusement park opened in Morecambe, Lancs the next year…but closed within months.
Any chance of photos from the Southampton crystal maze? I understand it was still all there until a year or so back until an escape room company took over the area in the bowling complex. Be great to know some history of this particular maze and any photos you may have which could be shared on a local history group.
Thanks for your comments. I’ve created a new gallery “Extras” on the Cyberdrome Extras page with all the photos I possess.
There are several from the construction phase of the Southampton Crystal Maze. If you know of anybody who has others I would be happy to add them.
Unfortunately I can’t display the descriptions with the current gallery plugin I’m using, so you can’t see my carefully crafted explanations – I’m working on it!
Some great photos there! Yeah if you look on the daily echo page you will find some photos of the place there link is https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/14784041.superbowl-through-the-years-are-you-in-our-pics/
Really nice to read through this, including the more technical side, as that’s the thing that always fascinated me.
I know licensing is a pain, but did any of the software resources survive, as I’d love to see whether any of it could be preserved in a state where it could be shown off, although I would understand that the peripheral side of it would be a problem.
Nice to hear from you – sorry it’s taken so long to reply: your comments are so non-specific I assumed it was spam (of which I get a lot)!
I had a Barcrest CM machine in the office back in the day; I finished up giving to a community resources organisation in Bristol.
I wanted to link our Crystal Mazes together and also have virtual ones, but that was way ahead of its time when most people were still using modems shared with the family phone.
I like the idea behind your website (and its name) – let’s see more of that.
I know, using a pseudonym doesn’t help RE spam, but sometimes I’m dealing with stuff that I can’t really post under a real name. Ironically, lockdown has seen me busier than normal, so I’m not getting down to doing any proper writing…
Certainly it remains a fascinating project to me, I know it’s probably an impossibility but imagine if any of the simpler games that didn’t have any physical component were playable again, so those drawn in by the story get to experience it like we did back in the day.
Cyberdrome crystal maze games were made on…..
an Atari ST
Yep, an Atari ST, the Wales site closed about 10 years ago and there were plans…but…due to contracts etc…the designers aren’t even allowed to release any of the software data, not even a still image…as I’ve tried…and it’s still a firm ‘No’…
Don’t worry though…they’re still active in the market and stuff still exists….just can’t be publicly released
Oh…and if your really interested….the Wales site didn’t close due to financial or deterioration as the official statement read….it wasn’t given a renewal licence by the rights ownership…so had no choice but to close…
Yeah, well….it’s over 10 years ago…so freedom of information and all that….otherwise ignore what I’ve said as misinformation if you prefer 😉
Although the first networked games demonstrator was developed using two Atari STs, all the Cyberdrome Crystal Maze games and admin terminals were PCs. Initially 20MHz, with 20MB HD and 1MB RAM!