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Tbh, I think the hands on shoulders mazes offered something else that now cant be matched. and until covid is no longer an issue I cant see them returning due to proximity. all the reactions of the people in the group or hearing them was simply brilliant. Although there is no better experience than a unofficial brave it alone on Asylum when its empty and they called out staff member before letting me in (2008) I think. yes there are pro’s and cons for both types of maze. But lets not forget the scare ability of the likes of some of the earlier mazes surpasses that of the more recent additions.

I’m kind of just realising that FN’s 10th anniversary (& Exp10’s opening year) being 10 years ago, which means that half of FN’s history has taken place since then….. I realise that is is obvious, but wow I’m getting so old! 😳 Exp10 opening feels so recent to me. I completely agree with all that’s been said about looking back at the past mazes fondly - I don’t think perhaps the likes of Asylum would be quite as well received today as it was at the time. Really Asylum was little more than a chain-link strobe maze with a lit-up sign out the front and a great theme tune. But wow was it scary. I seem to remember scare mazes making me (and everyone else queueing) genuinely nervous. They, especially Asylum, seemed to have a legendary reputation which I think just added to it. I think as well the hands-on-shoulders thing, and the bizarre group photo (with all the random strangers in your run through) and briefing on the ‘stage’ in front of the queue before going through the iconic blue door added to it too - it felt like such an event! I think we expect a lot more from a scare maze these days, unlike a few years ago when really we didn’t expect much more than simply to be scared. Now we seem to expect a full story to be told and for it to be well themed throughout - the bar has been raised massively, and quite rightly so since they now charge for a runthrough. I think that’s why Experiment 10 and Cabin In The Woods (and the towers mazes) impressed so much at the time, because it added so much more to what most people were used to seeing from a maze, including the likes of Tulley’s at the time. I think expectations are just extremely different now. Mazes have stories and are generally really well themed. Big Top was a little different for me because it almost felt like a slight step back to how mazes used to be - it was more simple in what it was trying to do. Even the beloved Big Top though was a far cry from how mazes used to be a few years before. The way the BT’s soundtrack evolved throughout the maze, and the work that went in to the set designs, it was nothing like the old mazes at all - it was so much more, and clearly had a much bigger budget. I don’t think there’s any going back to how it was, not without people calling it lazy. I think scare mazes are having a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. Most mazes aren’t built simply to be “scary” anymore - they’re really more of a scenic theatrical experience aren’t they? (I’m not complaining about that - just kind of rambling/realising) A good point was made earlier about the “10th birthday” being celebrated by a plastic cake being wheeled about on a trolley and a maze with “10” written on it - and that was great back then! Now everyone expects a lot more. ———— Tl;dr - I think the unwritten ‘definition of a scare maze’ has changed too much for Asylum and co to be as well received as they used to be. People expect more now. (sorry for my rambling post 🙄) Thanks for coming to my ted talk.