Welcome, watchers of illusion, to the castle of confusion...

[Heathcliff]

If you recognise these, then please reply: and we'll go from there.

[SexualOddity]

Didn't even need the links!

[Heathcliff]

Well, at least one person knows what I'm talking about- so I will continue!

This was Knightmare, a UK children's TV show from the 80s and 90s. It's become a bit of a cult classic, and I was obsessed with it when I was a kid.

It involves a kid walking through a computer generated dungeon, avoiding hazards to complete a Dungeons-and-Dragons style quest. Obviously the dungeon was not actually there; so the kid wore a helmet that obscured his vision, while three friends guided him around the rooms.

Completing the quest was actually quite difficult, and not many of the teams did. The other teams had their 'dungeoneer' (the kid in the helmet) killed off in various ways: sometimes walking off a cliff, being burned by a fire-breathing dragon, or (on several memorable occasions) being cut in half by a circular saw. That sounds very violent, but the 'deaths' were completely unrealistic-looking (although I think Mary Whitehouse did complain about them at some point, but then she complained about everything).

I don't know why I liked it so much- I guess a combination of fantasy (which I liked a lot as a kid), puzzles and suspense. I wondered if any UK forum members who are around my age used to like this program too?

[SexualOddity]

I absolutely loved Knightmare. In fact, I still do, I still watch the repeats on a Friday night on Challenge. I remember being almost afraid of it (in that compelling, can't look away sense), especially the parts where the floor would fall away or the life force ran out and the eyeballs went spiraling out of the skull. I think part of the drive for me was that the tiniest error would kill off a group and so it always felt like people were so close, and so I'd be desperate to see another group do things slightly differently. But yeah... definitely my favourite programme of my childhood. I still remember the disappointment that was the temporal disruption at the end. Shortest half an hour ever.

[PuddinPop]

I do actually remember watching Knightmare as a kid, I used to watch in the evenings at my Nan and Grandad's house.

I was only born in 1990, however, so I don't remember great deals about it, but I do remember the kid wearing the helmet and getting killed off in several ways. It reminded me a lot of The Crystal Maze (which was wonderful) - not so much how the games were played, but the style of the programme, the feel of it, if that makes sense.

Going off topic slightly here, as both of you were around at that time - there has been a game show that has been bugging me for a long time now. I can't remember what it was called, Mystic Games is ringing a bell for some reason, but when I try to look it up online, I find nothing. All I can remember is the starting credits were very pink ( ) and

At least, I seem to think it was. I may be completely wrong, and I could have just been dreaming about this!

Sorry for threadjacking slightly it's just been bugging me for years

Edited December 17, 2013 by PuddinPop

[Enkidom]

Ah Knightmare, the only fantasy based game where an apple and a feather wrapped in ribbons was more useful than a crossbow (though it would have been hard to see what one was shooting at in the helmet). It did conjure up an atmosphere though, it was very tense to watch, and that life-force clock graphic was truly, wonderfully, grim. I did spend a considerable amount of time during an episode chuntering under my breath that if they had picked up the crossbow or the sword they could have just dispatched the darn CGI wall monster.

[count tiszula]

I can't claim to be a similar age to you chaps, but somehow I was a big fan of Knightmare; I suppose I may even have recorded it. Not only was it the first ever fantasy children's game, but it was even vaguely mediaeval! I always preferred the segments with live actors doing the puzzles; were there even returning characters?

Certainly the top hero for me was the bearded dungeonmaster, was it Hugo something? The children were usually hopeless at the game, and anyway, who wouldn't prefer lounging in the agreeable clublike civilised upstairs shouting at the player , who was usually tonguetied and helmeted.

And yet somehow they never made an adult version..........

[SexualOddity]

No, no they did.

They brought a version back for Geekweek with adult players. (Apparently YouTube celebrities... I suspect I'm too old for that shit.)

Also apparently there is talk of a Knightmare convention where there will be the option of playing a dungeon. I also have a coded-text version of Knightmare that my husband made for me that I could send on if anyone wanted to play a very basis, text-dungeon version of the game