A*mazing | |
---|---|
Genre | Game show |
Created by | Michael Boughen Hal McElroy |
Written by | Luke Bolland Mia Pericles |
Directed by | Steve Quartly |
Presented by | James Sherry |
Narrated by | Gary Clare (1994) Mark Malone (1995–1996) Jason Walkerden (1997) Darren de Mello (1998) |
Theme music composer | Clive Young |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 10 |
No. of episodes | 650 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Wayne Cameron Michael Boughen |
Producer(s) | Rob Gillow |
Location(s) |
Brisbane, Queensland (1994–1996) Perth, Western Australia (1997–1998) |
Camera setup | Mike Deegan Darren Dunstan Steve Giumelli Ray Grenfell Nathan Hayter Matt Hyett |
Running time | 26 minutes |
Production company(s) | Southern Star Group |
Release | |
Original network | Seven Network |
Picture format | 4:3 PAL |
Audio format | Stereo |
Original release | 16 May 1994 – 1998 |
A*mazing was an Australian children's television game show that aired between 16 May 1994 until 1998 on the Seven Network. It was famous for a relatively large and elaborate maze/obstacle course that was part of the show's studio set. A*mazing was hosted by James Sherry for the entire run of the series. A*mazing was produced at Channel 7 Brisbane from 1994–1996 and then at Channel 7 Perth from 1997–1998.
The show pitted teams from two different primary schools against each other during the course of a week. Points gained by each contestant during the week would be totalled up to decide the winning school at the end of each week.
In the first round of the game, a 90-second countdown timer begins and Sherry begins to provide clues to a word or phrase, to the first school's contestants. Contestants have to correctly guess the word or phrase, then run down to a large QWERTY keyboard mounted on the floor and step on the letters to spell it out. The process is repeated for the second school. If contestants were unable to guess the word initially, the clues would get easier until the word was spelled out by Sherry. The time remaining determines how many points they get, plus how long each school gets to spend in the maze during round two.
During the second round, one contestant from each school would enter the maze and attempt to collect the letters of the answer which are hidden in such places as a garbage can, or behind a mock cactus. Ten points are given for every letter they retrieve inside the maze before their time runs out.
Occasionally the maze will include letters that are not part of the answer. Even if they collected these, a team is not awarded any points.
Round three is the same as the round one, it will just be a different word or phrase they will have to guess and spell out.
Round four is the same as the second round, except the other contestant from the team enters the maze in order to find the letters to their word
In the fifth round, the contestants competed in a video game face off. During the course of the show, three different gaming platforms, all provided by sponsor Nintendo, were used. Originally the Nintendo Entertainment System (1994–1995), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1995–1997) and later the Nintendo 64 (1997–1998).