One of the first times I remember feeling inspired was in 1995, when my primary school teacher Pat sat the class down, lifted the lid on a small black box and revealed a spherical crystal she had won after taking part on the hit TV gameshow The Crystal Maze.

Back then the idea of a normal person being on TV was overwhelming. I never imagined that someone like me would have an opportunity to run around after Richard O’Brien in the hope of winning two tickets for a pony trekking holiday in Ullswater. Like millions (literally, millions) of UK viewers in the 90s, I always dreamed of competing in the Crystal Maze.

Now we’re all a lot older and, fortunately for us, live in an age where TV is Netflix, the best gameshow is Take Me Out, and immersive, interactive experiences are the de facto entertainment for a night on the town. It was only really a matter of time before someone thought: “What’s the one thing that an entire generation of people who now have disposable income aspire to do?” The team who have just launched a true-to-life recreation of the Crystal Maze, which anyone can take part in, may be about to make a lot of money.

Two years in the making, the maze, which is in a secret, unmarked location near Angel, north London, opens to the public on 15 March. The Guardian had the opportunity to be among the first to try it out. (Pat, if you’re reading this: I made it.)

For the unaquainted, the Crystal Maze gameshow takes contestants through four zones: Aztec, Industrial, Futuristic and Medieval, where you take on various mental and physical challenges to win crystals. Each crystal gets you five seconds in the Crystal Dome – the grand finale, in which you have to grab as many gold tickets as possible while the dome’s fans blast them through the air.

Donned in Crystal Maze branded bomber jackets (which were pretty on-point fashion-wise and a very tempting to steal), a team of eight colleagues and myself braced ourselves for entry. Our maze experience began in a small “air-lock” room where we were shown a lo-fi VHS montage of 90s references along with some Richard O’Brien best bits. O’Brien, who added self-deprecating surreal humour while presenting the TV show, isn’t present in the recreation, unfortunately. But we had a worthy and suitably eccentric alternative, Bashar, to lead us through it.

What quickly became apparent was the impressive set design. I expected it to feel a bit thin, but it’s incredibly well thought out. The Aztec zone was actually warmer and covered in sand and tropical plants, the Medieval zone was chilly and features what looks like the very same table O’Brien would write at with his scroll and quill, and the tunnels and corridors you run through between each all add to the authentic experience.

Though varying dramatically in difficulty, the challenges were true to the gameshow; we guided blindfolded team-mates through mazes, crept through lazers, traversed rolling logs and solved visual puzzles. Though we managed to avoid having a “Press U3” moment, it was interesting to note that having all your team-mates shouting at you from little windows all around can sometimes be counterproductive. I will rewatch old episodes with a renewed sense of sympathy.

We managed to complete the maze with one lock-in (sorry Holly), but unlike in the actual maze, if you run out of time during a challenge you don’t actually get locked in for the remainder of the experience – which is fair enough if you’ve just paid (at least) £50 for the pleasure. But your team member does get put in a mock prison or tied up somewhere in the zone where they are left to either complete a puzzle to get out, or can be freed in exchange for a precious crystal.

After collecting 12 crystals (for the record, this was more than our competitors from the Sun or Time Out managed), we had earned 60 seconds in the Crystal Dome. It looks almost identical to the original, though I’m told that while the original had crew members standing underneath it with hand held fans to make the foil tickets fly around, this one actually has a built in air system.

This is where everything fell apart for Team Guardian. Overwhelmed by the flurry of foil and the fact that OMG! YES! we’re in the Crystal Dome, some team members (OK, mainly me), began scooping massive piles of gold tickets off the ground and shovelling them into the box. Screams from fellow team members that picking the tickets off the ground was against the rules were heeded too late. We exited the dome to boos from the Sun (the Sun!?) and were disqualified for cheating.

Watching our miserable fall from grace was the man behind the maze, 28-year-old Tom Lionetti-Maguire, who assured me that the pantomime at the end was part of the experience. “The best bit is seeing people coming out at the end either fully pumped liked they’ve just had a workout, or bitterly in-fighting,” he tells me. “Either way, it’s really affected them. That’s what makes it fun.”

• The activity was provided by the Crystal Maze experience; it lasts approximately 90 minutes and costs £50pp weekdays, £60 weekends, the-crystal-maze.com