If you grew up in the mid to late 90s in Australia, there is one kids game show that nearly every kid caught at least once after school.
A*mazing. During my stay at OSCH every afternoon, A*mazing was must watch afterschool.
So many kids grew up in the 90s, shouting at their tv while kids would walk straight past a key that was obvious in front of the tv camera.
‘CACTUS! IT’S BEHIND THE CACTUS!!!
Let’s not mention how terrible most kids were at the video games!
This show goes down as my favourite kids game show growing up.

A*mazing had everything a kid could want! There was a giant keyboard during the huge boom of computers in Australia. Kids navigated an obstacle course/maze. They participated in Nintendo Video game competitions. Game Boys were also available to win. Schools would compete against each other by answering general trivia questions on a giant keyboard. They would then move on to win points and even prizes in a maze.

A*mazing is shown from 1994 until at least 1998, and is one of the longest running Aussie kid game shows, many of them don’t last long back in the day.

A*mazing premiers on the 16th of May 1994, following the iconic and insanely popular at the time, Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, non repeat episode too!

If you were a young child in 1994, the Power Rangers were literally the biggest thing, so this was a great time to debut a new tv. A*mazing goes head to head with Wonder World on Nine, the iconic Johnson and Friends on the ABC, and other iconic kids show Totally Wild on Ten.

If you go back and watch some Aussie kid game shows from the 90’s, some hosts were hit and miss. However James Sherry was definitely the best one out of all of them, and hosts its entire run.

James Sherry went on as an announcer at international cricket matches in Australia and used to regularly host Saturday Lotto, Oz Lotto and Powerball draws, and was also James Sherry was an MC at Australian Football League games held at the Docklands Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
I actually remember first seeing James however, in the early days of Saturday Disney, where he was one of three hosts.

James says this in a 1994 article in the lead up to the show:
“The maze is mind-blowing. When I first came into the studio, even as an adult, I had to have a go myself. They pulled me out because there was wet paint and they didn’t want footprints all over it. You can’t look at it without thinking that you want to be in there.’ SHERRY is clearly enthusiastic about the new show. “I love it. It’s very fast, action packed. So different from anything else you’ve ever seen. It’s finally moved into the 1990s and where the kids are at.” Since leaving Saturday Disney late in 1993, Sherry has moved from Brisbane to Melbourne to pursue more theatrical work. He’s looking forward to expanding his horizons.”

I’m willing to work in movies, film, television, anything.
Performing is in my blood. If I can make money out of it as well, that’s great. But if I never make a 10 million dollar block-busting movie that’s fine. I’d like to continue working in those three industries. Amazing only requires me to work three days a fortnight in Brisbane so the rest of my time is my own.” Sherry says it was time for him to move on from Saturday Disney. He enjoys being able to work with children as well as adults.”

Here is some background on how the show was made.

There were 10 series made of the show in total. Each series ran for 13 weeks per season. There were five episodes a week, featuring four contestants at a time. In total 2600 kids got to play A*mazing.

Setting up and lighting the maze, the keyboard, and the contestant podium took a full day. It was quite a bit of effort to set up each time. Because of this 10 episodes were recorded over two days back to back.

Between 1994 and 1996, the show was filmed in Brisbane Qld. Then it moved to Perth and was filmed there between 1997 and 1998. So only kids in QLD and WA went on the show.

Each school chose 20 candidates to appear on the show. It was up to the teachers of the individual schools to select the initial pool of students for the show. The production team would then test the 20 kids. This usually happened a month or so before the recording. They would choose 10 contestants plus two reserves from the group. It was rumoured that producers were after people who are snappy with their answers, it didn’t really matter what the answers were.
Each child was interviewed separately. Ten students would be selected, two each day. The other five served as fill-ins if they were sick or unavailable. They were also the close-up cheer squad in the intro videos. The rest of class would be the cheer squad in the stands.

Schools would bus their contestants to the studios. On one occasion, the bus broke down, and the 10 contestants had to be rushed to the studio in taxis.

The studio audience and contestants were given lots of room to enjoy and contribute to the game. Good Luck trolls and Teddy Bear mascots were used by the production assistants. They helped them get to know the children in the audience. These items were there for the children to talk to. Seven provided the buses, lunch and snacks for all participants and audience members. Contestants also got to take home a bandanna and t-shirt.
Audiences were fed tons of food, including lots of lollies, as reported by people who appeared on the show.

The show would consist of multiple rounds of Time Zone, which as a trivia question round that needed to be answered on a giant keyboard, with a 90 second time limit.

When typing on the giant keyboard, you needed to step on a small button in the top right of each letter. You could not just stomp on the massive key. But sometimes the keyboard appeared not to work. That happened because the other player was standing on the button of another letter. Only one letter could be pressed at a time.

The remaining time when a question was answered determined the points they got. It also determined how long each school gets to spend in the maze for the following round.

The next round was most kids favourite, and that was the Maze Round. For many kids it was dream to appear on this show and do a maze run, maybe even win a Game Boy for themselves in the final round. Some kids even re-enacted the maze in their house.

Now I am an 85 baby, so I was with A*mazing from start and was watching it to the end, I was 9 in 1993, and 13 in 1998. I actually remember the various mazes, and the evolution of the game systems too! But the maze you remember may depend on the age at which you watched the show.

After each Time Zone (triva round) there was a Maze Run round. You needed to collect the letters to your answer inside a giant maze.

Original Maze

This Maze Had a haunted room, a window room with Styrofoam blowing everywhere, foam and ball pits.

Season 2 Maze

The second season maze featured several highlights. These included the Toy Shop with a window, three penguins, the ball pit, and mirror doors that never left. The old Datsun car was added to the Maze too.

Season 3 Maze

The final maze set included a cheese wall with a rat, a science lab, a pet shop, and Donkey Kongs replacing the penguins.

The other highlight of A*mazing was the computer challenge, kindly sponsored by Nintendo. Nintendo sponsored the show, and provided the major price of a Game Boy through the series. I am 100% certain that A*mazing help sell Super Nintendos, Gameboys and Nintendo 64’s in Australia, and helped the transition of Australia changing from a Sega Country.

All four home systems were played on A*mazing, including the legendary NES in 1994 during the first season. The SNES (Super Nintendo) was featured as the most common console from 1994 until 1997, until the release of the Nintendo 64 in Australia.
Kids were tested during a test run, and the best player was chosen to play the game. However most kids were usually terrible.
Highlights for me growing up were seeing Donkey Kong Country in Action, the mine cart level looked so fun to play, and oddly Mario Paint with the mouse.
A*mazing also help popularize the character Bubsy, which became famous to many Aussie kids, being promoted via A*mazing, in Australia Bubsy was distributed by Nintendo Australia. Tetris on the Super Game Boy was also played.

Games featured on A*mazing included Tetris, Bubsy, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Super Mario World, Nigel Mansell’s World Championship, Plok, Pac-Attack, 1080° Snowboarding, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!, Wave Race 64, Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, San Francisco Rush, Multi-Racing Championship, Cruis’n USA, Diddy Kong Racing, Super Mario 64, Unirally, Winter Gold, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Tennis, Cruis’n World, and the fly-swatting minigame from Mario Paint.

The Final Maze run was the Bonus Round. Instead of letters this time, it was Keys. One of the keys would be a Bonus key, and you won a Game Boy if you found the bonus key.

Initially, the original Game Boy was released, but it was later replaced by the Game Boy Pocket. If you didn’t have a Gameboy yet, you wanted to go on this show badly and win one!

James Sherry actually launched a massive campaign to bring A*mazing back in the early 2020s. I believe the idea of even using adults was thrown around. Sadly nothing ever came from it.
Aussie TV networks no longer need to make children’s shows either, as their is a new credit system used for Australian and children’s tv, and the networks can now bypass children’s tv and fill it up with terrible Aussie made reality tv or news.
Hopefully one day we will see A*mazing come back, I’m sure many adults would love to do a maze run as a child dream of theirs, or the next generation of Aussie kids would have a ton of fun with the same format.