Curse you, Olmec: All the rooms from Legends Of The Hidden Temple, ranked

When Legends Of The Hidden Temple first premiered in 1993, Nickelodeon was just coming off the and seemed anxious to find a new anchor game show. Legends was, , “American Gladiators meets Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” but kids loved its The latter, the titular temple, was the show’s exhilarating—and frustrating—conclusion. Throughout the show’s 120 episode run, only 33 teams actually conquered the temple’s challenges, and four of those did it with only one second left on the three minute clock. For viewers at home, it could be equally strenuous, as they were challenged to watch kids struggle to find actuators that were just right there and to , only to never get the bottom on exactly right. It could feel like torture—but what sweet torture it was.With the original show now streaming on Paramount+ and , we thought it was time to revisit the temple for ourselves, determining once and for all which obstacles were a gift from Olmec and which were a curse sent down from the network gods. Here are all of the classic Legends Of The Hidden Temple rooms, ranked from easiest to hardest.

A wacky chain-link bridge not dissimilar to one you’d see on any suburban playground, The Troubled Bridge was anything but. Just watch one of the winning teams sprint across it on their way to the finish line and you’ll see how easy it was.

A barely retooled version of The Room Of The Three Gargoyles (no. 41), The Room Of The Royal Gongs tasked temple runners with smacking three oversized “gongs” in an attempt to find an actuator. It lacked style, flair, and difficulty, and was never much of a challenge.

Another “hit all this stuff until one thing works” room, The Laser Light Room was certainly of its era. Temple runners had to remove up to eight rune-like covers to reveal red “lasers” (lightbulbs), and when they found a white light, the door to leave the room would open. It wasn’t rocket science.

Tucked into the same temple room that held both The Room Of The Royal Gongs and The Room Of The Three Gargoyles, The Crypt was a slightly creepier version of the same premise. Temple runners would face three erect skeletons in coffins, all holding books. If they pulled the right one, the door would open. The hardest thing about this room was the Temple Guard who inevitably waited behind the door.

Runners pushed a tongue on one of the room’s three gargoyles. If they got the right one—or just touched anything, really—the door would open. This only ranks as harder than The Royal Gongs because the nine inch or so wide tongues could, in theory, be harder to hit than a big-ass gong?

While The Room Of The Mandarin Hand was visually striking—an enormous articulated hand looks pretty cool, after all—the actual challenge of the room wasn’t all that challenging. Racers were tasked with pushing the hand’s fingers around an oversized globe. Once that was complete, the door opened. Again, the hardest thing about this room was facing down the Temple Guard that inevitably lurked within.

Throughout Legends’ three seasons, The Observatory went through a few makeovers. The first two versions land in this list’s 39th slot. Racers were asked to spin either a sundial or a “celestial light” (a small cylinder from which light emanated like a bootleg star machine). Once they “spun it to the right place” (or, spun it once) the door to leave The Observatory would open. The only reason this room doesn’t rank even easier is because The Observatory’s exit door was a flimsy pipe, which never really looked “open” even if it was, so runners were often confused.

In The Rock Quarry, racers had to throw five foam “boulders” from a raised platform into a large bucket sitting on a pulley. (It was actually the bucket from The Well repurposed, but more about that room later.) Once those five stones were in the bucket, a “stone slab” would open, and players could hit the actuator to open the door it revealed. The hardest part about The Rock Quarry was knowing when you got to five rocks, so if you could do simple counting, even in a time of relative stress, then you’d be fine. If not, you could just keep throwing them in there until something happened.

Not so much a pit as a knee-deep trough, The simple Pit Of Despair shouldn’t be confused with other more challenging obstacles that later occupied its pit-like space. All kids had to do here was run across the room and hit an actuator, then fly through the door. Now, when climbing The Wall above The Pit was involved, that could turn into a mess, but the actual Pit was no more difficult than your typical Chuck E. Cheese attraction. As an adult, you might get stuck in there forever, but for kids, it was easy peasy.

A cute room that challenged temple runners to stomp on two “keys” at a time to reveal the correct tones, The Room Of Harmonic Convergence was only challenging in the sense that runners were never quite sure if they’d actually hit the right keys. It’s hard to say if it was just too loud in the studio or the tones weren’t quite loud enough, but it was more frustrating than actually challenging.

A pit of packing peanuts and stringy rope, The Swamp looked harder than it actually seemed to be. Runners often sprinted through the season one challenge, which is probably why it was altered in later episodes.

Another “run through a pile of something” chamber, The Quicksand Bog didn’t even require runners to hit an actuator to exit. Instead, they could smash through a “stone wall” to leave, which runners did more often than not. A Temple Guard often hid under the “quicksand” though, so that was never good.

A room filled with pretty much what it sounds like, The Room Of Fallen Columns is like one of those rooms at fancy obstacle course places in the ’90s that was filled with swinging punching bags, but somehow easier. It was more of an annoyance than a challenge, just because you often had to use a ladder to enter or exit the room.

The room at the center of the Temple, The Heart Room wasn’t heart surgery. (Har har.) All runners had to do was hit an actuator to progress through the room. However, Temple Guards frequently laid in wait inside, especially since the room offered passage into three or four different rooms in the temple.

A seemingly thrown-together room filled with two ladders, two skeletons, an oversized beanbag slumped on the floor, and a oft-used Temple Guard door, The Dungeon was a challenge only its proximity: Users either had to plow through the “stone wall” to leave or climb one of the ladders to exit.

Not technically a room, per se, The Pharoah’s Secret Passage was literally the repurposed Sundae Slide from Double Dare, only ice cream-less and jammed between the Quicksand Bog and The Room Of The Secret Password. Players could slide down to enter the Bog, or climb up to try for the Password, and, hey, maybe that thing was still slippery. It didn’t seem like it based on the amount of times players flew right up, but it was still a slide, so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

There were two ways out of The Pirate’s Cove: Runners could place one of the torches into the correct torch holder—almost no one ever did this—or they could spin a ship’s wheel to lift the “weight” blocking access to the Dungeon. This room was more tedious than challenging, but at least runners had to figure out which way to spin a wheel.

Chintzy-looking and quickly replaced, The Treasury Of Golden Orbs asked contestants to place one of three golden orbs on one of three pedestals in the room. If they got it right, the door would open. Hardly anyone ever ran through this room, and the only hard part was trying to figure out what the heck the point was.

A snap for anyone with a guitar or a stereo, or who could plug in an alarm clock in the dark, The Lightning Room used one of those “lightning ball” things popular in the ’80s and ’90s as a visual interest point and asked contestants to plug four amp-like cords into its base to advance on. That being said, if runners had entered The Lightning Room from the adjacent Shrine Of The Silver Monkey, they could bypass the task altogether, choosing instead to opt for the interminable Mine Shaft (which shows up later on this list).

One of two entrance points into the temple, The Cave Of Sighs was conquered by shimmying through a cave-like maze of ledges, trying to find the door that opened. However, a Temple Guard often sat crouched hidden in the corner, meaning if you chose that path into the temple, runners would lose their bonus life medallion almost immediately—presuming they even had one.

The revamped and updated version of The Cave Of Sighs used in later seasons, The Ledges is basically almost exactly the same, save a few rounder edges and maybe an extra vertical support. The hardest part about The Ledges was that now, instead of runners dashing straight in like with The Cave, they had to take a slide into The Ledges. Temple Guards still lurked, though—runners would just have to shove their medallions at them through a crack in the ledge.

A Pit Of Despair modification that threw into the mix, The Pit Of The Pendulum seemed almost kind of fun. Runners hopped on the swing, knocked over a column, and would subsequently be met with at least one open door. Sometimes runners didn’t even take the swing and just chose to knock it down by hand. It’s worth noting a Temple Guard never once lurked within, perhaps because they didn’t want to face the potential force of a tumbling tween.

Another Pit Of Despair modification, runners entering The Pit were asked to grab a rope and swing over the titular pit, Tarzan style. While the stunt appeared challenging, monkey-bar-climbing kids likely had the upper-body strength The Pit required.

In The Viper’s Nest, contestants had to open three snake-filled jugs. Two would launch spring-loaded snakes out—like those gag peanut brittle cans that once featured so prominently in comedy—and the other would hold a plastic snake that, when grasped, would activate the opening of one of the room’s doors. Provided runners didn’t get scared or startled by the fake snakes, they’d be just fine.

A tougher version of The Swamp, The Bamboo Forest didn’t actually seem that hard: The holes between the bamboo structures were big enough that kids could easily slide through them. The rub came when the only door that opened to leave the room was the one up in the far dark corner, which required a quick vertical ascent of the bamboo, plus a sort of lean and shimmy to hit the actuator. Given that runners were also racing in brand new yellow sweatpants for some reason, this was probably not the easiest task.

Racers entering The Room Of The Secret Password had to open three wooden cabinets. Each one contained a white tablet with some writing. Racers would shout out what each said, and when the right password was read out, the door to the next room would open. Here, the only challenge was being able to yell loud enough to be heard on the run among screaming fans, and to subsequently know when the runner had actually nailed it and the door was open.

This season-one room asked contestants to push down on the base of one of three golden idols, at which point a door would open. The catch was that no contestant ever did that—or seemingly even remembered it was an option. Every team that encountered the room hit an actuator to head to one of the adjoining rooms instead, bypassing the idols altogether.

Another room frequented by Temple Guards, The Room Of The Ancient Warriors asked contestants to step into what’s probably, in hindsight, pretty un-P.C. sets of “ancient warrior armor.” Once inside, they’d pull down levers and, if they were in the right armor, a door would open. But those Temple Guards would often be inside the armor, meaning if a young runner stepped into the wrong armor, they’d be grabbed from behind by strange adult arms, which is terrifying. No thank you.

A rune-inspired room that popped up in later seasons, The Chamber Of The Sacred Markers required runners to match a series of runs on one side of a door with the ones on the other side of said door. Some of the missing runes were stuck various places on the wall, and if a runner’s brain was—understandably—a little frazzled at this point, it could take a second to shake the cobwebs out. That being said, the drawings runners were tasked to match were basically crosses and drawings of a sun, so it’s not like they really had to stare hard and focus on details. As a bonus nightmare, even if runners completed the challenge, sometimes the door to the climb to the next room opened, only for runners to find a Temple Guard inside. Psych!

The Throne Room went through two iterations during Legends’ run, both of which basically just asked runners to sit on a chair. That’s not difficult, obviously—but The Throne Room almost always contained a Temple Guard, and if runners didn’t still have a medallion on them by that point, they’d be toast.

Another Double Dare item repurposed, The Wheel was that show’s Human Hamster Wheel, just painted black. Runners had to get their feet under them and get it moving, at which point a slab would raise and a door would be revealed. It could be a little slippery, though, and moving the wheel did require some exertion, leading to its ranking in the top third of this list.

Another confounding space, The Treasure Room featured a large, boxy treasure chest in the center of the room. Runners would open the lid, which could trigger a door. If it didn’t, runners would have to bounce all over the room hitting actuators. Here’s the rub: One of the actuators was actually in the box, which kids could then climb through to enter the room below. A lot of kids didn’t realize that, though, and the show suffered for it.

Another Temple Guard quagmire, The Dark Forest featured two oversized and figural spooky trees. Runners would stick their hands into the tree’s knotty mouth, pull out a key of some sort, and use it to exit the room. Of course, more often than not, one of those trees held a Temple Guard who’d grab the runner as they reached for the key, which could be terrifying, also compounded by the creepy trees. This room rides high on this list because of the mental challenges it poses rather than the physical ones.

Yet another Swamp mod, The Holes Of Python constitute one of those obstacles that would be absolutely a nightmare to tackle as an adult. Essentially the holes were just that: staggered holes in boards placed across a packing peanut-filled swamp. Runners had to snake their way through the holes to reach the other side of the room, hit an actuator, and get moving. The move wasn’t impossible, it’s pretty clear at least a few of those preteen javelins left that room with bruises.

The Room Of Three Torches didn’t seem hard: Kids just had to grab a torch off the wall, push it into up to three different holes on podiums, and boom, open door. The problem was that kids reliably forgot to do that, meaning they’d just hop into The Mine Shaft or The Well to leave the room instead, something that—as readers will see in the next entry—wasn’t exactly a helpful move.

Two different rooms that were essentially exactly the same, The Well and The Mine Shaft required contestants to take an incredibly slow elevator out of the room in order to exit. They couldn’t exit the elevator until it came to a complete stop, and each ride would take anywhere from 10 to 12 seconds. (In at least one unaired incident the elevator stopped halfway, leading to a temporarily thwarted run.)Again, it’s not that either of these rooms was much of a physical challenge, but more mental, especially as runners watched their chances of winning tick away as they were forced to stand still.

Another modified version of The Swamp, The Spider’s Lair contained a giant web made out of bungee cord that players had to traverse or climb in order to make it through the space. The cord used was too lightweight for the players, though, and if they had to climb, they often found themselves struggling to gain the footing they’d need to get up and out. The Spider’s Lair wasn’t a room that stuck around for too long, and it’s easy to see why.

Another “find something and fix something” room, The Tomb Of The Headless Kings was just that. The room held two sitting skeletons, neither with a skull, and players had to pull on ropes to release a series of bones from the room’s ceiling. Of course, not all the ropes yielded bones, and some of the ropes that did release bones didn’t necessarily release a skull. Once the player found the skull, they’d have to climb a platform behind the kings to see if it fit, lighting the skeleton up. If it didn’t, they’d have to hop over to the other skeleton and go through the whole process again. As always, Temple Guards often lurked in this room, too, making for quite a few freaked-out kiddos.

In this room, players actually got to break stuff, which was pretty cool. Each entering participant would have to smash three pots looking for a post-like key hidden within. Once they found it, they’d have to push it into a circular keyhole atop each pot’s podium, aiming to find the right one and open the door. The trouble came when pottery pieces would skitter everywhere—something the show tried to allay in later seasons with the inclusion of a triangular pit in which to smash the pots—and the challenges of finding a red key in a bunch of smashed red pottery. It was doable, but it still took time, and that’s a luxury in the Temple.

Though the first two iterations of The Observatory landed much lower on this list, this slot is reserved for the third version, which could be a different beast all together. In season two, visitors to The Observatory had to create an “ancient painting” by aligning stone discs on a spindle. There appeared to be markings to indicate the correct alignment, but that didn’t mean panicked players didn’t ignore them from time to time, especially because the room did seem to be pretty dark.

The top half of The Pit Of Despair, The Wall Climb seemed easy enough. Contestants just had to scale the wall using square hand and foot holds placed throughout. There was even a rope, should contestants want to use it. (They almost never did.) The problem was that the holds weren’t placed in sequence, nor were they always directly underneath the doors, meaning kids would have to sort of shimmy through the door to get through—assuming they were tall enough to make that move in the first place. According to the Temple fan wiki, contestants were meant to use the wall’s holes to circumnavigate the space, as well, though most just jumped into the Pit, crossed the space, and then tried to drag themselves up the wall using just upper body strength. Forget about it.

One of the rare Temple challenges that was actually made easier over time, Medusa’s Lair asked contestants to grab four wiggly looking snake pegs, stick them into a sculpted statue of Medusa’s head, and then, voila, a door would open. The problem was that you had to get the pegs in correctly, in order—whatever that meant because you couldn’t really tell watching at home—and you had to get them all the way into the holes to activate the sensor. It almost never went smoothly, and the show quickly went down to asking just to place just two snakes, and even that could be a little hairy.To make matters worse, Medusa’s Lair was occasionally plagued with technical errors, as the unofficial Legends wiki points out. In six different episodes, the shriek Medusa gives when the snakes are placed correctly just didn’t occur, possibly confusing the contestants, one of whom ended up spending a cringeworthy 1:08 of his three-minute run trying to get the room right: the all-time record for the longest amount of time a contestant spent completing one room’s tasks.

The quintessential Temple mindfuck, The Shrine Of The Silver Monkey seems like it would be easy enough: Contestants just had to grab three foam pieces from shelves, stack them up to look like a monkey, and a new door would open. But kids never remembered to get the base on right. They couldn’t tell which way the middle piece went (and to be fair, when something’s all silver and bumpy, it can be a challenge). Then, when it came to placing the head, kids had to slam it all the way down, and sometimes they just couldn’t figure that out. And some kids were too short to even easily reach the pieces of the monkey. Kids got better at the Silver Monkey over the years, in part because it was the only temple room that never changed throughout the entire run of the series; contestants knew what they’d be up against when they auditioned for the show.

A ridiculous-looking challenge that twisted contestants into what amounted to human knots, The Jester’s Court lands at No. 1 on our hardest rooms of Legends Of The Hidden Temple list. In the Court, contestants had to contort their bodies into the shapes of “ancient drawings” on the wall, hitting a number of actuators simultaneously when they were finally in place. Of course, none of this took into consideration the varying size of tweens, the fact that you can’t always tell when your shoe is pushing a button in even if it’s on the button, and just the general humiliation of the whole thing. Kids never got The Jester’s Court right on their first pose. Instead, they’d inevitably have to do all three, if not re-do some of them to make sure they actually hit the actuators. It was a timesuck and it was a technical struggle, and that’s what makes it the Temple’s biggest challenge.