The (New) $25,000 Pyramid

This is chronicling ***The (New) $25,000 Pyramid***.

## Game Format

### Main Game

The game is played with two teams of two players (consisting of one celebrity & one contestant) in a game of word communication. Each game starts with the introduction of six categories arranged in a pyramid. In the main game, a category's position on the pyramid was not an indicator of its difficulty. The categories were usually puns hinting to the content within that subject.

Each team in turn chose a category, and then a subject under that category was given. Each subject has seven words/phrases/names. The team had 30 seconds to guess the seven answers that fit into the category. One player described each item while the other player tried to guess what the words are. Each correct word was worth one point. When a word was passed, it cannot be returned to, but if the guesser can guess the word already passed, the team still scored. If at any time the clue giver gave away any part of the answer or conveyed the essence of the answer, a cuckoo sounded and the word was thrown out.

Each team had three turns with the celebrities giving first in round one, the contestants giving in round two, and in round three they decided amongst themselves on who's giving and who's receiving.

#### Special Bonuses

At some point in the game, a team would uncover a special card behind one category prompting a bonus situation. To win the bonus, the team had to get all the answers right. In situations where a team can win the game without needing all the answers or has won the game automatically, if the last category concealed a bonus, the team was allowed to play all the way out in order to win the bonus.

* **7-11** - It premiered in April 1983 and was always played in the first game. The team that exposed the 7-11 had 30 seconds to get all seven and win a cash bonus of $1,100. When it first premiered, the contestant had a choice between going for the $1,100 or play it safe and play for $50 a correct answer; this rule lasted until 1/18/85.
* **Mystery 7** - It was always played in the second game. The team that found the Mystery 7 had a chance to win a special prize. It's called the Mystery 7 because the category was not told until after it was done. The team had the usual 30 seconds to get all seven words. In its early existence, the Mystery 7 was in plain sight as the last category on the main game Pyramid board. It was mostly chosen first by the contestant who lost the first game, which mostly led to having the Mystery 7 be hidden away.

#### Tie-Breaker

If the game ended in a tie, both scores were deleted and the game shifted into a tie-breaker situation. The team that caused the tie had a choice between two letters leaving the other for the other team. Both teams had 30 seconds to get as many of the seven items beginning with their letter(s) as they can. The team that got the most out of seven won the game. If the first team got seven, the time remaining on the clock was subtracted from 30 to give the time that the other team needed to get seven. If the game ended in a 21-21 tie, the team that broke the tie won a car (later $5,000).

#### Player of the Week

For three weeks in 1983 on The New $25,000 Pyramid the player who had the fastest time of the week won a trip to Greece.

The team with the most points won the game.

### Winner's Circle

The giver of the winning team faced a larger pyramid board of six subjects with the guesser having his/her back to the board. The winning team had 60 seconds to climb up to the top of the pyramid by getting all six. On each subject, the giver gave a list of items that fit the subject while the guesser tried to guess what they all have in common. As soon as the guesser gets the right subject or passed, they moved on to the next subject to the right. Upon a pass, the team can come back to it if there's time leftover though the guesser can still get the subject without going back to it. If at any time the giver gave an illegal clue (giving away part of the answer, conveying the essence of the answer, descriptions of the category or a synonym) a buzzer would sound, the subject was re-concealed and the team forfeited the chance at the big money. The giver was discouraged from using his/her hands which is why they were strapped into the chair. The use of prepositional phrases was also outlawed. Even though the big money was forfeited, the team can still go for the other subjects, because when time ran out, the contestant still won money attached to the subjects guessed; of course, getting all six in 60 seconds without illegal clues won the grand cash prize.

#### Payoffs

Here are the amounts for each subject:

The first trip was worth $10,000, and the second trip was worth a total of $25,000 ($10,000 win in the first WC means the second is worth $15,000; otherwise, a win in the second WC augmented the first WC earnings to $25,000).

### Game/Championship Formats

All episodes was made self-contained for it had the contestants play by both of these games for every show. Any money won from the Winner's Circle was used as score money not counting bonuses. The player with the highest money and win by both of these games is back to play for the next show. If the show ended in a tie both contestants returned to play the next show. Contestants retired if 5 wins and if winning the $25,000 since it was the network's winnings limit; when the limit was raised to $50,000 in 1984 and $75,000 in 1986, contestants were needed to stay a little while longer until they get enough $25,000 wins to retire and win all 5 games.

## Trivia

At one time, *The $25,000 Pyramid* was replaced by a Jay Wolpert game show called *Blackout*, only to return four months later.

For a brief period, the $25,000 sign did not flash during $10,000 wins.

The biggest amount awarded during this run was $60,050.