The $10,000 Pyramid

Since Bob Stewart left Goodson-Todman in the mid 60s to form his own production company, he has had successes such as Eye Guess, Personality and Three on a Match. But in 1973, he had the biggest hit of his career with The $10,000 Pyramid.

Derived from Password, Stewart loosened up the main game by allowing a player descriptive clues to get their partner to guess the word without revealing part of the answer. The winning team goes to The Winner's Circle where the clue giver faces the giant pyramid and gives clues to their partner so they can identify six subjects in 60 seconds. This is what makes Pyramid one of TV's greatest game shows. It is the best bonus round of any game show ever invented because it's 60 seconds of drama and suspense, two important elements needed for a successful game show.

Another element that made Pyramid a hit was host Dick Clark. The American Bandstand host brought to the proceedings something no other host has done. If a contestant loses the big money, he would give clues that would have helped the contestant win. He was the type of host who cared about the players and wanted them to win. Also hosting the various versions were Bill Cullen, John Davidson, Donny Osmond and Mike Richards. They did a really good job as hosts.

Also, there were many celebrities who were outstanding at the game. Some of the best Pyramid players were Soupy Sales, Anita Gillette, Betty White, Nipsey Russell and Henry Polic II.

Since its debut in 1973, the top prize has risen to 25, 50 and 100 thousand and there was also a version simply titled Pyramid and also The Pyramid. It's TV's most durable word game and it will put you in The Winner's Circle.

After 4 seasons of winning $10,000 and the title & the value are both changed & raised into $20,000 for "THE $20,000 PYRAMID!" It debuted on January 19, 1976 and the 2 teams are now playing in 2 parts instead of the full Qualifying Round. The 6 subjects on the "Play-A-long Pyramid" was shown. Each subject contains of 7 things to be describe them and also an question for each of the 6 subjects can be read by the host. The Team has 30 seconds to describe number of things to score. However, When the team scores 7 out of 7 that'll be the perfect score of the same number 7. The 1st team scores the most points wins, Otherwise that'll score 21 wins $1000 and going to "The Winner's Circle" for 2 cash rewards. The 1st tryout is worth $10,000 and the 2nd and last tryout was $15,000 and later tried for $20,000. one of each member of the team has 60 seconds to give a list of things from the related subject that collects the value on the pyramid in the following: 3 subjects worth $50, 2 Subjects worth $100 and 1 subject worth $200. The Possible total was $500 as same as the bonus cash of the new feature card called "The BIG 7!" One Member of the team shouldn't use/give a thing into the description in 2 things (Play-Along Pyramid & The Winner's Circle) will might sound a "Cuckoo" and the thing removed from it in several unoccasional ways. ABC-TV finally cancelled the program in 1980.

First off, I must say that this was a fun game show. Also, I haven't seen every episode. However, I do know the show very well. I still watch it in reruns on the Game Show Network. Every time I've watched it, I had a lot of fun playing along and watching. When I was growing up, this made me long to be a contestant. The thing I like most about it are the questions. Despite the fact that I don't know all the answers, I still have fun playing along. I hope the Game Show Network keeps it on so I can play along and watch for years to come. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever. Now, in conclusion, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

...I used to love watching this while on summer vacation, always waiting for my favorite actress to star, Loretta Swit. But that wasn't the only reason.

Back then, the game was much more suspenseful and unpredictable. The music was much more hip (especially from 1973 to 1976), and Dick Clark the greatest host. Non-scripted and unrehearsed.

The show jumped the shark when it jumped to $100,000 - and then really got so unfunny and almost predictable when Donny Osmond hosted, much like Louie Anderson and Steve Harvey have done to Family Feud.

The only reason I give this an 8 of 10 is because Bill Cullen brought no excitement like Clark did. Having nothing against Cullen, it was just too wild with Clark.

To bring this back again...

My earliest memory of seeing this dynamic game show were when I was a child and saw the $20,000 version on ABC. I've always thought of it as being one of my personal favorite game shows ever made because it was always filled with such fun and excitement. I always thought that Dick Clark did such a dynamic job as the host and I also liked seeing the clips before the show of people making it to the top of the pyramid and winning the big money. My personal opinion is that this is one game show that should never have been cancelled.