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Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series (most with a full title format matching the original series, with the title reflecting the top prize increase from $10,000 to $100,000 over the years). The game featured two contestants, each paired with a celebrity. Players attempt to guess a series of words or phrases based on descriptions given to them by their teammates without mentioning their name. The title refers to the show's pyramid-shaped gameboard, featuring six categories arranged in a triangular fashion. The various Pyramid series won a total of nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show, second only to Jeopardy!, which has won 11.

Dick Clark is the host most commonly associated with the show, having hosted most incarnations of it from 1973–1988; Bill Cullen hosted a 1974–1979 syndicated version of The $25,000 Pyramid, while John Davidson hosted a 1991 version of The $100,000 Pyramid. The most recent version (simply titled Pyramid) ran from 2002–2004 with Donny Osmond as host.

History[link]

The original concept presented to CBS by creator Bob Stewart was a rough pilot presentation titled Cash on the Line taped at CBS' Ed Sullivan Theater on February 2, 1973. It was said the programming executives at the network liked only the second part of the proposed program's format, and suggested that Stewart rework it into another game. This eventually became the main game portion of Pyramid, featuring two civilian contestants, each partnered with a celebrity.

Stewart then reworked the game and presented another version to CBS, with a bonus round that featured a giant pyramid board (then with 10 subjects instead of 6) and a $10,000 cash prize which could be won in one minute. He made the point that offering such a large amount of money in such a quick fashion had not been done before on television. There was no second pilot episode taped, but a run-through presentation was made in front of the network executives, with Peggy Cass and Bill Cullen as the celebrities demonstrating the new Pyramid game format.

Broadcast history[link]

Dick Clark as host of the first version of the show.

The $10,000 Pyramid, with host Dick Clark, made its network debut on March 26, 1973 and was a ratings hit, sustaining its ratings even when episodes were delayed or preempted by the Watergate hearings. A year later, the ratings temporarily declined (against the original version of Jeopardy! on NBC) and CBS canceled it. The show was quickly picked up by ABC, and began airing on that network on May 6, 1974. As per CBS custom at the time with celebrity game shows, three weeks of episodes for CBS were taped in Hollywood, at CBS Television City, Studio 31^[2] (Pyramid returned to California for good beginning with the 1982 revival.)

The first thirty episodes (six weeks) which aired on ABC were taped at CBS' Ed Sullivan Theater while a replica set was built at ABC's smaller Elysee Theater, known also as Studio TV-15. One reason may have been the size of the set (including the giant Pyramid board itself); also, and Pyramid historian William Padron had said that the CBS union staff objected to seeing their creations moved to an ABC studio. The first episode taped at ABC was broadcast on June 17, 1974 with June Lockhart and William Shatner.

A weekly syndicated nighttime version, known as The $25,000 Pyramid and hosted by Bill Cullen, made its debut in September 1974, seen mostly on network-affiliated stations during the prime access time slot. This edition lasted until September 1979.

The network daytime version was a ratings success for ABC, usually ranked #3 among daytime game shows. On January 19, 1976, the show increased its top prize and was renamed The $20,000 Pyramid. However, ratings later began to slide, and ABC canceled the show on June 27, 1980.

For a six-week period from October 1 to November 9, 1979, the series became Junior Partner Pyramid, with the traditional celebrity-contestant pairings scrapped in favor of children teamed with their parents or other adult relatives.

From January 26 to September 4, 1981, the program returned to daily first-run syndication as The $50,000 Pyramid, with Clark as host. It was the final edition of the program to originate in New York City. This version included the first tournament structure and was later integrated into The $100,000 Pyramid.

On September 20, 1982, the series returned to the CBS daytime lineup as The $25,000 Pyramid, again with Clark as host, but now taped in Los Angeles at CBS Television City's Studio 33 (currently known as the Bob Barker Studio) and remained there for the entire run and the brief 1988 return.^[3] The new Pyramid debuted at 10:00 AM and for its entire run on CBS served as the leadoff program for the network's morning game show block, being paired with three different series as part of the lead-in hour for The Price Is Right. The first series to share the hour with The $25,000 Pyramid was Child's Play, which was hosted by former Pyramid host Bill Cullen and debuted the same day. In September 1983 that was replaced by Press Your Luck, which was replaced by a new version of Card Sharks in January 1986.

The word "New" was added to the title on November 8, 1982 (#0036). Clark explained that this was to differentiate between the current series and reruns of Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid that were still airing on certain stations. On January 28, 1985, "New" was dropped from the show's title. Later that year, in September 1985, a concurrent syndicated series premiered on local stations. This series was called The $100,000 Pyramid and featured a tournament format similar to that employed by The $50,000 Pyramid. Like its network counterpart, The $100,000 Pyramid quickly became a hit.

The $25,000 Pyramid ended its original run on December 31, 1987 and made way for a previously planned game show, the Bob Goen-hosted Blackout. However, after the new show went off the air after thirteen weeks, The $25,000 Pyramid returned on April 4, 1988 to serve as a fill-in until a new version of Family Feud starring Ray Combs was ready to premiere on CBS. Both the network and syndicated Pyramid series ended their runs shortly thereafter, with The $25,000 Pyramid ending on July 1, 1988 and The $100,000 Pyramid following it off the air on September 2, 1988.

Another series titled The $100,000 Pyramid, hosted by John Davidson, appeared in 1991 (this version was taped in studio 31, production began in December 1990, and ended in November 1991^[4]), and Pyramid, hosted by Donny Osmond, ran from September 16, 2002–September 10, 2004.

Even on versions where he didn't host, Dick Clark was still involved. He appeared on the Cullen and Osmond versions as a celebrity player, and offered pre-taped well wishes to Davidson on his version's premiere episode. At the time, Clark was hosting The Challengers, which prevented him from returning for that version.

Later developments[link]

In 2009, two pilots for a new version of the game, one hosted by Dean Cain and the other by Tim Vincent, were taped in New York.^{[citation needed]} This was announced following CBS's cancellation of Guiding Light in April 2009. Pyramid was one of three potential series considered as a replacement for the veteran soap opera (Let's Make a Deal and The Dating Game were the other two, with a pilot shot for the former series). During the tapings which took place in June of that year, the top prize was raised to a potential $1,000,000.^{[citation needed]}

CBS passed on Pyramid and opted to pick up Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Wayne Brady, as Guiding Light's replacement. Several months later, in December 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of another long-running soap opera, As the World Turns. Pyramid was among the series being considered as a potential replacement.^[5] CBS ordered a third pilot on April 9, 2010.^[6] Andy Richter was identified as a potential host.^[7][8] Three pilots were taped on June 22 and 23. CBS once again passed on the series and made an announcement on July 21 that The Talk, a program hosted by Julie Chen (wife of CBS president Les Moonves) and similar in format to The View, instead took the time slot in October 2010.

On May 18, 2011, TBS announced development of a possible new version of Pyramid, again to be hosted by Andy Richter. It was later announced that the show was not picked up.^[9] Recent reports say that GSN is developing another pilot of The $100,000 Pyramid for a possible Fall 2012 start. GSN passed up a pilot prior to this.^[10] The pilot is scheduled for taping June 11; if picked up, the remaining 39 episodes will start shooting July 24.^[11]

Gameplay[link]

Front game[link]

The Pyramid's gameboards, both in the main game and in the Winner's Circle bonus round, featured six categories arranged in a pyramid, with three categories on the bottom row, two on the middle row, and one on the top. In the main game, a category's position on the board was not an indicator of its difficulty. In the Winner's Circle, categories became progressively more difficult the higher they were on the board.

The game featured two teams, each composed of a celebrity and a civilian contestant. At the beginning of the game, the teams were shown six categories, whose titles gave vague clues to their possible meaning (for instance, "I'm All Wet" might pertain to things found in the water). Once the category was chosen, its exact meaning was given (except in certain bonus situations where the meaning was not given and a cash/prize bonus won for completing all the clues). For up to 30 seconds, one player conveyed to the other clues to a series of items belonging to a category. One point was scored for each item correctly guessed. If a word was passed, the giver could not go back to that word, but if the receiver knew the word later on and guessed it, the team still earned a point. On the Osmond version, a team that passed on any words could return to them if time permitted, but if a word was guessed correctly after it had been passed, it would not count until the word was returned to and correctly guessed then.

Originally, on the CBS version, there were eight possible items in a category. This was reduced to seven when the show moved to ABC, and reduced again to six (in 20 seconds) for the Osmond-hosted version (the 2009 CBS pilot returned to the seven in 30 seconds format). The short-lived Junior Partner Pyramid format kept the seven words, but increased the time limit to 35 seconds. Using any part of the answer in giving a clue resulting in the item being disqualified. Originally, the celebrity gave the clues in the first and third rounds, and the contestant in the second round. Eventually, the team was given the opportunity to choose which player would give the clues in the third round. The teams alternated in the first two rounds, and the team with the lower score played first in the third round. Whoever had the higher score after three rounds advanced to the Winner's Circle. In the 1970s and 1980s versions, in the rare event that players were mathematically unable to at least tie their opponent before the opponent has had his or her last turn (or even rarer, before that point), the game ended and the remaining categories were left unplayed. However, the eliminated player returned on the next game.^[12][13]

From 1976 to 1980, any player who scored a perfect 21 points received a $1,000 bonus on the daytime $20,000 Pyramid and a $2,100 bonus on the nighttime $25,000 Pyramid during the 1977–1978 season. Towards the end of the daytime edition, 21 points won a bonus prize (a color TV on the final episode).

If there was a tie score at the end of the front games, a tie breaking round was played. The team that caused the tie was given a choice between two categories, each containing seven answers beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. The other team played with whichever letter the first team did not pick. In the 1970s, the objective was to score as many words as possible within 30 seconds, with the score added onto the team's initial main game score and play continuing until the tie was broken, leading to rare occasions when a team's score passed the 40-point mark. In the 2002–2004 version, the score was also added onto the team's initial main game score, though each team had only 20 seconds to get as many words as possible, regardless of how much time the first team took to communicate all the words within their category.

Later in the 1970s syndicated version and on all subsequent versions, a best-of-seven tiebreaker was used. The earlier main game score was erased, and if the first team guessed all seven words within their allotted time, the opposing team had to guess seven words within the time it took the first team to get all seven, which meant tiebreakers almost always took just one round to complete (if both teams tied with less than 7, or if both teams took the same amount of time to complete, the score was again wiped clean and the next tiebreaker was played, though this rarely happened).

Bonus cards[link]

A number of bonus cards were used during the front games, offering cash or a prize if the team correctly guessed all of the answers in a particular category.

• Big 7: Debuting on December 23, 1974 (but in 1975 during the second season of the Cullen version), the Big 7 was originally worth a trip but soon changed to $500. The Cullen version originally used the Big 7 with a payoff of $1,000, but in the third season, the prize was renamed Big Money Card and offered a random payoff between $1,000–$5,000, in multiples of $1,000. The range was lowered to $1,000–$4,000 during the 1977–1978 season and changed to a car in the 1978–1979 season.
• Bonus 7: During the short-lived Junior Partner Pyramid format, each team chose one category during either of the day's two games to designate as their Bonus 7, which otherwise worked the same way as the Big 7 (including the $500 payoff). However, one notable difference was that the bonus money counted towards a team's final total for the day, the only time in Pyramid history this occurred.
• Mystery 7: Debuting with the CBS revival in 1982, the Mystery 7 was played in game two and awarded the contestant a bonus prize for guessing all seven words in a category whose exact meaning was not explained until gameplay was over. It was used as a category title for the first two years, but starting on April 23, 1984 (#0412), it was concealed behind one of the categories and only revealed when that category was chosen. In 1991, the Mystery 7 was used in the second game on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday shows, and in the first game on Tuesday and Thursday shows for the first twenty-seven weeks on the air.
• 7-11: Debuting on April 11, 1983 (#0144) the 7-11 was played in game one each day for a bonus of $1,100; originally, contestants could either go for the money or play it safe and take $50 per word, but few teams chose the latter option and it was dropped on January 21, 1985 (#0604). Both the 7-11 and Mystery 7 were carried over into The $100,000 Pyramid, except that they were not featured during tournament play. During the four all-celebrity weeks that aired in 1987, the 7-11 was played in both rounds. In 1991, the 7-11 was used in the first game on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday shows during the first fourteen weeks on the air.
• Double Trouble: Debuting on January 8, 1991 (#002, always played in the second game on Tuesday and Thursday shows), contestants won $500 for guessing seven two-word phrases in 45 seconds. When it appeared, there were two such categories in one game (always appearing on the second row) and each team was required to play one of them.
• Gamble for a Grand/Trip: Debuting on April 15, 1991 (#071) and replacing the 7-11 in the first round, a contestant could choose to give up time in one round to guess all seven answers in only 25 seconds to win a $1,000 bonus or a vacation. From October 21 to November 28 (#136–#165, the last six weeks before the final tournament), the trip variation replaced the Mystery 7 on Tuesday and Thursday shows. The Mystery 7 continued to be used on the Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday shows in the meantime.
• Super Six: Debuting in 2002 and replacing all previous bonuses, the Super Six appeared in both games on every show with a prize awarded for getting all six. For the second season (minus tournaments and all-celebrity weeks), the Super Six in game two usually featured a home viewer sweepstakes. A home viewer who logged on to the show's website to enter was chosen at random, and some of these players were heard live via telephone. If the studio players finding the Super Six got all six answers, the player at home won the same prize. If not, the home player got the Pyramid home game that was in stores at the time.

Other bonus elements[link]

• 21-21 Tiebreaker: Although 21-21 ties were common by 1984, beginning on January 16 (#0342) of that year, the contestant who broke the 21-21 tie received a new car, his/hers to keep regardless of who won that day. This was changed on October 22, 1984 (#0542) to $5,000. In addition, the 21-21 tiebreaker was the only bonus used during tournament play on the first $100,000 version. On the aforementioned all-celebrity weeks, the team who won the money split it between their charities. This bonus was not in effect on either the 1991 or 2002–2004 versions.
• Player of the Week: On The $50,000 Pyramid and from February 7 to 25, 1983 (#0099–#0113) on The New $25,000 Pyramid, a trip for two to Europe was given to the player who achieved the fastest main game time during the course of the week (plus a qualifying spot in the $50,000 tournament during 1981); in 1983, this was a trip to Greece. The bonus was retired in 1983 when it was realized that a champion would have to be disqualified if his/her reign carried over from one week to another. During this time, the Mystery 7 was dropped altogether.

Winner's Circle[link]

The Winner's Circle included a larger pyramid, also composed of six boxes. Each box contained a category, such as "Things You Plan" or "Why You Exercise", and were revealed one at a time. One player (usually the celebrity, though the contestant always had the option to give or receive except in the first season of Donny Osmond's version) gave a list of items to the other player, who attempted to guess the category to which all of the described items belonged. Each category was worth a small amount of money and correctly guessing all six categories in 60 seconds won the top prize.

An illegal clue disqualified the category and ended the player's chance to win the large bonus. If other categories remained in the game, the smaller amounts could still be won and play continued until time ran out or until all the remaining categories had been guessed, at which point the smaller amounts accumulated and were added to the player's cash total. Illegal clues included giving a clue that was the essence of the category (i.e., the category itself or a direct synonym), describing the category itself rather than listing or naming items, clues that did not fit the category, rhymes and made-up expressions. When The $10,000 Pyramid moved to ABC, hand gestures became illegal (the clue giver had arm straps attached to his/her chair to discourage this). Clues in the Winner's Circle must also be concise. Prepositional phrases (excluding general use of the word "of"), forms of a key word, saying a key word, definitions and overly descriptive clues were also illegal.

Each category on the Pyramid paid as follows:

The award for a successful trip to the Winner's Circle varied on different versions of the show. On The $10,000 Pyramid, a successful player won that amount of money and retired from the game. For ABC's The $20,000 Pyramid, a player's first Winner's Circle was played for $10,000; however, this prize increased by $5,000 upon each successive trip to the Winner's Circle by that same contestant (up to ABC's maximum of $20,000) until won, at which point the contestant retired. Unlike the two-game format which became standard in later Pyramid versions, a player who lost one main game departed the show, and a new contestant was introduced following the winning contestant's attempt in the Winner's Circle.

During the Junior Partner Pyramid format, two teams competed in two games each day, with $2,500 awarded for winning the day's first Winner's Circle, and if the same team made it to the second one, it was worth $5,000. The team with the highest total, including $500 for a successful Bonus 7 category, returned the next day. The All-Star Junior Pyramid special awarded $10,000 for clearing the Pyramid.

On both versions of The $25,000 Pyramid, as well as The $100,000 Pyramid (during non-tournament play), a player's first trip to the Winner's Circle in a two-game episode was played for $10,000. If the same player won the second main game, his/her second attempt in the Winner's Circle was for a total of $25,000, regardless if their first attempt was successful.

On The $50,000 Pyramid, two contestants also competed in a two-game format for the entire show. The first Winner's Circle was worth $5,000, and similar to the $25,000 Pyramid, the player's second attempt in the same episode was worth a total of $10,000.

Originally, if there was no time for the second Winner's Circle, it would be played at the top of the next show. On the week-ending Friday episode, if the second game ended in a tie, the regular tiebreaker was not used. Instead, the celebrities played the Winner's Circle, with their contestant partners splitting any money earned, and if the round was won, the contestants split $5,000 between them. This procedure may have been instituted following a Monday show that started with a Winner's Circle in which the previous week's celebrity, Nipsey Russell, returned just to play that round and then left. By the 1980s, games no longer straddled and every episode contained two main games and two Winner's Circles.

On The $25,000 Pyramid from the 1970s, if time was running short after the second game, the winning contestant received an additional $2,500. By the final season, the aforementioned best-of-seven main game tiebreaker had been instituted, eliminating the need for this rule.

Returning champions and winnings limits[link]

On the 1970s daytime version, contestants were allowed to remain on the show until they were defeated or won the Winner's Circle. Under the $10,000 format, a player who won the Winner's Circle was allowed to keep all earlier winnings. Under the $20,000 format, the player's total was merely augmented to the amount won in the Winner's Circle. The syndicated versions featured no returning champions prior to 1985.

During the 1970s syndicated version, if a player won a bonus prize, then went on to win the $25,000 top prize, the value of the bonus (either the additional bonus cash, or the value of the car offered during the final season) was deducted from the champion's total, leaving them with exactly $25,000. This version did not feature returning champions. On all versions from 1982 onward, all front-game bonus winnings remained intact in the event of a $25,000 win.

On the $25,000 and $100,000 versions of the show, the same two contestants competed for both halves of the episode. A player who won one of the two games on the episode played the Winner's Circle for $10,000. A player who won both games played the second Winner's Circle for a total of $25,000 (thus earning for example, $750 in the first Winner's Circle means the second was worth an additional $24,250 to the player). On all versions from 1982–1991, a player who won both games of an episode became the champion and returned on the next show. If each player won one game, the player with the higher total in the Winner's Circle became champion (winnings from the various front-game bonuses did not count). If the two players won equal amounts of money in the Winner's Circle (including $10,000 wins), both returned on the next show.

Contestants from 1982–1991 were allowed to remain on the show until defeated, lasting the maximum of five shows. Champions on the CBS revival also retired after exceeding the network's winnings limit. This was originally $25,000, but was increased to $50,000 on October 22, 1984 (#0542) and to $75,000 on September 29, 1986 (#1041). Players were allowed to keep a maximum of $25,000 in excess of the limit.

The Osmond version featured no returning champions. Contestants played the Winner's Circle for $10,000, with a second trip in the same show worth a total of $25,000 plus a berth in the $100,000 tournament provided that the contestant had won the first Winner's Circle. Otherwise, the second Winner's Circle would be for a second chance at $10,000.

Tournaments[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

[edit] The $50,000 Pyramid

On The $50,000 Pyramid, the player with the fastest time in the front game during that week was called "The Player of the Week", won two round-trip tickets to Europe, and qualified for the $50,000 tournament. There were two such tournaments held during the run; the first starting on March 23, 1981 and the second starting on May 25, 1981. For the front game there were no bonus cards. The $50,000 Pyramid was unusual in that the clock in its main game counted up, from 00 to 30, to facilitate "The Player of the Week" scoring.

The tournament started on a Monday, with four of the eight players competing, two against each other in the first game, and two more in the second. The winners of those games played for $5,000 in the Winner's Circle, with the losers being eliminated from further competition (and receiving a trip for two to Paris for participating in the tournament). On Tuesday, the remaining four qualifying contestants competed, with the winners again playing for $5,000 in the Winner's Circle and the losers eliminated.

On Wednesday, the two winners from Monday were brought back to play both games on that program. If one player won both games, that player would play for $5,000 in the Winner's Circle after his or her first win, and for $10,000 after his or her second win, and qualify to play in the first game on the Monday show of the second week of the tournament. If the two players split their games, each played for $5,000 in the Winner's Circle after their respective wins, and the player who won the most money in the Winner's Circle advanced to the next round of competition. If they tied, they played a tie-breaker in which one player selected either the top three subjects on the big pyramid or the bottom three, and tried to identify them from their partners' clues in a maximum of 30 seconds, with the fastest time winning. On Thursday, the two winners from Tuesday competed in this manner to determine the second player for the first game on the following Monday.

On Friday, the two losing players from Wednesday and Thursday were brought back, and they played in the above manner to determine one of the two players who played in the second game on the following Monday. (The loser on this program was eliminated from further play in the tournament.)

On the Monday show of the next week, the winner of the Wednesday show from the preceding week played in the first game against the winner from the Thursday show. The winner of this game went to the Winner's Circle and attempt to win $50,000 by getting all six subjects in 60 seconds; however, no consolation money was awarded if the attempt failed, and as such, an illegal clue ended the game immediately. If the winner of this first game on Monday failed to win the $50,000 in the Winner's Circle, he or she returned to the main game area to play the day's second game against the Friday winner of the preceding week. If the winner of that game failed to win the $50,000, the competition continued in this manner until someone finally won the grand prize.

$50,000 winners[link]

[edit] The $100,000 Pyramid

On both versions of The $100,000 Pyramid, the three or four players who won the Winner's Circle in the shortest time during a given period of shows (7 to 10 weeks on the Dick Clark version, and 6 or 7 weeks on the John Davidson version) returned on later episodes to compete in a tournament. The players alternated in a round-robin, with two players competing each day and the third player replacing the loser of that episode in the next one, if neither player won the Winner's Circle that day. In the event of a tie, a coin toss was used to determine who returned on the next show.

The first player to win the Winner's Circle won $100,000 and ended the tournament. If this happened in the first game of the show, the two remaining players played the second game for a chance at $10,000. No bonus cards were in play during the tournaments, although the $5,000 bonus for a 21-21 tie remained in the 1980s version.

1980s winners[link]

1991 winners[link]

[edit] Pyramid

On the Osmond version, the rules of the tournaments were changed drastically, to being played between either four or six players who won $25,000 in their initial appearance. This made qualification difficult, as did the above requirements and a lack of returning champions. Two tournaments played each season. During a six-player tournament, each contestant's first attempt at the Winner's Circle was worth $25,000. If $25,000 was won in the first half and the same player returned to the Winner's Circle, that contestant played for an additional $75,000 and the tournament title. If the tournament ended with no players able to win both Winner's Circles in one show, either the contestant who won $25,000 in the fastest time or the player who won the most money had his or her tournament winnings augmented to $100,000.

In a four-player tournament, contestants competed in single elimination with the first two semifinalists competing on day one and the other two semifinalists on day two. Each attempt at the Winner's Circle was worth $25,000. The top two winners then returned to compete in the finals, where each Winner's Circle victory that day was worth an additional $50,000.

Unlike the 1980s and 1990s syndicated versions, the Super Six remained in play during the tournaments, and offered considerably bigger prizes than regular episodes (such as a plasma screen TV or a trip to Paris).

Celebrities[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

June Lockhart and Rob Reiner were the celebrity guests on the debut week of The $10,000 Pyramid in 1973. On the premiere, Reiner won his contestant $10,000 in the very first playing of the Winner's Circle, but a clip used of the show's second win (also done by Reiner) from the first week was seen in opening montages thereafter. Lockhart was frequently seen as a guest during the 1970s, and Reiner appeared on two episodes of Cullen's show during its first season. Lois Nettleton and Bill Cullen were the celebrities on the final week of the ABC version on June 23–27, 1980.

Several game show hosts and future hosts appeared as panelists, including Bill Cullen, Geoff Edwards, Nipsey Russell, Betty White, and Henry Polic II. Clark and Cullen appeared as celebrity guests on each other's shows, and Clark also appeared on three episodes of the Osmond version.

Billy Crystal holds the record for the fastest Winner's Circle win at 26 seconds on December 2, 1977. Though the episode itself was later destroyed, a clip of Crystal's entire record-breaking round was later shown on a 1979 episode that featured him and Sal Viscuso.

Several contestants later returned to the show after becoming celebrities. These include Constance McCashin (who appeared as a contestant on the Cullen version), Richard Kline (contestant in July 1974), Mel Harris (contestant in 1979 on the ABC version and again in 1985 on the syndicated version), Joel Brooks (contestant in 1976), Kathy Najimy (contestant in 1985), and Diane Amos (contestant in March 1986). Additionally, David Graf won $10,000 with his partner Patty Duke in 1979, and when the two were reunited as celebrities for a week in 1985, a clip of the big win was shown.

Announcers[link]

Bob Clayton was the show's main announcer until he died of cardiac arrest in 1979, although Jack Clark announced the special Los Angeles-based weeks on CBS in 1973. Alan Kalter, Fred Foy, John Causier, Dick Heatherton, Ed Jordan, and Scott Vincent all substituted for Bob Clayton whenever he was absent. By 1980, Steve O'Brien was hired as the show's principal announcer for the ABC network daytime edition (as The $20,000 Pyramid), and O'Brien and Kalter then rotated announcing duties until 1981 when the last New York broadcast was produced and aired in syndication (as The $50,000 Pyramid).

When the show moved back to CBS Television City in Los Angeles in 1982, Jack Clark returned as primary announcer. He remained in that position until 1985, with Rod Roddy, Johnny Gilbert, Jerry Bishop, and Charlie Tuna serving as substitutes. After that Gilbert shared the announcing duties with Tuna, Bob Hilton, Charlie O'Donnell, and Dean Goss on both the daytime series and The $100,000 Pyramid.

When John Davidson took over in 1991 Johnny Gilbert returned as primary announcer. Dean Goss returned to substitute on occasion, and frequent panelist Henry Polic II also announced. John Cramer announced for the 2002 Pyramid series' entire run.

International versions[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Versions have been also produced in countries outside the United States:

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Air dates
Australia	Pyramid	Shura Taft	Nine Network	September 1, 2009
Canada (French)	Pyramide	Sébastien Benoit	Radio-Canada	April 28, 2008–April 22, 2011
Chile	Contrareloj	Esperanza Silva Coco Legrand	Canal 13
Denmark	Pyramide			Not aired yet
Egypt	الهرم El Haram	Moufida Sheeha	ERT 2	May 16, 2009
Estonia	Püramiid	Teet Margna	TV3	March 4, 2006
Finland	Pyramidi		MTV3	Not aired yet
France	Pyramide	Patrice Laffont	France 2	1991–2003
Germany	Die Pyramide	Dieter Thomas Heck	ZDF	1978–1994
	Hast Du Worte?	Jörg Pilawa Thomas Koschwitz	Sat.1	1996–1998
Indonesia	Kuis Piramida	Ronnie Sianturi	RCTI
Israel	שחק אותה Sahek Otah	Yigal Shilon Dudu Topaz	Channel 1	1983–1984
	הפירמידה Ha Pyramida		Channel 2	2002
Italy	Pyramid	Enrico Brignano	Rai Due	December 3, 2007
Japan	ピラミッド		Fuji TV	Not aired yet
Poland	Piramida	Hubert Urbański	Polsat
Russia	Пирамида Piramida	Ivan Urgant	Russia 1	May 16, 2004–March 20, 2005
Singapore	The Pyramid Game	Samuel Chong Benedict Goh Darryl David	Channel 5	late 1990s
Spain	Pirámide			Not aired yet
Turkey	Piramit		aTV	1994–1995
United Kingdom	The Pyramid Game	Steve Jones	ITV	1981–1984 1989–1990
	Donny's Pyramid Game	Donny Osmond	Challenge	2007
Venezuela	Match 4	Juan Manuel Montesinos	Venevision	1980s
Vietnam	Kim tự tháp	Chi Bảo	HTV7	April 30, 2005–2008

Episode status[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

ABC wiped most, if not all, of the tapes from the daytime Pyramid between 1974 and early 1978, with all episodes afterward existing. Three episodes from 1976, a full week of shows from October 1977 with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, and three early 1978 episodes circulate among private collectors.

The status of the show's first season on CBS (1973–1974) is unknown, since CBS did not wipe game shows. One 1973 episode circulates among collectors. Three episodes of the original CBS version exist in the UCLA Film and Television Archive (including the third episode), and 14 episodes taped in the fall of 1973 originating from CBS Television City in Hollywood have aired on GSN. GSN has also aired The $20,000 Pyramid (various episodes from 1978 and 1979), the CBS $25,000 Pyramid, and the $100,000 Pyramid.

CBS Television Distribution (originally Viacom) owns the rights to the version hosted by Bill Cullen, and television distribution rights to the John Davidson version (whose ancillary rights are owned by StudioCanal via the latter's acquisition of syndicator Orbis Communications). Reruns of The $50,000 Pyramid aired in 1982 on the CBN Cable Network, shortly before the premiere of the CBS revival. None of these versions has aired on GSN. The 2000s revival has also been aired on GSN.

Sony, which controls the rest of the Pyramid library, also jointly owns GSN with DirecTV.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The $100,000 Pyramid at MobyGames
• Pyramide web site in Quebec, Canada (French)
• About the Indonesian version

Daytime Emmy Award history[link]

The Egyptian pyramids of the Giza Necropolis, as seen from the air

Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan

Prasat Thom temple at Koh Ker

Pyramids of Güímar, Tenerife (Spain)

Madghacen king's burial conical pyramids of ancient Algeria (Numidia)

A pyramid (from Greek: "πυραμίς" – pyramis^[1]) is a structure whose shape is roughly that of a pyramid in the geometric sense; that is, its outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single point at the top. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three outer triangular surfaces (at least four faces including the base). The square pyramid, with square base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a common version.

A pyramid's design, with the majority of the weight closer to the ground,^[2] and with the pyramidion on top means that less material higher up on the pyramid will be pushing down from above. This distribution of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures.

Pyramids have been built by civilizations in many parts of the world. For thousands of years, the largest structures on Earth were pyramids—first the Red Pyramid in the Dashur Necropolis and then the Great Pyramid of Khufu, both of Egypt, the latter the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still remaining. Khufu's Pyramid is built entirely of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece. It contains around 1,300,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tonnes (5,500 lb) to 15 tonnes (33,000 lb) and is built on a square base with sides measuring about 230 m (755 ft), covering 13 acres. Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees. The original height of the Pyramid was 146.5 m (488 ft), but today it is only 137 m (455 ft) high, the 9 m (33 ft) that is missing is due to the theft of the fine quality limestone covering, or casing stones to build houses and Mosques in Cairo. It is still the tallest pyramid. The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla.

Ancient monuments[link]

Mesopotamia[link]

Chogha Zanbil is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran.

The Mesopotamians built the earliest pyramidal structures, called ziggurats. In ancient times, these were brightly painted. Since they were constructed of sun-dried mud-brick, little remains of them. Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period^[3] during the fourth millennium BC. The earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period.^[4] The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC. Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and the only textual evidence is from Herodotus.^[5] Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society.

Egypt[link]

The most famous pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids — huge structures built of brick or stone, some of which are among the world's largest constructions. The age of the pyramids reached its zenith at Giza in 2575-2150 B.C.^[6] As of 2008, some 135 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.^[7][8] The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. Until Lincoln Cathedral was finished in AD 1311, it was the tallest building in the world. The base is over 52,600 square metres in area. While pyramids are associated with Egypt, the nation of Sudan has 220 extant pyramids, the most numerous in the world.^[9]

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is the only one to survive into modern times. The Ancient Egyptians covered the faces of pyramids with polished white limestone, containing great quantities of fossilized seashells.^[10] Many of the facing stones have fallen or have been removed and used to build the mosques of Cairo.

The ancient pyramids of Egypt

Most pyramids are located near Cairo, with only one royal pyramid being located south of Cairo, at the Abydos temple complex. The pyramid at Abydos, Egypt were commissioned by Ahmose I who founded the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom.^[11]

The building of pyramids began in the 3rd Dynasty with the reign of King Djoser.^[12] Early kings such as Snefru built several pyramids, with subsequent kings adding to the number of pyramids until the end of the Middle Kingdom. The last king to build royal pyramids was Ahmose,^[13] with later kings hiding their tombs in the hills, like in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor's West Bank.^[14]

In Medinat Habu, or Deir el-Medina, smaller pyramids were built by individuals. Smaller pyramids were also built by the Nubians who ruled Egypt in the Late Period, though their pyramids had steeper sides.^[15]

Sudan[link]

Nubian Pyramids at Meroe

Nubian pyramids were constructed (roughly 220 of them) at three sites in Sudan to serve as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata and Meroë. The pyramids of Kush, also known as Nubian Pyramids, have different characteristics than the pyramids of Egypt. The Nubian pyramids were constructed at a steeper angle than Egyptian ones. They were monuments to dead kings and queens.^[16] Pyramids were still being built in Sudan as late as AD 300.

Nigeria[link]

One of the unique structures of Igbo culture was the Nsude Pyramids, at the Nigerian town of Nsude, in Abuja, northern Igboland. Ten pyramidal structures were built of clay/mud. The first base section was 60 ft. in circumference and 3 ft. in height. The next stack was 45 ft. in circumference. Circular stacks continued, till it reached the top. The structures were temples for the god Ala/Uto, who was believed to reside at the top. A stick was placed at the top to represent the god's residence. The structures were laid in groups of five parallel to each other. Because it was built of clay/mud like the Deffufa of Nubia, time has taken its toll requiring periodic reconstruction.^[17]

Greece[link]

Pausanias (2nd century AD) mentions two buildings resembling pyramids, one, twelve miles southwest of the still standing structure at Hellenikon,^[18] a common tomb for soldiers who died in a legendary struggle for the throne of Argos and another which he was told was the tomb of Argives killed in a battle around 669/8 BC. Neither of these still survive and there is no evidence that they resembled Egyptian pyramids.

Pyramid of Hellinikon

There are also at least two surviving pyramid-like structures still available to study, one at Hellenikon and the other at Ligourio/Ligurio, a village near the ancient theatre Epidaurus. These buildings were not constructed in the same manner as the pyramids in Egypt. They do have inwardly sloping walls but other than those there is no obvious resemblance to Egyptian pyramids. They had large central rooms (unlike Egyptian pyramids) and the Hellenikon structure is rectangular rather than square, 12.5 metres by 14 metres which means that the sides could not have met at a point.^[19] The stone used to build the pyramids was limestone quarried locally and was cut to fit, not into freestanding blocks like the Great Pyramid of Giza.

There are no remains or graves in or near the structures. Instead, the rooms that the walls housed were made to be locked from the inside. This coupled with the platform roof, means that one of the functions these structures could have served was as watchtowers. Another possibility for the buildings is that they are shrines to heroes and soldiers of ancient times, but the lock on the inside makes no sense for such a purpose.

The dating of these ‘pyramids’ has been made from the pot shards excavated from the floor and on the grounds. The latest dates available from scientific dating have been estimated around the 5th and 4th centuries. Normally this technique is used for dating pottery, but here researchers have used it to try to date stone flakes from the walls of the structures. This has created some debate about whether or not these ‘pyramids’ are actually older than Egypt, which is part of the Black Athena controversy.^[20] The basis for their use of thermoluminescence in order to date these structures is a new method of collecting samples for testing. Scientists from laboratories hired out by the recent excavators of the site, The Academy of Athens, say that they can use the electrons trapped on the inner surface of the stones to positively identify the date that the stones were quarried and put together.

Mary Lefkowitz has criticised this research. She suggests that some of the research was done not to determine the reliability of the dating method, as was suggested, but to back up an assumption of age and to make certain points about pyramids and Greek civilization. She notes that not only are the results not very precise, but that other structures mentioned in the research are not in fact pyramids, e.g. a tomb alleged to be the tomb of Amphion and Zethus near Thebes, a structure at Stylidha (Thessaly) which is just a long wall, etc. She also notes the possibility that the stones that were dated might have been recycled from earlier constructions. She also notes that earlier research from the 1930s, confirmed in the 1980s by Fracchia was ignored. She argues that they undertook their research using a novel and previously untested methodology in order to confirm a predetermined theory about the age of these structures.^[21]

Liritzis responded in a journal article published in 2011, stating that Lefkowitz failed to understand and misinterpreted the methodology.^[22]

Spain[link]

The Pyramids of Güímar refer to six rectangular pyramid-shaped, terraced structures, built from lava stone without the use of mortar. They are located in the district of Chacona, part of the town of Güímar on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The structures have been dated to the 19th century and their original function explained as a byproduct of contemporary agricultural techniques.

Local traditions as well as surviving images indicate that similar structures (also known as, "Morras", "Majanos", "Molleros", or "Paredones") could once have been found in many locations on the island. However, over time they have been dismantled and used as a cheap building material. In Güímar itself there were nine pyramids, only six of which survive.

China[link]

Ancient Korean tomb in Ji'an, Northeastern China

There are many square flat-topped mound tombs in China. The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (circa 221 BC, who unified the 7 pre-Imperial Kingdoms) was buried under a large mound outside modern day Xi'an. In the following centuries about a dozen more Han Dynasty royals were also buried under flat-topped pyramidal earthworks.

Mesoamerica[link]

Pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichen Itza, Mexico

A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped structures. Mesoamerican pyramids were usually stepped, with temples on top, more similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurat than the Egyptian pyramid.

The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. This pyramid is considered the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, and is still being excavated. The third largest pyramid in the world, the Pyramid of the Sun, at Teotihuacan is also located in Mexico. There is an unusual pyramid with a circular plan at the site of Cuicuilco, now inside Mexico City and mostly covered with lava from an eruption of the Xitle Volcano in the first century BC. There are several circular stepped pyramids called Guachimontones in Teuchitlán, Jalisco as well.

Pyramids in Mexico were often used as places of human sacrifice. For the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 80,400 people over the course of four days.^[23]

North America[link]

A diagram showing the various components of Eastern North American platform mounds

Many pre-Columbian Native American societies of ancient North America built large pyramidal earth structures known as platform mounds. Among the largest and best-known of these structures is Monks Mound at the site of Cahokia, which has a base larger than that of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Many of the mounds underwent multiple episodes of mound construction at periodic intervals, some becoming quite large. They are believed to have played a central role in the mound-building peoples' religious life and documented uses include semi-public chief's house platforms, public temple platforms, mortuary platforms, charnel house platforms, earth lodge/town house platforms, residence platforms, square ground and rotunda platforms, and dance platforms.^[24][25][26] Cultures who built substructure mounds include the Troyville culture, Coles Creek culture, Plaquemine culture and Mississippian cultures.

Roman Empire[link]

Pyramid of Cestius in Rome

The 27-metre-high Pyramid of Cestius was built by the end of the first century BC and still exists today, close to the Porta San Paolo. Another one, named Meta Romuli, standing in the Ager Vaticanus (today's Borgo), was destroyed at the end of the 15th century.

There is also a Roman era pyramid built in Falicon, France.^[27] There were many more pyramids built in France in this period.

Medieval Europe[link]

Pyramids have occasionally been used in Christian architecture of the feudal era, e.g. as the tower of Oviedo's Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador.

India[link]

The main gopura of the Thanjavur Temple pyramid.

Many giant granite temple pyramids were made in South India during the Chola Empire, many of which are still in religious use today. Examples of such pyramid temples include Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. However the largest temple pyramid in the area is Sri Rangam in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu.The Thanjavur temple was built by Raja raja Chola in 11 century. The Brihadisvara Temple was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987; the Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram were added as extensions to the site in 2004.^[28]

Indonesia[link]

Borobudur, Central Java.

Next to menhir, stone table, and stone statue; Austronesian megalithic culture in Indonesia also featured earth and stone step pyramid structure called Punden Berundak as discovered in Pangguyangan, Cisolok and Gunung Padang, West Java. The construction of stone pyramid is based from the native beliefs that mountain and high places is the abode for the spirit of the ancestors.

The step pyramid is the basic design of 8th century Borobudur Buddhist monument in Central Java. However the later temples built in Java were influenced by Indian Hindu architecture, as displayed by the towering spires of Prambanan temple. In the 15th century Java during late Majapahit period saw the revival of Austronesian indigenous elements as displayed by Sukuh temple that somewhat resemble Mesoamerican pyramid.

Peru[link]

• Caral
• Túcume

Modern pyramids[link]

Karlsruhe Pyramid, Germany

• The Ballandean Pyramid, at Ballandean in rural Queensland is a 15 meter folly pyramid made from blocks of local granite.
• The Louvre Pyramid in Paris, France, in the court of the Louvre Museum, is a 20.6 meter (about 70 foot) glass structure which acts as an entrance to the museum. It was designed by the American architect I. M. Pei and completed in 1989.
• The Ames Monument in southeastern Wyoming honoring the brothers who financed the Union Pacific Railroad.
• The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, California, designed by William Pereira.
• The 32-story Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee (a city named after the ancient Egyptian capital whose name itself was derived from the name of one of its pyramids). Built in 1991, it was the home court for the University of Memphis men's basketball program, and the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies until 2004.
• The Slovak radio building in Bratislava, Slovakia. This building is shaped like an inverted pyramid.
• The Walter Pyramid, home of the basketball and volleyball teams of the California State University, Long Beach, campus in California, United States, is an 18-story-tall blue pyramid.
• The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is a 30-story pyramid with light beaming from the top.
• The Summum Pyramid, a 3 story pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah, used for instruction in the Summum philosophy and conducting rites associated with Modern Mummification.
• The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation in Astana, Kazakhstan.
• The Pyramids at Osho Commune in Pune, India (for meditation purposes).
• The three pyramids of Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas.
• The Co-Op Bank Pyramid or Stockport Pyramid in Stockport, England is a large pyramid-shaped office block in Stockport in England. (The surrounding part of the valley of the upper Mersey has sometimes been called the "Kings Valley" after the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.)
• The Karlsruhe Pyramid is a pyramid made of red sandstone, located in the centre of the market square of Karlsruhe, Germany. It was erected in the years 1823–1825 over the vault of the city's founder, Margrave Charles III William (1679–1738).
• The GoJa Music Hall in Prague.
• The Muttart Conservatory greenhouses in Edmonton, Alberta.
• Small pyramids similar to those of the Louvre can be found outside the lobby of the Citicorp Building in Long Island City, Queens NY.
• The Pyramids of the City Stars Complex in Cairo, Egypt.
• Pyramid building belonging to The Digital Group (TDG), at Hinjwadi, Pune, India.^[29]
• The Steelcase Corporate Development Center near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Sunway Pyramid shopping mall in Selangor, Malaysia.
• Hanoi Museum with an overall design of a reversed Pyramid.
• The Pyramide des Ha! Ha! by artist Jean-Jules Soucy fr:Jean-Jules Soucy in La Baie, Quebec is made out of 3 000 give way signs.^[30]
• The unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang.
• The Time pyramid in Wemding, Germany, a pyramid begun in 1993 and scheduled for completion in the year 3183.^[31]
• Triangle, a proposed skyscraper in Paris.
• The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, a proposed project for construction of a massive pyramid over Tokyo Bay in Japan.
• The tomb of Quintino Sella, outside the monumental cemetery of Oropa.^[32]

Gallery[link]

Comparison of approximate profiles of some notable pyramidal or near-pyramidal buildings. Where the base is an oblong, the longer side is shown. Dotted lines indicate original heights, where data is available.

• 

  Pyramid of Khafra

• 

  Shaohao Tomb, Qufu, China

• 

  Stockport Pyramid in Stockport, United Kingdom

• 

  The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California

• 

  The Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee

• 

  Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

• 

  Hanoi Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam features an overall design of a reversed Pyramid.

• 

  Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans

• 

  The Summum Pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah

• 

  Zafer Plaza shopping center in Bursa, Turkey

• 

  Kenton Bar estate (1966-early 1990s), Newcastle upon Tyne.

• 

  Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California.

• 

  Slovak Radio Building, Bratislava, Slovakia.

See also[link]

• Bosnian pyramid
• List of megalithic sites
• Pyramid (disambiguation) for other uses of the word pyramid.
• Pyramid (geometry) for the pyramid as a 3-dimensional shape in geometry.
• Pyramidion
• Pyramids of Güímar
• Step pyramid
• Tomb
• Triadic pyramid
• Ziggurat

Notes[link]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pyramids

• Patricia Blackwell Gary and Richard Talcott, "Stargazing in Ancient Egypt," Astronomy, June 2006, pp. 62–67.
• Fagan, Garrett. "Archaeological Fantasies." RoutledgeFalmer. 2006

U.S. military servicemen participate in television game show Wheel of Fortune with host Pat Sajak.

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes. On some shows contestants compete against other players or another team while other shows involve contestants playing alone for a good outcome or a high score. Game shows often reward players with prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services provided by the show's sponsor prize suppliers, who in turn usually do so for the purposes of product placement.

History[link]

Television game shows descended from similar programs on radio. The very first television game show, Spelling Bee, was broadcast in 1938. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially-licensed television. Its first episode aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast.

Game Show

Over the course of the 1950s, as television began to pervade the popular culture, game shows quickly became a fixture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives. Higher-stakes programs would air in prime time. During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty One and The $64,000 Question began a rapid rise in popularity. However, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were discovered to be rigged. Ratings decline led to most of the prime time games being canceled. Only the daytime games survived during this period; game shows remained a fixture of daytime television through the 1960s along with soap operas, reruns, and local telecasts of old films. Lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in the early 1960s; examples include Jeopardy! which began in 1964 and the original version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Let's Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares, Password, The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.

Though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968, the other networks did not follow suit. Color Television was introduced to the game show genre in the late 1960s on all three networks. The 1970s saw a renaissance of the game show as new games and massive upgrades to existing games made debuts on the major networks. The New Price Is Right, an update of the 1950s era game show The Price Is Right, debuted in 1972 and marked CBS's return to the game show format in its effort to draw wealthier, suburban viewers. The Match Game became "Big Money" Match Game 73, which proved popular enough to prompt a spin-off, Family Feud, on ABC in 1976. The $10,000 Pyramid and its numerous higher-stakes derivatives also debuted in 1973, while the 1970s also saw the return of formerly disgraced producer and host Jack Barry, who debuted The Joker's Wild and a clean version of the previously rigged Tic-Tac-Dough in the 1970s. Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC in 1975. The Prime Time Access Rule, which took effect in 1971, barred networks from broadcasting in the 7-8 p.m. time slot immediately preceding prime time, opening up time slots for syndicated programming. Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network daytime game shows; these game shows originally aired once a week, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s most ouf the games had transitioned to five days a week.

Game shows were the lowest priority of television networks and frequently were rotated out every thirteen weeks if they were unsuccessful. Most tapes were destroyed until the early 1980s. Over the course of the late 1980s and early 1990s as fewer new hits were produced, game shows lost their permanent place in the daytime lineup. ABC gave up on game shows in 1986. NBC lasted until 1991, but attempted to bring them back in 1993 before cancelling its game show block again in 1994. CBS phased out most of their game shows, except for The Price Is Right, by 1993. To the benefit of the genre, the move of Wheel of Fortune to syndication in 1983 and the modernized revival of Jeopardy! in 1984 was highly successful, leading to the two games becoming fixtures in the prime time "access period" and several failed attempts at imitation. Cable television also allowed for the debut of game shows such as Supermarket Sweep (Lifetime), Trivial Pursuit and Family Challenge (Family Channel), and Double Dare (Nickelodeon). It also opened up a previously underdeveloped market for game show reruns; Game Show Network debuted in 1994.

After the popularity of game shows hit a nadir in the mid-1990s (at which point The Price Is Right was the only game show still on daytime network TV), the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? began distribution across the globe. Upon the show's American debut in 1999, it was an instant hit and became a regular part of ABC's prime time lineup until 2002. Several shorter-lived high stakes games also were attempted around the time of the millennium, such as Winning Lines, The Chair, and Greed. During this period, several game shows returned to daytime in syndication (e.g., Family Feud, Hollywood Squares, and Millionaire). These higher stakes contests also opened up the door to reality television contests such as Survivor and Big Brother, in which contestants win large sums of money for outlasting their peers in a given environment.

The popularity of game shows in the United States was closely paralleled around the world; Reg Grundy Organisation, for instance, would buy the international rights for American game shows and create detailed reproductions in other countries, especially in his native Australia. In the UK, game shows have had a more steady and permanent place in the television lineup and never lost popularity in the 1990s as they did in the United States, due in part to the fact that game shows were highly regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the 1980s and those restrictions were lifted in the 1990s, allowing for higher-stakes games to be played.

In the US, CBS is currently the only major network airing daily national game shows. It still airs The Price Is Right, and as of 2009 was airing a revived version of Let's Make a Deal on weekdays. Let's Make a Deal airs at 10am or 3pm on weekdays, while The Price Is Right airs weekdays at 11am. Although ABC does not air any national game shows, its syndication wing Disney-ABC Domestic Television distributes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and many of their local affiliates air it in syndication.

Prizes[link]

Many of the prizes awarded on game shows are provided through product placement; although in some cases, they are provided by private organizations or purchased at either the full price or at a discount by the show. There is the widespread use of "promotional consideration", in which a game show receives a subsidy from an advertiser in return for awarding that manufacturer's product as a prize or consolation prize. Some products supplied by manufacturers may not be intended to be awarded at all, and are instead just used as part of the gameplay (such as the low-priced items used in several Pricing Games of The Price Is Right).

See also[link]

• Game Show Network (American cable network dedicated to the format)
• Challenge (British network dedicated to the format)
• UKGameshows.com, British website devoted to reviews and descriptions of gameshows
• List of game show hosts
• List of American game shows
• List of international game shows
• List of television programs
• Panel game
• Quiz bowl
• Quiz Show
• Quiz show scandals
• Reality show
• Apple Bowl

External links[link]

• Game Shows at the Open Directory Project

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (March 2011)

Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment.

The Card Players, a 1895 painting by Paul Cézanne depicting a game of cards.

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong, solitaire, or some video games).

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational, or psychological role.

Attested as early as 2600 BC,^[1][2] games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.^[3]

Definitions[link]

Look up game in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ludwig Wittgenstein[link]

Ludwig Wittgenstein was probably the first academic philosopher to address the definition of the word game. In his Philosophical Investigations,^[4] Wittgenstein demonstrated that the elements of games, such as play, rules, and competition, all fail to adequately define what games are. Wittgenstein concluded that people apply the term game to a range of disparate human activities that bear to one another only what one might call family resemblances.

Roger Caillois[link]

French sociologist Roger Caillois, in his book Les jeux et les hommes (Games and Men),^[5] defined a game as an activity that must have the following characteristics:

• fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character
• separate: it is circumscribed in time and place
• uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable
• non-productive: participation does not accomplish anything useful
• governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life
• fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a different reality

Chris Crawford[link]

Computer game designer Chris Crawford attempted to define the term game^[6] using a series of dichotomies:

1. Creative expression is art if made for its own beauty, and entertainment if made for money.
2. A piece of entertainment is a plaything if it is interactive. Movies and books are cited as examples of non-interactive entertainment.
3. If no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy. (Crawford notes that by his definition, (a) a toy can become a game element if the player makes up rules, and (b) The Sims and SimCity are toys, not games.) If it has goals, a plaything is a challenge.
4. If a challenge has no "active agent against whom you compete," it is a puzzle; if there is one, it is a conflict. (Crawford admits that this is a subjective test. Video games with noticeably algorithmic artificial intelligence can be played as puzzles; these include the patterns used to evade ghosts in Pac-Man.)
5. Finally, if the player can only outperform the opponent, but not attack them to interfere with their performance, the conflict is a competition. (Competitions include racing and figure skating.) However, if attacks are allowed, then the conflict qualifies as a game.

Crawford's definition may thus be rendered as: an interactive, goal-oriented activity, with active agents to play against, in which players (including active agents) can interfere with each other.

Other definitions[link]

• "A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome." (Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman)^[7]
• "A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal." (Greg Costikyan)^[8] According to this definitions, some "games" that do not involve choices, such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and War are not technically games any more than a slot machine is.
• "A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context." (Clark C. Abt)^[9]
• "At its most elementary level then we can define game as an exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome." (Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith)^[10]
• "A game is a form of play with goals and structure." (Kevin J. Maroney)^[11]

Gameplay elements and classification[link]

Games can be characterized by "what the player does."^[6] This is often referred to as gameplay. Major key elements identified in this context are tools and rules that define the overall context of game and that in turn produce skill, strategy, and chance.^{[clarification needed]}

Tools[link]

Games are often classified by the components required to play them (e.g. miniatures, a ball, cards, a board and pieces, or a computer). In places where the use of leather is well established, the ball has been a popular game piece throughout recorded history, resulting in a worldwide popularity of ball games such as rugby, basketball, football, cricket, tennis, and volleyball. Other tools are more idiosyncratic to a certain region. Many countries in Europe, for instance, have unique standard decks of playing cards. Other games such as chess may be traced primarily through the development and evolution of its game pieces.

Many game tools are tokens, meant to represent other things. A token may be a pawn on a board, play money, or an intangible item such as a point scored.

Games such as hide-and-seek or tag do not utilise any obvious tool; rather, their interactivity is defined by the environment. Games with the same or similar rules may have different gameplay if the environment is altered. For example, hide-and-seek in a school building differs from the same game in a park; an auto race can be radically different depending on the track or street course, even with the same cars.

Rules[link]