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|cleanup=March 2008
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{{Infobox Television
| show_name            = Pyramid
| image                = 250px
| caption              = Title card from ''The $20,000 Pyramid''
| genre                = Game show
| creator              = Bob Stewart
| starring             = John Davidson<br><small>(1991-1992)</small><br>Donny Osmond<br><small>(2002-2004)</small>
| country              = 
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 
| num_episodes         = $10,000/$20,000 Pyramid: 1808 (CBS: approx. 225; ABC: 1582 + one primetime special)<br>$25,000 Pyramid (Bill Cullen): 150<br>$50,000 Pyramid: 95<br> $25,000 Pyramid (Dick Clark): 1404<br>$100,000 Pyramid (Dick Clark): 550 <br>$100,000 Pyramid (John Davidson): 170<br> Pyramid (Donny Osmond): 315<br>       
| list_episodes        = 
| producer             = 
| executive_producer   = Bob Stewart
| location             = 
| camera               = 
| runtime              = approx. 22-26 minutes<!--runtimes don't include commercials-->
| network              = ABC, Syndicated
| picture_format       = 
| audio_format         = 
| first_run            = 
| first_aired          = March 26, 1973
| last_aired           = September 10, 2004
| preceded_by          = 
| followed_by          = 
| related              = 
| website              = 
| imdb_id              = 
| tv_com_id            = 
}}
'''''Pyramid''''' is the collective name of a series of American television Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show, second only to ''Jeopardy!'', which has won 11.

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

Stewart then reworked the game and presented another version to CBS, with a bonus round that featured a giant pyramid board and a top $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 ==

''The $10,000 Pyramid'', with host Dick Clark, made its network debut on Watergate hearings. A year later, the ratings temporarily declined and CBS canceled it. The show was quickly picked up by ABC, and its run there began May 6, 1974. 

The first thirty episodes (six weeks) which aired on ABC were taped at CBS's 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), and ''Pyramid'' historian William Padron also states 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 five-week period from October 1 to November 9, 1979, the series became ''Junior Partner Pyramid'', with the traditional celebrity-civilian pairings scrapped in favor of children playing with a parent or other adult relative.

From January 26, 1981 to September 4, 1981, the program returned to daily first-run syndication as ''The $50,000 Pyramid'', with Clark as host.

thumb|left|225px|Title card to the 1980s version of ''The $25,000 Pyramid'' (initially known as ''The New $25,000 Pyramid'')

In 1982, the series returned to the CBS daytime lineup, again with Clark as host, as ''The $25,000 Pyramid''; the word 'New' was added to the title early on to prevent viewers from thinking the shows were reruns of Cullen's version, but was dropped in early 1985. It quickly became a hit, and a new nightly syndicated version, ''The $100,000 Pyramid'', also with Clark, was added in 1985. CBS cancelled the daytime version on Blackout'', failed. The $25,000 version came to an end on July 1, 1988, and the $100,000 version ended on September 2, 1988.

Later versions included a short-lived 1991 revival of ''The $100,000 Pyramid'', hosted by John Davidson, and a 21st century version, the first to be simply be titled ''Pyramid'', hosted by Donny Osmond, which ran from 2002 to 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 this version.

== Gameplay ==
===Front game===
The Pyramid's game boards, 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. The game almost always featured one female celebrity and one male. At the beginning of the game, the teams were shown six categories, whose titles gave vague clues to their possible meaning (e.g., "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 bonus won for completing all the clues). For up to 30 seconds, one player would convey 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.

Originally, there were eight possible items in a category; this was soon reduced to seven, and reduced again to six (in 20 seconds) for the Osmond-hosted version; 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 with a "cuckoo" (or a "burble" on the Osmond version) sound effect. Originally, the celebrity gave the clues in the first and third rounds, and the civilian 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 played the "Winner's Circle" at center stage for a cash bonus.

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.

If there was a tie score at the end of the third round, a tiebreaking round was played using two letters from a certain letter of the alphabet ("Things that begin with ..."). 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 maingame score and play continuing until the tie was broken, leading to rare occasions when a team's score passed the 40-point mark.

Later in the 1970s syndicated run and on all subsequent versions, a "best of seven" tiebreaker was used; the earlier maingame score was wiped clean, and if the first team guessed all seven words within their alloted 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, the score was again wiped clean and a new tiebreaker was played, though this rarely happened). Beginning in mid-1984, if the teams tied with a perfect score of 21-21, whoever broke the tie won a new car; by that fall, this bonus was changed to $5,000 cash, which also carried over to the first syndicated ''$100,000 Pyramid''.

====Bonus games====
A number of bonus games were used during the front games, offering cash or a prize if the team correctly guessed all of the answers in a particular category. During the 1970s daytime version, one category each day hid the '''Big 7''', which was originally worth a trip, but soon changed to $500. The Cullen-hosted version originally used the Big 7 with a payoff of $1,000; this was replaced during the 1976-77 season with a '''Big Money Card''' worth a random amount from $1,000-$5,000. During the final season of this version, the Big 7 returned and was played for a new car.

During the short-lived ''Junior Partner Pyramid'' format, there was no Big 7; rather, each team would choose 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, right down to the $500 payoff. One notable difference, however, was that the bonus money counted towards a team's final total for the day; this is the only time in ''Pyramid'' history when that occurred.

No bonuses were used on the ''$50,000 Pyramid''; however, a trip was given to the player who achieved the fastest maingame time during the course of the week.

Starting in the 1980s CBS version, a '''Mystery 7''' was played in game two and won the contestant a bonus prize for guessing all seven words without being told the category until the end; for the first two years, it was shown in plain view, but was later concealed behind one of the categories. Several months into its run, a '''7-11''' bonus debuted, played in game one for a cash bonus of $1,100 (originally, contestants could either go for the money or "play it safe" and take $50 per word; few teams chose this option, and it was finally dropped in early 1985). Both bonuses were carried over to the syndicated "$100,000 Pyramid" show.

For a time in early 1983, the '''Mystery 7''' was dropped in favor of a '''Player of the Week''' format, where a player who guessed all seven answers in the fastest time during the week received a trip to Greece (much like the $50,000 version); this was dropped after three weeks when it was realized a champion would have to be disqualified from this competition if their reign carried over from one week to another.

In the 1990s, a '''Double Trouble''' game was added, with contestants winning $500 for guessing seven two-word phrases in 45 seconds. In games where this appeared, there were two such categories in one game, and each team was required to play one of them. The 1990s version also included '''Gamble for a Grand''' (also played as ''Gamble for a Trip''), in which a contestant could choose to give up time in one round and try to guess all seven clues in only 25 seconds, for a $1,000 bonus or vacation if successful. The 2002 Osmond revival had a '''Super Six''' in each half of the show, with a bonus prize awarded for a successful round.

===Winner's Circle===
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 would be revealed one at a time. One player (usually the celebrity, though the contestant always had the option to give or receive) 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; correctly guessing all six categories in 60 seconds earned the cash bonus. An illegal clue would disqualify the category and end the player's chance to win the large bonus, though smaller amounts could still be won if other categories remained in the game. Illegal clues in the Winner's circle included: "the essence of the answer" (i.e., the answer itself or a direct synonym), describing the category itself rather than naming items, answers that did not fit the category, 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). Prepositional phrases and overly descriptive sentences were legal clues until ''The New $25,000 Pyramid'' revised its rules in 1982.

Each category on the Pyramid paid as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| version
| 1st
| 2nd
| 3rd
| 4th
| 5th
| 6th
|-
| ''The $10,000/$20,000/$50,000/Junior Pyramid''
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $50
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $100
| $200
|-
| ''The $25,000 Pyramid'' (1970s)
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $100
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $200
| $300
|-
| ''All-Star Junior Pyramid'' special
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $100
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $250
| $500
|-
| ''Junior Partner Pyramid'' (1979)
| $100
| $125
| $150
| $175
| $200
| $250
|-
| ''The (New) $25,000/$100,000 Pyramid''
| $50
| $100
| $150
| $200
| $250
| $300
|-
| regular gameplay on ''Pyramid'' (2002-2004)
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $200
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $300
| $500
|-
| ''Pyramid'' six-player tournament/four-player semifinals
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $500
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $1,000
| $2,500
|-
| finals match of a four-player ''Pyramid'' tournament
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | $1,000
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | $2,500
| $5,000
|}

The cash bonus format 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. On ''The $20,000 Pyramid'', a player's first trip to the Winner's Circle was for a possible $10,000, the second for $15,000, and third and subsequent trips for $20,000. A player who lost the maingame left the show; thus, at least one new player would be introduced for the second game of each episode; a game with a Winner's Circle win in the first half would bring two new players to the show for the second half.

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

On the short-lived ''$50,000 Pyramid'', two contestants also competed for the entire show; the first Winner's Circle was worth $5,000, and regardless of whether if it was won or not, if the same player made it to the day's second Winner's Circle, it would be worth $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 and time was running short, the celebrities would team up to play the Winner's Circle and if won, their contestant partners 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; every episode contained two maingames 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 7" maingame tiebreaker had been instituted, thus eliminating the need for that rule.

===Returning champions and winnings limits===
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; ABC's winnings limit at the time was $20,000. The syndicated versions featured no returning champions prior to 1985.

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 a second successful Winner's Circle trip actually added only $15,000 to the player's score).  On all versions from 1982 to 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 (cash won in the various front-game bonuses did not count). If the two players won equal amounts of money in the Winner's Circle, both returned on the next show.

Contestants on all 1982-1991 versions were allowed to remain on the show until defeated, lasting the maximum of five shows or (on the daytime version) exceeding the CBS winnings limit. This was originally $25,000, increased to $50,000 in early 1984, and again to $75,000 by the end of the show's run; however, players were allowed to keep all winnings in excess of the limit(s).

The 2000's revival featured no returning champions. Each trip to the Winner's Circle was for $10,000, unless a player won the bonus in the first game and then won the second game; in that case, the second trip was for a total of $25,000, as well as a spot in the $100,000 tournament. (Note that a player on previous versions did not have to ''win'' the earlier attempt at the Winner's Circle to play for the larger bonus in the later game.)

===Tournaments===

On ''The $50,000 Pyramid'', the player with the fastest time in the front game during that week qualified for the $50,000 tournament. The quarterfinals were played on Monday and Tuesday. The winner of each game would advance to the semifinals after playing the Pyramid for $5,000. On Wednesday and Thursday, each match would have two semifinalists playing two games against each other with players winning one game playing for $5,000, and players winning both games in the same show playing for $10,000. Whomever won the most money would compete in the finals. The losing players from the semifinals competed in a 'wild card' match. Starting the following Monday, two finalists played one game and the winner played the Winner's Circle for $50,000. If the grand prize was not won, that player played the next game against the finalist who sat out the previous game.

On the syndicated versions beginning in 1985, the three players who won the Winner's Circle in the shortest time during a given period of shows (usually 13 weeks) 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 a $100,000 win happened in the first game of the show, the two remaining players played the second game for a possible $10,000. No bonus cards were in play during a tournament, although the $5,000 bonus for a 21-21 tie remained intact on the 1980s version.

On the recent Osmond version, the tournament was played between either four or six players who won $25,000 in their initial appearance, with 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 it 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, would have his or her tournament winnings augmented to $100,000. In a four-player tournament, contested competed in a 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 worth $25,000. The top two winners then returned to compete in the finals, where a Winner's Circle victory was worth an additional $50,000.

==Set evolution==
===Clock and score displays===

''The $50,000 Pyramid'' was unusual in that the clock in its main game counted ''up'', from 00 to 30 (to facilitate "Time of the Week" scoring). It was also the first ''Pyramid'' version to use a fully electronic display for the main-game clock (using a vane-display clock), rather than a Solari board display. During regular gameplay, the Winner's Circle clock was also vane-display, with it starting at "1 00" and counting down from there. The Solari boards were used for the clock during tournament play, going as before (counting down from "30" and "60").

'''Die Pyramide''' war eine Rateshow, die vom 16. März 1979 bis zum Oktober 1994 im ZDF ausgestrahlt wurde. Moderator war Dieter Thomas Heck. Die Titelmusik der deutschen Show stammt von Gershon Kingsley.

== Geschichte ==
Die deutsche Version basiert auf der US-amerikanischen Spielshow ''The 10.000$ Pyramid'', die von Sag' die Wahrheit!'' entwickelte. Die Sendung wurde 1973 zunächst von CBS ausgestrahlt, aber erst bei ABC zum Quotenerfolg. Auf verschiedenen Sendern wird die Quizshow, die im Laufe der Jahre als "The 25.000$ Pyramid", "The 50.000$ Pyramid" und "The 100.000$ Pyramid" Erfolg hatte, in den USA bis heute ausgestrahlt.

Von 1996 bis 1999 lief bei dem deutschen Privatsender Sat.1 die Spielshow "Hast Du Worte" nach dem gleichen Spielprinzip. Die Sendung wurde anfangs von Jörg Pilawa und später von Thomas Koschwitz moderiert.

== Regeln ==

Ziels des Spiels, das über mehrere Runden geht, ist, dass sich zwei Kandidaten in dreißig Sekunden sechs Begriffe auf verschiedene Art und Weise (Pantomime, Begriffsumschreibungen) erklären müssen, ohne Teile des Begriffs selbst zu verwenden. 

In der ZDF-Ausgabe wurden zwei Teams aus jeweils einem Prominenten und einem Zuschauerkandidaten gebildet. Gespielt wurden pro Sendung insgesamt drei Pyramiden-Runden. Es wurden zunächst zwischen beiden Kandidatenpaaren jeweils drei Vorrunden abwechselnd gespielt, bei denen die Hände für Gestiken benutzt werden durften. Es standen allerdings auch nur 30 Sekunden Zeit zur Verfügung, um sechs Begriffe zu erraten. Wurde bei einem der Begriffe gegen die Vorschrift, keine Bestandteile des Lösungswortes zu verraten, verstoßen, schied der Begriff aus; die Runde lief jedoch weiter bis zum zeitlichen Ende, wenn noch zu ratende Begriffe vorhanden waren. Schaffte es das Kandidatenpaar, alle sechs Begriffe einer Vorrunde korrekt zu erraten, gab es 200 DM extra.

Das Kandidatenpaar, welches die meisten Begriffe in den drei Vorrunden erriet, konnte schließlich um die entsprechende Pyramide spielen. Bei Gleichstand wurde eine Stichfrage gestellt. Schließlich wurde die Spielhälfte der siegreichen Kandidaten der Vorrunde in die Mitte des Feldes geschoben, eine Pyramidenanimation erschien und innerhalb 60 Sekunden mussten Oberbegriffe erraten werden.

Die Pyramiden, um die gespielt wurde, waren dabei unterschiedlich dotiert: die erste Pyramide mit 500 DM, die zweite mit 1000 DM und die dritte mit 1500 DM. Die zu erratenden Begriffe waren dabei auch nicht mit stets gleichen sondern mit steigenden DM-Beträgen gewertet: 50 DM für die ersten drei, 100 DM für die nächsten zwei, 150 DM für den letzten Begriff (insgesamt 500 DM) in der ersten Pyramide; analog dreimal 100 DM, zweimal 200 DM, einmal 300 DM (insgesamt 1000 DM) in der zweiten Pyramide; und dito dreimal 150 DM, zweimal 300 DM, einmal 450 DM (insgesamt 1500 DM) in der dritten Pyramide.

In der Pyramidenrunde waren Gestiken jedoch fast gar nicht möglich, da der Hinweisgeber seine Hände in zwei Schlaufen stecken musste. Fatal bei dieser Runde: wenn gegen die bereits erwähnte Regel bei Umschreibungen verstoßen wurde, war die Runde sofort zu Ende und nicht erst nach 60 Sekunden. 