Pyramid (home game)

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Pyramid was a home game adaptation of the American game show where contestants tried to guess a series of words or phrases, based on descriptions that were given to them, in the shortest amount of time; first published by Milton Bradley in 1974 til 2003 by Endless Games.

Contents 1 Milton Bradley Era (1974-1981) 1.1 Main Game 1.2 "Winner's Circle" Round 1.3 The Editions 1.4 Why The End Game is Not like the TV version? 2 Cardinal Edition (1986) 2.1 Main Game 2.2 "Winner's Circle" Round 2.3 Notes 3 Endless Games Era (2000-2003) 4 External links

[edit] Milton Bradley Era (1974-1981)

Milton Bradley made eight editions of the CBS/ABC version starting in 1974 as The $10,000 Pyramid. Each game would contain 300 catergories (six cards for each game, for a total of fifty games) play money, instructions, a "Magic" red window for reading clues, gameboard, and a 30-second timer.

[edit] Main Game

Virtually based on the TV show, cards are placed in the game board as pictured above, with only the category visible. Players take turns choosing categories, then using the red window to reveal the eight (seven in later editions) items and describe them to their partners.

[edit] "Winner's Circle" Round

For the "Winner's Circle" round, the cards are set up on the opposite side of the gameboard (almost looking like the actual big pyramid on TV); however, for this round, it plays just like the regular game with the six items on the board all fitting in the same category. The clue giver uses the red window to see each item one at a time, and has 30 seconds to get their partner to identify all six items for the grand prize.

[edit] The Editions

During the Milton Bradley Era, the later editions and the Winner's Circle prize structure were changed to the updated titles, reflecting the updated titles of the various versions of the TV show (however, there was no version based on the Syndicated $25,000 Pyramid; but in 1981, the last edition was called The $50,000 Pyramid which was Syndicated for a short time). Some third edition sets were still released as The $10,000 Pyramid (which is somewhat rare now), but some of them were redone as The $20,000 Pyramid.

Here is a list of all the editions with the names to them:

• The $10,000 Pyramid (1st - 3th editions)

The "Winner's Circle" Payoff is $10,000 for each game.

• The $20,000 Pyramid (3rd - 7th editions)

The "Winner's Circle" Payoff is $10,000 for game one, $15,000 for game two, and $20,000 for game three.

• The $50,000 Pyramid (8th edition) (rare)

The "Winner's Circle" payoffs are $25,000 for game one, $35,000 for game two, and $50,000 for game three.

[edit] Why The End Game is Not like the TV version?

According to Matt Ottinger, it goes that someone (maybe at Milton Bradley, maybe at Bob Stewart Productions) decided that there were only so many different categories that could be used in the TV version of the Winner's Circle, and the feeling was that to include these categories in the home versions would give a potential TV contestant an unfair study guide to the limited amount of material that might appear. Thus none of the Milton Bradley editions ever really duplicated the actual Winner's Circle round.

[edit] Cardinal Edition (1986)

Cardinal Games made one edition of the 80's CBS version in 1986 as The $25,000 Pyramid with a picture of Dick Clark on the box. The game would contain 100 cards (50 Part 1's (main game) and Part 2's (Winner's Circle), instructions, "Winner's Circle" markers with dollar amounts from $50-$300, gameboard, and a 30-second timer.

[edit] Main Game

The "Part 1" sheet is placed in the game console with categories visible to the receivers and the seven items to be described visible to the clue givers. Receivers and givers stay in those positions for the entire game, since all answers in all categories are visible to the clue givers at all times.

[edit] "Winner's Circle" Round

For the "Winner's Circle" round, now plays more like the actual TV show, the "Part 3" sheet is placed in the game console so that the dollar values are visible to the receiver and the categories are visible to the clue giver. The cardboard markers, lying beside the console, are used to keep track of correct answers. The first Winner's Circle is played for $5,000, the second for $10,000, the third for $15,000, the fourth for $20,000, and the fifth for $25,000.

[edit] Notes

The game can play as both the $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramid as well. The Winners' Circle payoffs for The $100,000 Pyramid are four times those of The $25,000 Pyramid.

[edit] Endless Games Era (2000-2003)

In 2000, Endless Games released the game as again The $25,000 Pyramid, with a Game Show Network logo on the box, and was virtually based on the Cardinal version with basically the same material as the 1986 version with material for 48 games. Even some cards featured a "Mystery 7" category in the package. In 2003, Endless revamped the game based on Osmond's Pyramid with the rules based on that version, but still the same game.

[edit] External links

• The Pyramid Home Game Page

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