pyramid hypothetical

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Gus\' post=\'170502\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 06:39 PM\']
Each player plays the WC for their own prize. So for instance, say Player A and Player B as a team go to the WC. This is A's first trip, but B has already won twice. A win means A wins $50,000, and B goes to $250,000.
[/quote]
"Lurleen, how come that person wins more than that person for doing the same thing?"

"I dunno, Cletus, but I see a repeat of According To Jim starting up over at MyNetwork. Let's watch that."

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'170516\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 08:56 PM\'][quote name=\'Gus\' post=\'170502\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 06:39 PM\']Each player plays the WC for their own prize. So for instance, say Player A and Player B as a team go to the WC. This is A's first trip, but B has already won twice. A win means A wins $50,000, and B goes to $250,000. [/quote]
"Lurleen, how come that person wins more than that person for doing the same thing?"

"I dunno, Cletus, but I see a repeat of According To Jim starting up over at MyNetwork. Let's watch that."[/quote]Oh, come off it. That's completely preposterous.

No one would actually flip over to According to Jim. You know that.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'Gus\' post=\'170502\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 09:39 PM\']
Each player plays the WC for their own prize. So for instance, say Player A and Player B as a team go to the WC. This is A's first trip, but B has already won twice. A win means A wins $50,000, and B goes to $250,000.
[/quote]

If a team gets to the top, there's no reason to break them up. Then you can simplify that part of the game.

Let me throw this out there for a 60-minute show:
Two pair of strangers play the front game: two 60-second rounds, each giving once and receiving once. Winners to the winners' circle.
Two different pairs of strangers, same deal.
Third game, the losing pairs of the two games are rejiggered. They play the two-round front game (or a one-round front game), winners to the winners' circle.
Then, the returning champs play the winners' circle. (They get to skip the front game.)
Whoever gets to the top of the Pyramid comes back the next day. If nobody does, then it's dollar score to determine the champs. A pair plays for more money each step of the way. Maybe it's $100K your first big win, then $200K more for your second, then $300K, then $400K for a total of $1M. But if you don't have high score some week, you take what you've won and you're gone.

[Jimmy Owen]

Pyramid is such a great game that it would be foolish to change it from the original.  If you want to make it a million dollar show, do it on network prime time, secure a million-dollar a show budget from the network.  Classic Pyramid with recognizable celebs.  The way to get the million is to clear the pyramid plus three additional categories, which would appear just above the top of the pyramid, and would flip over to reveal the million dollar grand prize.  In order to get the million, one would have to get nine in the WC rather than 6.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'170522\' date=\'Nov 26 2007, 01:22 AM\']
Pyramid is such a great game that it would be foolish to change it from the original.  If you want to make it a million dollar show, do it on network prime time, secure a million-dollar a show budget from the network.  Classic Pyramid with recognizable celebs.  The way to get the million is to clear the pyramid plus three additional categories, which would appear just above the top of the pyramid, and would flip over to reveal the million dollar grand prize.  In order to get the million, one would have to get nine in the WC rather than 6.
[/quote]

Even though the fastest time for 6 categories is :26, by the one and only Billy Crystal, can :60 be enough for 9?  How about :90 for 9?

When Pyramid was conceived nearly 35 years ago, 10 categories in :60 would have been done, but ended up being considered too difficult, which led to the bottom 4 boxes being covered up.

And with $1 million at stake on a show like Pyramid, whether or not that person wins the money depends on how careful the celebrity is when giving clues; an illegal clue could wipe out almost everything.

[CeleTheRef]

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'170436\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 03:55 AM\']
what if instead of celebrities. there were 2 teams of civillans playing;;.ala blockbusters--would it be more exciting? less exciting?
more difficolt?' less?
[/quote]

Italy is getting both versions soon.    I'll tell you how it works out.

[tvmitch]

What about seven categories in 60 seconds, with the scoring similar to the half-zero game in Cullen CR and the TPiR Grand Game?

First clue gets you $1, then $10, all the way up to $1M. Consolation prizes of $10K or $100K aren't bad. A cuckoo means you lose a zero and the chance to win a million.

The thing just wouldn't look like a Pyramid, that's the problem.

[Mr. Armadillo]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'170517\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 11:25 PM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'170516\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 08:56 PM\'][quote name=\'Gus\' post=\'170502\' date=\'Nov 25 2007, 06:39 PM\']Each player plays the WC for their own prize. So for instance, say Player A and Player B as a team go to the WC. This is A's first trip, but B has already won twice. A win means A wins $50,000, and B goes to $250,000. [/quote]
"Lurleen, how come that person wins more than that person for doing the same thing?"

"I dunno, Cletus, but I see a repeat of According To Jim starting up over at MyNetwork. Let's watch that."[/quote]Oh, come off it. That's completely preposterous.

No one would actually flip over to According to Jim. You know that.


[/quote]
Believe it or not, that's actually the least preposterous thing about Lemon's statement.  People'd be much less likely to pick up that each contestant is playing for a different amount that switch to Jim.  Believe it or not, there are people that watch that.

[Jay Temple]

Since they closed the Video Clips thread (and opened a new forum), I'm continuing a discussion that was going on there. Uncamark said,

And a factoid for that other thread: The first time I saw a "Pyramid" tiebreaker, the categories were something else than words starting with the same letter. Clark actually read category names to the players and then told them what they had in common after choosing the category, like the normal front game. Words starting with the same letter categories came pretty soon after that.

(I assume this is the thread he meant.) That must have been very early in the run. I'd never seen a tiebrekaer category like that. In fact, I saw a game go the other way: There was a technical snafu with one of the categories early in the game, so they let the team choose a new category.* When it was down to one category instead of two, they gave that team the choice of the remaining category or words that start with T.

* If I'm thinking of the right incident, the item was supposed to be "a pow-wow", but it was in their system as "pow-pow."

[Unrealtor]

Also continuing talk of tiebreakers that other thread, I remember a second tiebreaker used in an early $25K episode (it was played after the break,) the categories were "words that begin with the letter Q" and "words that begin with the letter Z." I'm not sure I heard of a better example of things that were intended to not create a third tie.

Also impressive there was that, after the second team got their 7th answer right on the buzzer, Dick declared another tie without any apparent edit. Given that Pyramid was not afraid to make a point of going back and checking the tapes, I was surprised to hear that, and can't imagine it happening in this age of stop downs any time anything goes the slightest bit off.

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'170530\' date=\'Nov 26 2007, 09:35 AM\']
What about seven categories in 60 seconds, with the scoring similar to the half-zero game in Cullen CR and the TPiR Grand Game?

First clue gets you $1, then $10, all the way up to $1M. Consolation prizes of $10K or $100K aren't bad. A cuckoo means you lose a zero and the chance to win a million.

The thing just wouldn't look like a Pyramid, that's the problem.
[/quote]

That's almost the same exact concept I brought up (I wanted the original 6 instead of 7 categories).

I honestly didn't see anything wrong with it.

Someone brought up the fact that it awards players a max of $100K for losing.

By the same token, a player on Millionaire would be awarded a max of $32,000 (or however much it is in syndie) for missing a question and essentially losing the game, 'cause they sure as hell aren't winning the game.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'170764\' date=\'Nov 28 2007, 06:01 PM\']
the categories were "words that begin with the letter Q" and "words that begin with the letter Z." I'm not sure I heard of a better example of things that were intended to not create a third tie.[/quote]
Are you suggesting that because an uncommon letter is more likely to produce a 7 of 7? (I'm just trying to make sure I'm following.)

[Unrealtor]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'170783\' date=\'Nov 28 2007, 10:36 PM\']
[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'170764\' date=\'Nov 28 2007, 06:01 PM\']
the categories were "words that begin with the letter Q" and "words that begin with the letter Z." I'm not sure I heard of a better example of things that were intended to not create a third tie.[/quote]
Are you suggesting that because an uncommon letter is more likely to produce a 7 of 7? (I'm just trying to make sure I'm following.)
[/quote]

I think my logic was more that they were playing the mental game -- that people might think of Q and Z as "hard" letters because they're uncommon and psych themselves out.

[rebelwrest]

Since we are talking about tie-breakers, when Pyramid had to first to 7 in the shortest amount of time aspect, I recently thought of some aspect of that tie-breaker that seemed unfair to me.  When the first player gets 7, the clock stops after that player has give the complete answer.  Whereas, the second player only has to begin the answer before the buzzer and he wins.  If this isnt the case please correct me.

[Jay Temple]

The two most probably explanations:
i) You're right, and it is unfair. (I would point out, however, that the team it hurts had the advantage of getting to choose their letter.)
ii) I often thought that the time as announced didn't quite jibe with what I saw counting down, invariably with a shorter time announced. This is partly because they're looking at a different clock, but now I wonder whether it's also because the time I thought I saw was when they finished and they were actually measuring when they started.