Pyramid Pilot

[BrandonFG]

Forgot all about Dave. I remember reading he was bad, but I can't remember how. Did he fumble his way through everything, or just have no personality?

[Jay Temple]

Chad, that building your WC bank wrinkle is an interesting one. For the first time, a dominating main game player can have more to show for it in winnings. One thing, however, is that the final category will always be a "But Keep Playing" situation.

It takes an idea I'd had for a long time and cuts out a lot of the keep-playing time. I wanted the prize to be $1,000 times your main-game score, augmented to $25K for a perfect game. Their way, if you need two to win and give an illegal clue when you've got three, you don't need to keep playing. (It's debatable whether the game is more interesting that way, but from the standpoint of leaving commercial time open, it's huge!)

[chad1m]

And one more addition for the minutiae fans. Winner's Circle boxes are valued at $100, $200, $300, $400, $500 and $750.

[clemon79]

It takes an idea I'd had for a long time and cuts out a lot of the keep-playing time. I wanted the prize to be $1,000 times your main-game score,

No, I'm okay with this. I like multiples of $5,000. (Not fond of but-keep-playing, though.)

And one more addition for the minutiae fans. Winner's Circle boxes are valued at $100, $200, $300, $400, $500 and $750.

So four-nine-a thousand-twelve-fifteen hundred dollars. Got it.

[TLEberle]

Here's what's great about that matrix:

1) You're starting off with a decent prize anyway, so even if you don't build the bank (and really, how often did someone win the front game without a 7-for-7?) that's $10,000 anyhow.

2) It rewards good front game play further than just getting to play the bonus

3) It gives an asthetically pleasing amount, and it could be handled easily: "You had two category sweeps in your victory, which means we add $10,000 to your bank. For $20,000, here is your first subject..."

The thing about $1,000 per point is the same issue with Bullseye on Family Feud; it gives you TV un-friendly numbers, like a $19,000 bank.

[Steve Gavazzi]

So on those rare occasions when the front game ends after four categories, do the winners still get to play their third category to keep building their bank?  For that matter, do the losers get to play their third category so they can at least try for another $500?

The only thing I've read that I really don't like is that $750 for the top box in the Winner's Circle, because it's going to create unnecessarily wacky addition when someone gets the top box but misses one of the other ones.  On top of that, making it $600 would have made the jackpot score twenty-one hundred dollars, which would have provided a neat bit of congruity with the front game.

[HYHYBT]

As long as the feel of the gameplay and judging is right...

For consolation money, I'd make it so each *row* is worth the same amount, with each box being a third of that on the bottom and half in the middle. And at least they're not calling it "The $53,000 Pyramid," because that sounds awful.

[tvwxman]

And one more addition for the minutiae fans. Winner's Circle boxes are valued at $100, $200, $300, $400, $500 and $750.

Same values as the pilot from 3 years ago - which is unncecessary - if there are no returning champions, there's no point to having that strattled of a scoring system.

$250 lower, $500 middle, $1000 top. Most you get is $2500 if you miss one lower box.

[Jay Temple]

So on those rare occasions when the front game ends after four categories, do the winners still get to play their third category to keep building their bank?  For that matter, do the losers get to play their third category so they can at least try for another $500?

That's a very good question, all the more so if it turns out that they have returning champions. Flashing back to Double Talk: If one player won both games, that player was the champion. If they split the games, the person who won more money came back. But, in the main game, there was a bonus clue available if you solved all four of the puzzles in a set, and if you didn't need the fourth puzzle to win, you didn't get the opportunity. That meant that it was possible for someone to lose the day because he lost a close game and won a blow-out.

ETA: CLemon, I agree with you. My point was that they had an idea similar to mine, but theirs works even better from a production standpoint.

[Matt Ottinger]

And one more addition for the minutiae fans. Winner's Circle boxes are valued at $100, $200, $300, $400, $500 and $750.

Same values as the pilot from 3 years ago - which is unncecessary - if there are no returning champions, there's no point to having that strattled of a scoring system.

Strattled?

Of all the things to think about, the value of the WC boxes is probably pretty far down the list.  The only thing that surprises me is the $750 box, which screws with the math unnecessarily. I think 1-2-3-4-5-6 would have been just fine.

The thing that surprises me most, though, and the thing that will probably be addressed if/when this becomes a series, is that they are throwing a LOT of money around.  Cash bonus for every perfect-seven PLUS a larger jackpot to play for?  In the 80s version, getting sevens was commonplace.  Unless they deliberately aim for attractive but incompetent contestants (See: Reaction, Chain) this could quickly become a budget-busting problem.

[clemon79]

Unless they deliberately aim for attractive but incompetent contestants (See: Reaction, Chain) this could quickly become a budget-busting problem.

And if they *do*, that will be a problem of a different sort.

[ten96lt]

Unless they deliberately aim for attractive but incompetent contestants (See: Reaction, Chain) this could quickly become a budget-busting problem.

And if they *do*, that will be a problem of a different sort.

Easy fix for that, put in incompetent celebrity partners.

[Kevin Prather]

The thing that surprises me most, though, and the thing that will probably be addressed if/when this becomes a series, is that they are throwing a LOT of money around.  Cash bonus for every perfect-seven PLUS a larger jackpot to play for?  In the 80s version, getting sevens was commonplace.  Unless they deliberately aim for attractive but incompetent contestants (See: Reaction, Chain) this could quickly become a budget-busting problem.

$6,000 in bonus money is possible per episode if both games ended in 21-21. In the 80s, this scenario would be $11,100. The $25,000 possible prize for every WC can add up quickly, but I think the fix for that is to put in harder categories when the budget starts to get thin.

[tvwxman]

And one more addition for the minutiae fans. Winner's Circle boxes are valued at $100, $200, $300, $400, $500 and $750.

Same values as the pilot from 3 years ago - which is unncecessary - if there are no returning champions, there's no point to having that strattled of a scoring system.

Strattled?

I just meant different values for each box...I don't think it's necessary if you're not using score in the WC to determine the winner of the day.... Straddled is clearly not the right word there.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Straddled is clearly not the right word there.

Nor the right spelling, which I think was Matt's point.