$100,000 Pyramid questions

[Justin30519]

- In the tournament, the player that comes back is the player that gets the higher score in the winner's circle. What if they get the same score? Do they both come back? That seems unfair to the player waiting in the wings. Or is there some kind of tie breaker?
- Often in the tournaments, Dick Clark cautioned the audience not to talk during the winner's circle because of how important it was. In the history of Pyramid, has an audience member ever shouted out a clue or the answer? What would happen? Would they replace it with another category and edit it out?

Justin

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Justin30519\' date=\'Dec 31 2003, 09:02 PM\'] - In the tournament, the player that comes back is the player that gets the higher score in the winner's circle. What if they get the same score? Do they both come back? That seems unfair to the player waiting in the wings. Or is there some kind of tie breaker?

Justin [/quote]
 Ties in WC winnings during tournaments are broken by flipping a coin. One player calls it, if they call it right, they play the next day, if not, their opponent does. This is so that each player has a shot at least every other day.

[gameshowguy2000]

And the coin toss was done On Camera.

Also, I've heard that the bonus cards aren't used in the tournament. The question is: Why?

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 31 2003, 10:34 PM\'] I've heard that the bonus cards aren't used in the tournament. The question is: Why? [/quote]
 No 7-11s or Mystery 7s in the tournaments because those extras serve as a distraction to the big event. That's how it was described by Dick Clark on the air.
Since they were about to give away $100K, Bob Stewart may have figured, "Why stretch the budget even more?".
The $5000 bonus for tie-breaking a 21-21 score stayed in effect.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 31 2003, 09:04 PM\'] [quote name=\'Justin30519\' date=\'Dec 31 2003, 09:02 PM\'] - In the tournament, the player that comes back is the player that gets the higher score in the winner's circle. What if they get the same score? Do they both come back? That seems unfair to the player waiting in the wings. Or is there some kind of tie breaker?

Justin [/quote]
Ties in WC winnings during tournaments are broken by flipping a coin. [/quote]
 Yes. A coin toss, or as Dick likes to call it, a toin coss.

[Jay Temple]

I liked the fact that they didn't have bonus cards for precisely the reason that Dick gave.  (They kept them on Osmond's Pyramid, but for some reason that doesn't bother me.)

It's the tie-breaker provision that I never liked.  $100,000 is too much to depend on a coin toss.  First choice:  Sit out one game at a time instead of one day at a time.  Second choice:  Have them play third-round categories all the way, and the player with the higher combined score for two rounds wins any tie.

[scully24]

In the history of Pyramid, has an audience member ever shouted out a clue or the answer? What would happen? Would they replace it with another category and edit it out?

That would be how it is handled on the current Pyramid.  If you're in the W/C and the contestant has gotten, say, three correct answers, and then something happens to foul up the round before the fourth answer is gotten, then the currently visible answer would be thrown out and the clock would be re-started from the time after the third answer was achieved, and the contestant would have whatever time remained of the 60 seconds to try and get the remaining three answers.  Then the two taped portions of the round would be edited together as though there had been no break in the action.

I was a recent contestant on Pyramid and I saw these kinds of interruptions happen on occasion--in fact one occurred while I was in the W/C.  Not due to audience interference, but rather to other technical problems.

Such edits are common to most game shows--a similar one occurred years ago when I was on "Go!."  The principle most shows try to follow is to preserve as much of the original game play as possible up to the point that the problem occurred.  So rather than throw out an entire round and start over, they will always opt to try and resume in the middle so that the contestant gets credit for answers already gotten.  Of course it can be argued that this gives a slight advantage to the contestant who was interrupted, since they have time to regroup and collect their thoughts and know that they have to get one or two more answers.  I've seen contestants pick up their pace after an edit, knowing that they had 4 or 5 seconds to get one more answer.  On Go!, this definitely helped one team to win.  On Pyramid, when I was interrupted in the W/C, it was less of a factor since I didn't know for sure (nor was I told) how much time remained.  Still, it helped to break the round into two sections and to catch a breather before finishing, so it was a slight advantage.

[Robert Hutchinson]

I remember a fascinating Winner's Circle from an episode of $20K Pyramid (from GSN's Dark Period):

• The first two boxes were won
• The third (which was "[Some Actor's] Movies") was passed because the celeb couldn't think of a single one
• The fourth was "Things in a Chest"--the celebrity offered "chess pieces", and the contestant got it just as the judges accidentally buzzed the clue

There was then an abrupt cut to Dick Clark. He explained that the judges had erred in buzzing "chess pieces". They proceeded by placing 30 seconds on the clock (which was a little more time than was actually left, possibly to compensate for the passed category); giving credit for the first, second, and fourth boxes; replacing the third category entirely; and resumed the round, running up the right side of the pyramid. "Burt Reynolds Movies" proved easier, but time ran out on the last category.

I was amazed that they didn't throw out the round entirely. I suppose they possibly asked the contestant if she wanted to have it thrown out, and she declined.

[ChuckNet]

Yes. A coin toss, or as Dick likes to call it, a toin coss.

Alex Trebek once used that same Spoonerism on an ep of Pitfall, as well.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 03:17 AM\'] I remember a fascinating Winner's Circle from an episode of $20K Pyramid (from GSN's Dark Period):

• The first two boxes were won
• The third (which was "[Some Actor's] Movies") was passed because the celeb couldn't think of a single one
• The fourth was "Things in a Chest"--the celebrity offered "chess pieces", and the contestant got it just as the judges accidentally buzzed the clue

There was then an abrupt cut to Dick Clark. He explained that the judges had erred in buzzing "chess pieces". They proceeded by placing 30 seconds on the clock (which was a little more time than was actually left, possibly to compensate for the passed category); giving credit for the first, second, and fourth boxes; replacing the third category entirely; and resumed the round, running up the right side of the pyramid. "Burt Reynolds Movies" proved easier, but time ran out on the last category.

I was amazed that they didn't throw out the round entirely. I suppose they possibly asked the contestant if she wanted to have it thrown out, and she declined. [/quote]
 In that case, they handled it better in the N.Y. era than in the L.A. era.  I remember at least a couple occasions in the L.A. era where only one category was left in play and a clue was disallowed, so the team was given a new category, but the clock was set at the time of the buzzer rather than the time when the old category was revealed.

[tvmitch]

And if anyone else ever noticed, the contestants never changed their clothes from episode to episode in the Clark tournaments. This was serious stuff.

Also, if anyone taped the entire marathon yesterday, please email me at mgro at mitchgroff.com for a possible trade.

[GSFan]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 04:17 AM\']I remember a fascinating Winner's Circle from an episode of $20K Pyramid (from GSN's Dark Period):

• The first two boxes were won
• The third (which was "[Some Actor's] Movies") was passed because the celeb couldn't think of a single one
• The fourth was "Things in a Chest"--the celebrity offered "chess pieces", and the contestant got it just as the judges accidentally buzzed the clue

There was then an abrupt cut to Dick Clark. He explained that the judges had erred in buzzing "chess pieces". They proceeded by placing 30 seconds on the clock (which was a little more time than was actually left, possibly to compensate for the passed category); giving credit for the first, second, and fourth boxes; replacing the third category entirely; and resumed the round, running up the right side of the pyramid. "Burt Reynolds Movies" proved easier, but time ran out on the last category.

I was amazed that they didn't throw out the round entirely. I suppose they possibly asked the contestant if she wanted to have it thrown out, and she declined.[/quote]
This was from the week that aired July 17-21, 1978 with Lois Nettleton and Dick Cavett.  Ruth Lavacek was playing with Lois.  While the powers that be were debating the "chess pieces" clue, all of us sat in the audience for 45 minutes wondering what they were going to do.  We were all waiting for our turn; we, of course, being the other contestants.  If Ruth won, then she would be out of there and we could play.

The big decision was whether or not it was an illegal clue, "chess" sounding so much like "chest".  A note to Robert.  To the best of my knowledge, the contestant is never asked their opinion in these matters.  As we all know, "The decision of the judges is final."

I lost the second game of the Thursday show to Ruth.  She confided in me later that she was concerned when I took my seat onstage.  She thought that out of all the other contestants there, I was the one who might just beat her.  No matter, I looked quite handsome that day.

Happy New Year to all.  May Peace Prevail On Earth

David

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'GSFan\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 03:22 PM\']A note to Robert.  To the best of my knowledge, the contestant is never asked their opinion in these matters.  As we all know, "The decision of the judges is final."[/quote]
Well, yes, but that doesn't mean the judges can't take input from the contestants first. And to clarify, I only meant that they might've asked the contestant how she wanted to proceed with the round, not that they asked her her opinion on the legality of the clue.

Anyway, neat that you were actually there for that.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 02:10 PM\']And if anyone else ever noticed, the contestants never changed their clothes from episode to episode in the Clark tournaments. This was serious stuff.[/quote]
Contestants tended not to change their clothes on Stewart shows anyway, nor were they put through make-up before the show--Stewart believed that not requiring those things made them more comfortable onstage.  Besides, depending on the show, if there's only one person changing clothes, they could get a little shorter turnaround time between tapings--if I'm reading Stewart's mind correctly, and I probably am.

[GSFan]

I remember that there were about 20 of us the day my show taped.  Studio 15 was a cramped little space.  There was barely enough room for us, much less for all our clothes had they asked us to bring changes.

We were not given full make-up, however, I do remember someone putting a little powder on my face just prior to my game.  As if they could have improved on a 19 year old stud.

May Peace Prevail On Earth.

David