"$100,000 Pyramid" primetime this summer on ABC

[Fedya]

Using the same word in two different front-game categories in the same round?

[shakes head dolefully]

[chrisholland03]

Turkey?

[Chief-O]

Last night, one of the categories was "You Got Served", and one of the items in that category was Serena Williams.

Am I the only one who thought the judges should not have let just "Williams" be accepted, given that Serena has a sister who's as popular in the sport as she is?

[Unrealtor]

Meh. It's a word game, not a trivia contest. I have no problem with sticking to a rule that says that just the last name is acceptable unless the common thread defined by the category somehow makes the first name relevant to the answer (like every name having the same initials.)

[chad1m]

Am I the only one who thought the judges should not have let just "Williams" be accepted, given that Serena has a sister who's as popular in the sport as she is?

I have a vivid memory of the '80s judges taking "Joan Collins" for "Jackie Collins" or vice-versa with a Dick Clark explanation afterwards. There's precedent.

[Jay Temple]

Turkey?

It was "bones" in one category (slang words for money) and "bone" in another. Not just the same half-hour, but the actual set of six categories. I shook my head too.

[Fedya]

Yes; bones/bone was the one I had in mind.

And they absolutely should have accepted just Williams for Serena Williams.  (Now if they were playing Password....)

[Kevin Prather]

During the final WC, "milk" and "orange juice" were accepted for "Parts of a refrigerator". Is that a correct ruling, or could it be that the judge was being charitable since the round was going poorly anyway?

[chad1m]

Is that a correct ruling

Since the '80s, "parts" have been accepted for things that aren't actual vital components in making the object function, like "the music" for "parts of a guitar."

[JasonA1]

My gut tells me "clothes" would be allowed for "parts of a washing machine" in the 80s as well. That sort of clue doesn't violate the letter of the rules, so far as I can tell. It veers near that unwritten rule (but later written, as I understand it) where you couldn't get too "cute" for lack of a better term (see: Thomas for Things You Doubt).  A lot of people go down this road of buzzing things that don't fit the spirit of the category, but if that were the case, the Why You/Might Say boxes wouldn't play well at all.

-Jason

[Loogaroo]

Methinks that this was the producers throwing the contestant a $4000 bone, seeing as boxes 2 through 4 had already gone wanting. I think the judges are willing to err on the side of generosity as long as it doesn't trigger a full win or upset the game balance (which is immaterial once you get to the WC anyway).

Did anyone keep track of the win percentage over the course of the summer? If I had to guess I'd say it was in the neighborhood of about 30%.

[GameShowGuru]

Here's the official rule for what constitutes a synonym: It must fall into the same lexical category for it to be a synonym (nouns for nouns, verbs for verbs, etc.).

Official based on who? Because if that's the rules Pyramid actually plays under, I'll eat my hat.

Official based on anyone who is a lexicologist, who would most likely same something similar, if not identical.  As for Bob Stewart, he would most likely contact a relevant professor at UCLA or USC if a contestant was to challenge what constitutes a synonym, as it is common practice when a ruling is challenged based on the accuracy of the judging. 

[mxc0427]

A factual error does not necessarily translate into an illegal clue. For the box "U.S. PRESIDENTS," if I said "Benjamin Franklin" and my partner said "U.S. Presidents," we'll still get the box. Pyramid isn't a trivia game. It's all about the conveyance of words. 

[clemon79]

A factual error does not necessarily translate into an illegal clue. For the box "U.S. PRESIDENTS," if I said "Benjamin Franklin" and my partner said "U.S. Presidents," we'll still get the box. Pyramid isn't a trivia game. It's all about the conveyance of words.

"Give a list of clues that fit the subject."

[Casey]

A factual error does not necessarily translate into an illegal clue. For the box "U.S. PRESIDENTS," if I said "Benjamin Franklin" and my partner said "U.S. Presidents," we'll still get the box. Pyramid isn't a trivia game. It's all about the conveyance of words.

Not so much....