The 1980s is widely considered to be the golden age of game shows, airing so many fantastic game shows during the day and night. Along with The Price Is Right and daytime version of Wheel of Fortune, others made their debut like The New Hollywood Squares (a revival of the Peter Marshall version), Classic Concentration, Scrabble, a revival of Jeopardy! that still airs today, the nighttime version of Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud (including the revived Combs version), $ale of the Century, and Press Your Luck.

One other game show that hit such a popularity is Pyramid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSPGe_vGcBM

During the 1970s, Pyramid offered some of the highest cash prizes at the time, starting with The $10,000 Pyramid and then increasing its value in subsequent syndications like The $25,000 Pyramid (Cullen). Unfortunately, poor ratings caused the versions to be canceled.

Then in 1982, CBS decided to revive it into a daytime program called The New $25,000 Pyramid (to distinguish itself from Cullen's version, which aired in re-runs; "New" was dropped not long after). With Dick Clark as host, The $25,000 Pyramid had simple rules: win your game to get to the Winner's Circle. The first time you make it, you try for $10,000. Regardless if you climb to the top of the pyramid, a second trip on that day is $25,000. With the earning's ceiling, a player can only win $25,000 (which later got bumped up).

It got so popular, a nighttime syndicated version called The $100,000 Pyramid began airing in 1985. The standard rules applied (including the 7-11 in Round 1 [get seven clues right, win $1,100], Mystery 7 in Round 2 [solve all seven clues without the description to win a great prize, like a trip or car]), along with a new twist. Whether you won the $10,000 or $25,000 prize, the objective was to climb to the top as fast as possible. At several occasions during the season, the three players who completed the pyramid the fastest returns to a tournament to win the $100,000 prize. In the tournament, two players would play, and then the person with the least amount of money gets temporarily bumped for the third player, and the musical chairs would continue until someone won the tournament. This means it could happen on either the first day or into the third week.

The first tournament went about two weeks. There were so many close calls, but no win.

Until: