The Junior Pyramid

A version of Pyramid for children.

Main Game
The game is played with two teams of two contestants (one celebrity and one child contestant) in a game of word communication. Each game starts with the introduction of six categories arranged in a pyramid.

Each team in turn chose a category, and then a subject under that category was given. The team had 35 seconds to guess the seven words/phrases/names that fit into the category. One player described each item while the other player tried to guess what the words are. Each correct word was worth one point. When a word was passed, it cannot be returned to, but if the guesser can the word already passed, the team still scored. If at anytime the clue giver gave away any part of the answer or conveyed the essence of the answer, a cuckoo sounded and the word was thrown out.

Each team had three turns with the celebrities/adult partner giving first in round one, the contestants giving in round two, and in round three they decided amongst themselves on who's giving and who's receiving.

Big 7
At some point in the game, a team would uncover a special item called the Big 7. The team that exposed the Big 7 had 35 seconds to get all seven and win a special prize.

Tiebreaker
If the game ended in a tie, the game shifted into a tie-breaker situation while continuing to build on their scores. The team that caused the tie had a choice between two letters leaving the other for the other team. Both teams had 35 seconds to get as many of the seven items beginning with their letter(s) as they can. The team that got the most out of seven won the game.

The team with the most points won the game and went over to the Winner's Circle for a grand cash prize. The contestant on the winning team even had choice as to who would give and who would receive. Any team who achieved a perfect score of 21 points won a bonus prize on Junior Pyramid week.

Winner's Circle
The giver of the winning team faced a larger pyramid board of six subjects with the guesser having his/her back to the board. The winning team had 60 seconds to climb up to the top of the pyramid by getting all six. On each subject, the giver gave a list of items that fit the subject while the guesser tried to guess what they all have in common. As soon as the guesser gets the right subject or passed, they moved on to the next subject to the right. Upon a pass, the team can come back to it if there's time leftover though the guesser can still get the subject without going back to it. If at any time the giver gave an illegal clue (giving away part of the answer, conveying the essence of the answer, descriptions of the category or a synonym) a buzzer would sound, and the team would have to surrender their chance at the big money. Not only that, the giver was discouraged from using his/her hands which is why they were strapped into the chair. Even though their chances of winning the big cash was shot, the team can still go for the other subjects, because when time ran out, the contestant still won money attached to the subjects guessed; and of course getting all six in 60 seconds without illegal clues won the grand cash prize.

Payoffs
Here are the amounts for each subject:

The first trip was worth $1,000, the second was worth $2,500, and the third and all future trips were worth $5,000.

Game/Championship Formats
The first Junior daytime version used the traditional rules of The $20,000 Pyramid: contestants who didn't make it to the top returned to play the next game. But if they do make it to the top and win the grand cash prize, they retire from the show. Also games straddled at that time, so whenever there's no time for the second Winner's Circle on that day's show, the second Winner's Circle would be played at the top of the next show.

Music
"Tuning Up" by Ken Aldin