$100,000 Pyramid (PC Games, 2001)

$100,000 Pyramid, while six years old, does nothing to change a very simple premise. One partner describes something, and the other partner has to guess what it is. Fairly simple, easy to understand. What the box does not tell you is that this game can be incredibly fun -- IF you do it right.

The game has three modes of play: Single Player, Two Player, and Party Play.
One Player mode hooks you up with a pseudo-celebrity for a partner, and you have to beat a certain amount of points to go to the Winner's Circle for a progressively higher amount. Now, single-player suffers from the incredible difficulty of having a pre-recorded voice describe something. That pre-recording can't deduct from your face whether you're understanding it and adjust its clues to help, like a human being could, so it simply re-plays the description over and over. Maybe some day we'll have computers that can tell via camera whether we understand it or not. But for right now, this is probably the best they could've done. Add to that difficulty the fact that it's just not much fun if you're not doing it with a live person, and while it's a good attempt, single player is more often frustrating than fun.

Two Player's pretty much the same. The two of you are paired off with computer celebs and whoever wins goes to the Winner's Circle. The only real difference between this and One Player mode is at least you're not frustrated alone.

Party Play is where this game shines. Party Play is almost EXACTLY like the TV show. Four people play in two teams of two, and one person faces the screen while one person faces away. The screen gives the words or phrases, and runs the clock for you. It's basically a Pyramid board game on your computer. And this mode, unlike the other two, can be a LOT of fun. I highly suggest getting eight or so people together, have the losing pair switch off with another pair of people, and give the highest money winner of the night a cheap prize. Very entertaining, the things some people will say.

As far as presentation goes, it's top notch in the graphics department, but only so-so in the sound department. It's like the game designers got the rights to use the original set design of the show for their "virtual" set, as it looks to be a near-perfect recreation of the set, minus the small contestant tables during the main game. But apparently, they DIDN'T get the rights to use the original theme songs or sound effects. The music during the opening is okay, kind of a Pyramid theme re-mix of sorts, but after that it's pretty blah, and sometimes even annoying, since they play music while you're trying to talk to your partner. I highly recommend shutting the music off in the options panel.

And what happened to the Winner's Circle clock sound? In the show there was no music during the Circle, just the implacable, unstoppable, "DUM...DUM...DUM" sound every time a second ticked off the clock. It created a sense of tension that is almost completely missing from this game. I say "almost" because they do use a clock sound, but only in the last ten seconds.

All that having been said, if you're into party games, Pyramid is a vastly fun way to spend a night. If you're looking for a fun gameshow game you can play by yourself, there are other, better options out there.