The $25,000 Pyramid, a new edition of the game show created by Bob Stewart and hosted by Dick Clark, returned to CBS-TV @ 10:00am EDT (after an 8-year absence!), with Constance McCashin and Robert Mandan as the guests for the premiere week, and episodes now videotaped at CBS Television City Studio #33, situated @ 7800 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. It followed the ill-fated 1982 syndicated $50,000 Pyramid, distributed by Chicago-based CPM, Inc., the Pyramid which introduced the "round-robin style tournament" format of the series, something which would also be employed for the $100,000 version (more on that later). Almost 2 months later, on Monday, November 8, 1982, the show became The New $25,000 Pyramid to avoid confusion with the same-titled 1974-79 Bill Cullen syndie primetime version; the "New" was removed from the title effective the January 28, 1985 episode (#608). That same year, the success of the CBS Daytime version yielded a daily nighttime version, The $100,000 Pyramid (syndicated originally by 20th Century-Fox Television), which debuted on on various stations Monday, September 9, 1985 with debut guests Vicki Lawrence and Brian Mitchell.

After 6 years, The $25,000 Pyramid aired for the 1,404th and final time on CBS Daytime television on Friday, July 1, 1988. By this time, the show had renewed the format of the opening montage of past winners, one which had been long a staple on Pyramid during the '70s. The final 2 celebrity guests were Robin Riker-Hasley and Charlie Siebert. And, sadly, neither of the civilian contestants reached the top of The Pyramid in this final telecast! This was actually the second cancellation of The $25,000 Pyramid; when CBS first dropped it on New Year's Eve, 1987 (with guests Anne Marie Johnson and Robert Hegyes), after 5 years and 1,339 shows, its replacement, the Bob Goen-hosted Jay Wolpert Production Blackout, left much to be desired. So, by popular demand, The $25,000 Pyramid returned to CBS after 13 weeks, thus making it the only game show in TV history to be replaced by another game and then in return replace that same game!

Rumor had it that CBS revived The $25,000 Pyramid as only filler while Mark Goodson Productions' revival of Family Feud starring Ray Combs was being groomed for its premiere, which occurred the following Monday, replacing Pyramid. This was the second time that The Feud has replaced the timeslot of a cancelled Pyramid; the first happened in June 1980, after The $20,000 Pyramid completed a 7-year run on ABC.

The nighttime $100,000 Pyramid stayed humming in syndication for 2 months until calling it 3 years and 545 shows on September 2, 1988, thus bringing down the curtain on the Pyramid chapter for the 1980s.

Child's Play, which premiered on CBS directly after @ 10:30am EDT,  was a neat Mark Goodson-created game kid's/adult's game played similarly to Pyramid, hosted, ironically, by former Pyramid emcee Bill Cullen! Two contestents, one a champion, face off. In Round 1, three definitions are played, each with a maximum of three children (who were recorded on videotape that was being shown onscreen to the contestents) giving each definition. The first person to guess is the challenger or the player who didn't correctly guess in the final round. Each correct answer is one point.

Then, a "Fast Play" round is played with a kid giving a definition, and a player buzzing in to guess; correct answers are worth 2 points. The player with the most points when time runs out wins the game and $500. The maximum time a player can stay on the game is 5 days straight.

Through its one-season run on CBS Daytime (September 20, 1982-September 16, 1983), Child's Play had two different endgames, with the switch being made in Spring 1983: in the "Triple Play" end round (September 1982-May 1983?) the contestent has to guess six definations, they pick one of three definations written by some of the children who appeared earlier on in the show. If incorrect, they pick a definition for the same word by another child. Getting 6 correct definitions in 45 seconds wins $5,000, if not they win $100 per correctly guessed definition. In the "Turnabout" end round (May?-September 1983), an inverted version of its predecessor, the champion has to convey words to five children on stage who had previously appeared on the program in the frontgame definitions. Getting 7 right answers is worth $5,000, if not, $100 per word.

Child's Play was the first ever Mark Goodson Production without Bill Todman (who, sadly, was 3 years dead at the time; fellow CBS games The Price Is Right and TattleTales and other G-T games would follow suit in changed names). Also, it was Bill Cullen's final game show for Goodson after 30 years emceeing games for the company (as well as his next assignment following his 1980-82 stint on rival NBC's Blockbusters).

(Sources Of Info: The "Pyramid" Game Show's Years In New York City; The Child's Play Page)