Pyramid of Misfortune

Pyramid of Misfortune is a Xiomeran game show. The show has run for sixteen seasons on the X₃ television network. In 2019, the contest was opened to foreigners for the first time. The winner receives 1 million quetzals.

Gameplay

In the Xiomeran capital, the X₃ Network Studios has on part of its property a giant outdoor ampitheater, surrounding a pyramid that stands 100 feet (ten stories) tall. The pyramid is constructed to resemble a scaled-down version of the much-taller main building of the Palace of Flowers. At each of the first nine stories, a flat platform forms a narrow terrace. A combination of randomly scattered indentations and rock climbing holds leads up to each terrace. The pyramid has four sides; four contestants compete against each other at a time.

The goal of the challenge is simple, in theory: climb up to the tenth story of the pyramid and hit a giant red button. Whoever does that first, wins the contest.

However, the people inside the pyramid and at the top of it will be doing their very best to make sure the contestant doesn't make it to the top. One can expect "boulders" and "rocks" (made of a non-crushing polymer) to get tossed at them, slick substances to suddenly get dumped right where they're trying to grab, trap doors into the pyramid to open suddenly underneath them, "snakes" (more fake props) to get thrown at them en masse, "pyramid defenders" to pop out of suddenly-opened windows to try to knock them off, and so on.

Fellow contestants will also have one shot, if someone is doing too well, to try to take them down. Each contestant's "coach" will have a remote control, with three buttons corresponding to the three sides that the other contestants are on. The coach will be able, once per run, to press one of those three buttons to try to slow down, or knock off, a rival contestant to help their own player out with a "coach's challenge" random event.