Both shows' objective was for contestant/celebrity teams to guess a given word or phrase in the shortest amount of time with the fewest letters given as possible.
A prize "for just being on the show", in the words of Kenny Williams, was always included, so that even if the challengers lost every game, the contestant would not leave empty-handed.
In 1973, the PDQ format (minus the original sponsor) was revived and altered somewhat, re-christened as Baffle, and broadcast weekday mornings on NBC.
Dick Enberg was the host, Kenny Williams returned as announcer, and Mort Garson was musical director.
The team with the lowest total elapsed time won the game, and the "civilian" contestant went on to the bonus round.
The revamped PDQ took the honor, dubious to some, of replacing the venerable Concentration on NBC's daytime schedule at 10:30 a.m. (9:30 Central) on March 26, 1973.
Generally speaking, the Dick Clark-hosted Pyramid got the better of things in the Nielsens, although Baffle, which featured many regular celebrities from its sister show Hollywood Squares, fought heartily.
But NBC daytime programming head Lin Bolen decided to use that slot to end the ten-year-old Jeopardy!, and on January 7, 1974, moved Baffle to 12:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Central).
This cut, along with its competition (CBS' Search for Tomorrow and ABC's Split Second) and a replacement of civilian contestants with an all-celebrity format some months earlier, all worked to bring the year-old game to a halt on March 29, with Celebrity Sweepstakes taking over the next Monday; its former competitor The $10,000 Pyramid fell in the ratings to Jeopardy!
[1] The 1968 episode features Stubby Kaye, Jo Anne Worley and Arte Johnson as celebrity players.
[4] In June 2014, a clip of the April 10, 1973, episode, featuring Hollywood Squares regulars Peter Marshall and Rose Marie, was uploaded to Wink Martindale's YouTube channel.
[5] MGM Television, as a successor-in-interest to Filmways (which purchased the Heatter-Quigley library in the late-1960s), owns the rights to the show and any future revivals.