Jeopardy!

"Jeopardy" redirects here. For other uses, see Jeopardy (disambiguation).

Jeopardy!
File:Hdjeopalexbig.jpg Jeopardy! Season 24 logo
Created by	Merv Griffin
Starring	Alex Trebek (1984–present) Art Fleming (1964–1975; 1978–1979)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	Fleming daytime: 2,753 Fleming syndicated: ~40 Fleming revival: 113 Trebek syndicated: 5,250 (as of October 22, 2007) Super Jeopardy!: 13 Total: ~8169
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC (1964–1975, 1978–1979) Syndication (1974–1975, 1984–present)
Release	March 30,1964 – present Renewed until 2011-2012 season

Jeopardy! is an international television quiz game show, originally devised by Merv Griffin. The show originated in the United States, where it first ran on NBC from March 30, 1964 until January 3, 1975; in a weekly syndicated version from September 9, 1974 to September 7, 1975; and in a retooled revival from October 2, 1978 to March 2, 1979. Its most successful incarnation is the current Alex Trebek-hosted syndicated version, which has aired continuously since September 10, 1984. The show is shot at Stage 10 on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California, with production offices also on the lot in the Robert Young building.

Jeopardy! is a game of trivia, covering topics such as history, literature, pop culture, and science. During the game, three competing contestants select clues from a game board, up to 61 clues per game, each clue in the form of an answer to which they must supply correct responses, each response in the form of a question. The conceit of "questioning answers" is original to Jeopardy! and, along with its theme music, remains the most enduring and distinctive element of the show.

Since the 1980s, the Trebek version has consistently placed weekly among the top-rated shows in syndication. In January 2001, TV Guide ranked it #2 among the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time. Esquire magazine readers named it their "favorite game show", and in the summer of 2006, it was also ranked #2 by GSN on their list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time.

The show holds the record for number of Emmy Awards in the category of Best Game Show, with 11.

Broadcast history

Main article: Jeopardy! broadcast history

Jeopardy! has a more than 40-year broadcast history in the United States since being created by Merv Griffin in the early 1960s in response to the quiz show scandals of the 1950s.

File:Alextrebek86.jpg

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, circa 1986

Gameplay

The Jeopardy! Round

Each day, there are three contestants, one of whom is usually the defending champion (and is always introduced last and is at the podium on the viewer's left), who play a three-round game. The first round is simply called the Jeopardy! Round.

Six categories are announced, each with a column of five trivia clues (phrased in answer form), each one valued, in dollars, incrementally more than the previous, ostensibly by difficulty. Each category is a topical category, and the categories change on each show; frequently, they contain puns or other wordplay. The names of the six categories are sometimes related in some way (e.g., titles of Shakespeare plays, although only one may actually concern the famous playwright).

Jeopardy! Round clue values

1964-1975	1978-1979, 1st Trebek pilot	2nd Trebek pilot	1984-2001	2001-present	1990 Super Jeopardy! tournament
$10	$25	$50	$100	$200	200 points
$20	$50	$100	$200	$400	400 points
$30	$75	$150	$300	$600	600 points
$40	$100	$200	$400	$800	800 points
$50	$125	$250	$500	$1,000	1000 points

File:Tv jeopardy may 25 2005 board.jpg

The answer board (Season 19-22 Jeopardy! set).

The returning champion or the new challenger in the first position (standing at the leftmost lectern from Trebek's point of view) begins the game by selecting a category and monetary value (e.g. "PRESIDENTS for $200"). The host then reads the clue ("He was the father of our country; he didn't really chop down a cherry tree"), after which any of the three contestants may ring in using a hand-held signaling device. The host recognizes the first contestant to successfully ring in following the host's reading of the clue, and that contestant must then respond generally in the form of a question ("Who was/Who is/Who's George Washington?"). (See Phrasing below).

A correct response earns the dollar value of the clue, and gives the "questioner" the right to select the next clue. If he/she is incorrect or fails to answer in time, that amount is deducted (hence, the dollar amount was always in jeopardy) and his/her opponents may ring in and respond. If none of the contestants gives a correct response, the correct response is read, and the player who originally chose that question maintains control of the board.

The current scores are shown on the front of each player's lectern. In the Art Fleming run, positive scores had plus signs next to them, while negative scores had minus signs next to them; in the Trebek version, no plus sign is used for a positive score, but the minus sign remains. On the current set, scores in the plus column are displayed on a blue background, negative scores on a red one.

Daily Doubles

In each game, three clues are designated "Daily Doubles" (a name taken from horse racing): one in the Jeopardy! Round and two in the Double Jeopardy! Round. Only the contestant who selects a Daily Double may respond to its clue. The player may wager as much as the maximum amount of a clue on the board (currently $1000 in the Jeopardy! Round and $2000 in the Double Jeopardy! Round) or as much as he or she has accumulated, whichever is greater, but must wager at least $5. Players may also indicate that they wish to make it a "True Daily Double", meaning that they are risking all the money that they have accumulated up to that point. Daily Doubles are sometimes designated with special tags, such as "Audio Daily Double" (in which a sound clip is played as part of the clue), "Video Daily Double" (in which a video clip is played as part of the clue), "Celebrity Daily Double" (in which a celebrity delivers the clue), etc. Such a tag is displayed as soon as the Daily Double has been selected, and may serve as a hint to aid the contestant in his or her wagering.

Ringing in

Before the 1985–1986 season, contestants could ring in any time after the clue was revealed. Ever since, in order to give all three contestants a fair shot at the clue, players are required to wait until the host finishes reading the clue and the lights surrounding the board are illuminated before they can ring in. Pressing the signaling button too soon locks the player out for one quarter of a second. For easy clues, ringing in at the right moment is important, as it is presumed that all three contestants will be able to respond correctly. Many Jeopardy! players comment that the use of the signaling device was the most important aspect in the play of the game.

Phrasing

In the Jeopardy! Round, players are not penalized for forgetting to phrase a response in the form of a question; the host will give a reminder to contestants who do not correct themselves before their time runs out. In the Double Jeopardy! Round, adherence to the phrasing rule is followed more strictly, but players are still permitted to correct themselves before their time runs out if they are not immediately ruled against. On occasion, players have couched their phrasing in creative ways or in languages other than standard English without penalty.

The Double Jeopardy! Round

The second round, Double Jeopardy!, works like the first round, with the following exceptions:

• Six new categories are used.
• There are two Daily Doubles in this round.
• The value of each clue is double what it was in the first round (except in the case of the 1990 Super Jeopardy! tournament):

1964-1975	1978-1979, 1st Trebek pilot	2nd Trebek pilot	1984-2001	2001-present	1990 Super Jeopardy! tournament
$20	$50	$100	$200	$400	500 points
$40	$100	$200	$400	$800	1,000 points
$60	$150	$300	$600	$1,200	1,500 points
$80	$200	$400	$800	$1,600	2,000 points
$100	$250	$500	$1,000	$2,000	2,500 points

• The contestant with the lowest amount of money at the end of the Jeopardy! Round makes the first selection in Double Jeopardy! If there is a tie for the trailing position, the player to the host's left selects first.
• From 1985 to 1997, the set would change from blue to red starting with this round. When the show finished (Season 13), the set would change back to blue.
• Also, in the 1978–1979 version only, only the two highest-scoring players at the end of Round 1 played Double Jeopardy!; the third-place player was eliminated before the start of the round.
• The response must be phrased in question form (see Phrasing above).

Finishing Double Jeopardy! with $0 or less

Sometimes, contestants will finish Double Jeopardy! with either $0 or a negative score. If that happens, they are automatically eliminated from the game and not allowed to participate in the game's final round, Final Jeopardy! In this case, the contestants still receive consolation prizes, which (beginning with Show #4089, aired May 16, 2002) are $1000 for third place and $2000 for second place. In the original Art Fleming version, no money was awarded if a contestant finished with zero dollars or in the red, but he/she did receive parting gifts. If a returning champion finished in the red, it did not count against their previously accumulated winnings. In other words, any cash they had previously won was theirs to keep. In Celebrity Jeopardy!, contestants are allowed to participate in Final Jeopardy! under all circumstances, and such contestants are granted nominal scores with which to wager for Final Jeopardy! (as the celebrity contestants are competing on behalf of charitable foundations, rather than for personal gain).

On rare occasions, two contestants have been disqualified from playing, leaving the first-place player to play the Final Jeopardy! Round alone.

In the Alex Trebek syndicated version, there has never been an instance of all three contestants finishing Double Jeopardy! with $0 or less, thereby disqualifying everyone from Final Jeopardy! A three-way disqualification from Final Jeopardy! did happen at least once on the Fleming daytime version sometime between 1968 and 1975. During the commercial break between Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy!, an audience member suggested that they could simply replay the game (with different categories) as if the embarrassing result had never happened. But the staff onstage said that this was not permitted by NBC's rules. The time normally used to play Final Jeopardy! was filled with chitchat between Art Fleming and the contestants. For the following telecast, three new contestants were featured.

The Final Jeopardy! Round

In the Final Jeopardy! Round, the host first announces the category, then the show goes into a commercial break (during which the staff comes on stage and advises the contestants while barriers are placed between the players to discourage looking at one another's answers). The contestants then risk as little as $0 or as much money as they have accumulated, by writing it on a card (in the 1964-1975 version) or electronic tablet (since 1984). After the final commercial break, the Final Jeopardy! clue is revealed and read by the host, following which contestants have 30 seconds to write a response on a card/electronic drawing board, again phrased in the form of a question. The light pen is automatically cut off at the end of the 30 seconds (this was not the case during the first syndicated season; because a number of contestants went overtime, leading to judgement dilemmas if their response was correct, the second season saw the addition of an electronic switch to Trebek's podium, which allowed him to turn the light pens on and off at the appropriate times). With rare exception, the "Think!" music is played during this 30-second period.

Other Final Jeopardy! response methods are occasionally used:

• Blind contestants (including 5-time champion Eddie Timanus and 2005 Teen Tournament quarterfinalist Kerri Regan) utilize a keyboard with Braille keys. Entered text will be displayed in a typed font rather than the contestant's handwriting.
• In the event of a malfunction of the handwriting input, contestants respond using a marker and paper tablet.

As with the rest of the show, Final Jeopardy! responses must be phrased in the form of a question. During the first two seasons, a few contestants lost their games solely because they had forgotten to do this. As losing a game because of forgetting two words made for bad television, contestants have been instructed to write the appropriate preface (What is, Who is, etc.) of their Final Jeopardy! responses during the commercial break after the Double Jeopardy! Round since the beginning of the 1986–1987 season.

Cash prizes

The top money-winner at the end of Final Jeopardy! is the day's champion and returns to the next show. The value of the theoretical maximum one-day winnings is $566,400 ($28,320 from 1964-1975 and $283,200 from 1984-2001), provided:

• All clues are revealed in both the Jeopardy! Round and the Double Jeopardy! Round
• One player gives the correct response to every clue
• All three Daily Doubles are hidden in the boards' top row (lowest dollar amount)
• The Daily Doubles are the last clues to be uncovered in each round
• Each time a Daily Double is revealed, the player wagers all of his or her winnings on it
• The player also wagers all his or her winnings on Final Jeopardy!

During the 1964 and 1978 NBC and 1974 syndicated versions, all three contestants kept whatever cash they won. On the 1974 syndicated version, the winner also received a bonus prize or cash (see entry in "Other versions" for more information).

Starting in 1984, rather than receiving their scores in cash, runners-up were awarded consolation prizes; typically, a vacation package for the second-place player and merchandise for the third-place player. This changed on May 16,2002; thereafter, the second-place finisher was awarded $2000 and the third place finisher was awarded $1000. Since the show did not provide airfare or lodging for challengers (airfare was provided for returning champions' subsequent flights to L.A.), these cash consolation prizes alleviated the financial burden of appearing on the show.

The greatest amount won by an individual in a day was $75,000, by Ken Jennings, on July 23, 2004.

Special cases

• If no contestant finishes Final Jeopardy! with a positive total (i.e., at least $1), then nobody wins and three new contestants appear on the following show; in such cases the three players will participate in a backstage draw to determine player position. The three-way loss has happened three times since 1984, the first occasion being on the second episode; the number of times this occurred during the 1964 NBC version is undetermined.

• If two or more contestants tie for first place, they each win the money and come back, assuming that they each have at least $1. There have been few players who have held the co-champ title twice.

File:3waytie.jpeg

The final scores of the episode of Jeopardy! that was broadcast on March 16, 2007. The three contestants (L to R: Scott Weiss, Jamey Kirby & Anders Martinson) finished with identical final scores of $16,000.

• If there is a tie in a tournament episode, a tiebreaker question is played, but this has only happened on a few occasions. In case of a three-way loss in a tournament, nobody advances, and an additional wild card is added in the tournament. (A wild card is one of the usually four non-winners with the highest scores in the opening round of a tournament to advance. There has been one triple loss in a tournament, and a fifth wild card was added.) Scores coming to Double Jeopardy! break ties for a wildcard position.

• On March 16, 2007, the first three-way tie for 1st place in the history of the show aired, with each of the contestants (Scott Weiss, Jamey Kirby & Anders Martinson) ending with $16,000 after the Final Jeopardy! clue. However, this was not an accidental tie. The leader going into Final Jeopardy! (computer science professor Weiss) wanted to make history after hearing that it had never happened before, and he made the appropriate wager. All three contestants returned on the next episode, with Kirby becoming sole champion, winning an additional $22,677.

• Only one contestant in the Trebek era has won a game with only $1 (on the January 19, 1993 program by then Air Force Lt. Col. Daryl Scott; he won another $13,401 the next day).

Recurring categories

Some categories have special rules pertaining to them. In each case, contestants and viewers are told the specific format required to get the clue correct.

Recurring categories are:

• "Quotation mark" categories - In these categories, a letter or group of letters will be placed inside quotation marks in the category name; correct responses will begin with or contain that letter or group of letters. For example, if the category title is THE "EYES" HAVE IT: This popular fight song talks about the 30 million of these in this, the second most populous state. Correct response: What are "The Eyes of Texas"?
• CROSSWORD CLUES - A specialized "quotation mark" category, in which the category title gives the first letter; the question is the completion of a crossword-style clue that gives the number of letters in the correct answer (Clue: Late-night hunger pains (8); Response: What are munchies?, where the category is CROSSWORD CLUES "M"). Previously known as STARTS WITH a given letter of the alphabet, was a standard Jeopardy! clue and did not give the number of letters in the question.
• RHYME TIME - Two consecutive words in the correct response rhyme with each other (Clue: A chilly swimming basin; Response: What is a cool pool?). Popular variants include CELEBRITY RHYME TIME and BEASTLY RHYME TIME.
• NAME'S THE SAME - The two nouns given share either the first or last word (Clue: Close, Frey; Response: Who is Glenn?, where the category is First Name's the Same).
• POTPOURRI (sometimes called HODGEPODGE) - A variety of topics inside one category. This category almost always appears in the sixth (rightmost) column on the board. One variant is LEFTOVERS, which are simply clues that went unpicked in previous shows as time ran out.
• COMMON BONDS - Three items are listed, having something in common. (Clue: Bad habits, footballs, buckets; Response: What are things you kick?)
• BEFORE & AFTER - Inspired by a Wheel of Fortune category, the first and second parts of the question join together via a mutual word (Clue: The time it takes an element to lose 50 percent of its radioactivity in a 1979 Monty Python movie; Response: What is Half Life of Brian? (half-life, Life of Brian). A common variant is BEFORE, DURING & AFTER, which contains two such joinings (Clue: On the body of water near Duluth, a place of justice employs this person for amusement; Response: What is Lake Superior Court jester?).
• STUPID ANSWERS - Contestants can find the correct response within the clue itself. (Clue: Name of the hotel and office complex where the Watergate break-in occurred; Response: What is Watergate?) The correct response may be hidden discreetly to challenge the contestants.
• SPELLING (aka THE DREADED SPELLING CATEGORY) - The correct response must be spelled out. Generally, the answer is given, but not shown on the board (Clue: Get hooked on the spelling of... is shown, the word "Phonics" is given; Response: What is P-H-O-N-I-C-S?)
• POTENT POTABLES - The ingredients of an alcoholic drink are given, and the player must guess the name of the drink.
• ADD A LETTER - The player must guess which letter has to be added to a certain word to turn it into a new one. (Clue: Add this letter to CRAM and you get a charley horse; Response: What is P? (CRAM + P = CRAMP))
• N-LETTER WORDS - The correct word has to be N letters long, N being at least two. (Clue in the category 16- (YES, 16-) LETTER WORDS: In boxing, do something crazy like, I don't know, biting a guy's ear off & you'll get a DQ, this; Response: What is "disqualification"?) Variations to this category include "2-Letter Abbreviations" and "3-Letter Body Parts."

Other versions

File:1974Jeopardy!Art1.jpg

Host Art Fleming in a 1974 episode of Jeopardy!

1974-75 weekly syndicated version

The game was essentially the same as the NBC version, but with several notable changes/additions:

• Art Fleming always wore a tuxedo with a check-patterned jacket.
• A number of flashing light bulbs were added to the set.
• Most contestants were previous winners from the daytime show.
• Any player who correctly answered all five questions in a category received a bonus prize, originally a Chevrolet Vega, later a trip to London (as opposed to a cash bonus on the daytime edition).
• Originally, the winning contestant picked a number from 1-30 off the Jeopardy Jackpot Board; possible prizes included a new car, a luxury vacation, or bonus money, with the grand prize being $25,000 (though the latter took up two spaces, each corresponding one half, and could only be won if the contestant found the second half on an additional pick)
• Later in the show's one-season run, the Jackpot Board was dropped, and the champion's bonus prize or cash was based on his or her final score:

- Less than $1,000 - Chevrolet Vega
- $1000-$1499 - Chevrolet Caprice
- $1500-$2000 - $10,000
- More than $2,000 - $25,000
(it was also at this point that the aforementioned "maingame category sweep" bonus prize was changed to the London holiday)

However, it failed to catch on in the ratings or garner enough stations (mainly due to a glut of other weekly versions of network daytime games that stations ran in their Prime Time Access early-evening timeslots, such as Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal) and was cancelled after only one season. In all likelihood, this version was basically an attempt to keep the show going, with its cancellation by NBC imminent at the time of its premiere in September. During the previous season, packagers of Dating Game and Sale of the Century had tried to keep their shows alive in syndication as well; neither of those games were successful either.

The All-New Jeopardy!

During the short-lived 1978–79 series, the lowest-scoring contestant was eliminated after the Jeopardy! Round; whoever was ahead at the end of the Double Jeopardy! Round became the champion.

In the pilot, taped March 6, 1977 for CBS, a sub-round was played before the first round, each player had 30 seconds to answer any question on the board they wanted, no penalty for an incorrect questions. After each player had a turn, they played regular Jeopardy! with the clues left on the board.

Instead of Final Jeopardy!, the winner then got to play a bonus round called Super Jeopardy! (no relation to the special summer 1990 tournament of all-time champions as aired on ABC). This round featured a new board of five categories with five clues in each, numbered 1–5 (and unlike the main game, not necessarily increasing in difficulty down the column). The object was for the contestant to provide any five correct responses in a straight line in a Bingo-like fashion (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). Giving an incorrect response, or a pass, earned the player a "strike," and blocked off that space on the board; three strikes ended the round. Super Jeopardy! was worth $5000 to a first-day champion, with the jackpot increasing by $2500 each day that champion successfully defended his/her title; with the five-day limit in place, that meant a potential total of $50,000 in just Super Jeopardy! earnings ($5000 + $7500 + $10,000 + $12,500 + $15,000). If a player struck out, he/she still received $100 for each correct response given. In the pilot, this was a timed game, the player had :90 to get the five in a row.

This bonus game proved rather unpopular among long-time fans of the show, and some critics allege that its inclusion, and the gameplay's elimination structure, doomed the revival to failure. Two sound effects from this version carried over to Sale of the Century in the 1980s: the correct response bell (a high-pitched ding) and the Daily Double bell, a Family Feud-esque series of dings.

Rock & Roll Jeopardy!

Main article: Rock & Roll Jeopardy!

Rock & Roll Jeopardy! was a music-intensive version of Jeopardy! that aired on VH1 from 1998 to 2001. Hosted by Jeff Probst, clues on this version of the show highlighted post-1950s popular music trivia. Though the host was somewhat looser with the "phrase in the form of a question" requirement, the gameplay was basically identical to Jeopardy! The first two seasons used points, with $5000 to the winner; subsequent seasons were played for cash with a $5000 house minimum.

Jep!

Main article: Jep!

Jep! was the children's version of Jeopardy!, hosted by cartoon voice artist Bob Bergen. The show aired in 1998 on Game Show Network (now GSN), and up to late 2004 on Discovery Kids. The show was not well received by fans or critics, and was cancelled after one season.

Starting in 1999, just after Jep!'s cancellation, Jeopardy! began a "Back-to-School Week", which has easier clues and more accessible material for the younger contestants, but is otherwise identical to the adult version.

Returning champions

For the first six seasons, winning contestants kept all winnings, with a cap of $75,000. Anything won above $75,000 went to the champion's favorite charity. The cap was increased to $100,000 starting in Season 7 after Bob Blake ($82,501) and Frank Spangenberg ($102,597) exceeded the $75,000 cap. In Seasons 14-19 the cap was raised to $200,000. The cap was eliminated altogether at the beginning of Season 20.

Until Season 20 of the Trebek version of the show, a contestant who won five days in a row would be retired undefeated, with a guaranteed spot in the next Tournament of Champions.

From Season 14 to Season 17, an undefeated champion would also be awarded a choice of Chevrolet cars or trucks (Corvette, Tahoe, or two Camaros). From Season 18 to Season 19, the winner won a Jaguar X-Type. Similarly, as part of the deal with Ford Motor Company for the 2001–02 season, Ford also added a Volvo to the Teen Tournament prize package.

To mark the start of the current version's 20th season, in September 2003, the show changed its rules so there is no winnings limit, and champions' reigns became indefinite; a champion keeps coming back as long as (s)he keeps winning (although automobiles were no longer awarded for five wins). This rule change led to the remarkable winning streak of Ken Jennings, who currently holds most of the winning records on the show, including greatest number of appearances and regular season highest total dollar amounts won (excluding tournaments).

Tournaments

The Tournament of Champions

Main article: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

Beginning with the 2nd season of the Alex Trebek syndicated version, a Tournament of Champions (ToC) has been held more or less annually, featuring five-time undefeated champions and other biggest winners to have appeared on the show since the last ToC.

The ToC format was devised by Alex Trebek, and was as follows:

Fifteen players—five-time champions, and, if there are fewer than 15 five-time champions who have not yet played in a ToC, the highest scorers among the other game winners are invited to participate.

The ToC lasts two weeks (10 shows), in the following manner:

• Shows 1–5: The quarterfinals, with three new contestants participating each day. The five winners advance to the semi-finals. Four "wild card" spots are available to those with the highest score among non-winners; ties broken by the highest score after the Double Jeopardy! Round.

• Shows 6–8: The semifinals. At this point, the game becomes a single-elimination affair, with each winner advancing to the finals. If at any point in the quarterfinals or semifinals there is a tie for first place, one or more successive Tiebreaker Rounds are played, with the first player to answer correctly advancing to the next round. (Tiebreaker Rounds have appeared on the show only four times, thrice in tournaments. In the event of more than one Tiebreaker Round being played in a game, only the deciding Tiebreaker Round is aired as part of the show broadcast; the others are edited out.)

• Shows 9–10: The two-day finals. Players begin the second final game with their scores reset to $0, and contestants' totals from both days are added together to determine their final scores. The contestant with the highest cumulative score wins the grand prize ($100,000 from 1985-2001; $250,000 since 2002). All other players, including the second- and third-place players in the finals, receive a guaranteed amount based on their finishing positions. In addition, the runners-up in the finals receive additional cash equal to their score if it exceeds the guaranteed amount.

The Art Fleming era

The structure of the annual best-of-the-best tournaments during the Fleming era differed from the Tournament of Champions of today. A one-week tournament was held consisting of nine undefeated champions since the last TOC. The first or elimination round was held over the first three days, with three champions appearing each day. The winners from each day advanced to the final round which was held over the course of two days. In those matches, the winner won $25,000 and a trophy and was crowned "Grand Champion". Eleven Grand Champions were crowned during the 11-year NBC run.

The Teen Tournament

Main article: Jeopardy! Teen Tournament

First aired in 1987, this tournament features high school students, with the winner receiving a cash prize ($75,000 in the most recent years), and, in some years, a new car. Until 2001, the winner was also invited to participate in the Tournament of Champions. One of the most notable Teen Tournament champions was Eric Newhouse, who advanced to the finals of the 1989 Tournament of Champions, was a finalist in the Million Dollar Masters tournament, and participated in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions.

The College Championship

Main article: Jeopardy! College Championship

Beginning in 1989 and featuring college students, the College Championship pitted 15 full-time undergraduate students from colleges and universities in the United States against each other in a two-week tournament, identical to the ToC in format. Beginning in 1997, the College Championship has been taped at host college campus using the show's traveling set. The winner earns $100,000, a trophy, and a spot in the next Tournament of Champions. (Tom Cubbage, the very first Jeopardy! college champion, also won his Tournament of Champions the following season.)

The Seniors Tournament

Main article: Jeopardy! Seniors Tournament

Between 1987 and 1995, the show held 10 Seniors Tournaments for contestants over the age of 50. This tournament was discontinued after December 1995, purportedly due to advertisers wanting to pull in younger demographics.

Special non tournament play

Celebrity Jeopardy!

Main article: Celebrity Jeopardy!

Every so often (usually once a year), celebrity weeks are held in which the contestants are celebrities. Each celebrity chooses a charity (or two) to sponsor, and that charity is the recipient of the particular celebrity's winnings. Typically, each charity is guaranteed a certain amount ($20,000, e.g.), with the winner's charity receiving a larger amount ($50,000, e.g.). Contestants ending the Double Jeopardy! Round with a zero or negative score, who in regular play games would be disqualified from playing Final Jeopardy!, are given a nominal score with which to wager ($5000, e.g.). Regis Philbin and Carol Burnett have made the most appearances on Celebrity Jeopardy!, with three appearances.

Kids Week, Holiday Kids Week, and Back to School Week

Featuring children ages 10 through 12, usually broadcast from the show's main studio in Culver City, though on one occasion, Kids Week was filmed in Washington, D.C.'s DAR Constitution Hall. Kids Week features five independent shows, three contestants in each. Unlike the regular Jeopardy! format, the winner of each game does not go on to play another game. The third place winner receives $1000, second place receives $2000, and first place wins the amount of his or her score, with a minimum guarantee of $10,000. Additional prizes for all players, such as computers, gift certificates, and trips to local theme parks have been common in the past.

Special tournaments

There have been a number of special tournaments featuring the greatest players during the history of Jeopardy! These are listed below.

Super Jeopardy!

Main article: Super Jeopardy!

The first of these "all-time best" tournaments, Super Jeopardy! aired in Summer 1990 on ABC. It featured top players during the first six years of the 1984 syndicated run, plus a notable champion from the original Fleming era. The tournament was similar to the Million Dollar Masters and Ultimate Tournament of Champions (see below), although it was on a much smaller scale than that tournament. The Super Jeopardy! tournament also featured 4 contestants per game (in the first round of the tournament) as opposed to the standard three, and the games were played for points instead of dollars. Bruce Seymour won the tournament and $250,000.

Tenth Anniversary Tournament

Main article: Jeopardy! Tenth Anniversary Tournament

The Tenth Anniversary Tournament was a short five-day tournament aired in 1993 following the conclusion of the regular Tournament of Champions. $100,000 Tournament winner Tom Nosek got a free pass into the tournament, the other eight spots were chosen randomly. The winner of each of the last five regular season games drew one name from each of eight bowls representing the second through ninth seasons of Jeopardy!. Contestants who had made it to the semi-final round of that year's Tournament of Champions were put in the bowl.

Three regular semifinal matches were played, with the winners competing in a two-day final. Frank Spangenberg won the tournament with a two-game score of $16,800 plus a $25,000 bonus for a total of $41,800. Tom Nosek finished second with $13,600, and Leslie Frates won the $7500 third place prize, which exceeded her score of $4499.

The semi-final losers were: Roy Holliday, Steve Rogitz, Mark McDermott, Doug Molitor, Robert Slaven and Lionel Goldbart, who each won $5000.

Teen Reunion Tournament

Main article: Jeopardy! Teen Reunion Tournament

In November 1998, players from the 1987, 1988, and 1989 Teen Tournaments (including the champions) were invited to Boston to play in a special Teen Reunion Tournament of former players of the event. Eric Newhouse won the tournament and later found himself at two other special tournaments.

Million Dollar Masters

Main article: Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters

In May 2002, to commemorate the Trebek version's 4,000th episode, the show invited fifteen champions to play for a $1 million bonus, under a standard tournament format. The tournament was won by Brad Rutter.

Ultimate Tournament of Champions

Main article: Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions

Jeopardy! televised the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. This tournament, which was the largest (and longest) in Jeopardy!'s history, pitted 144 former Jeopardy! champions against each other, with two winners moving on to face Ken Jennings in a 3-game final.

The final winner was Brad Rutter ($62,000 for the tournament final), winning $2 million, the second-largest single-game prize in game show history. Jennings placed second (with $34,599) and took home $500,000. Jerome Vered finished third ($20,600), collecting $250,000.

As a result, Rutter is the all-time highest winner of any game show with $3,270,102 (plus two Camaros), with Jennings a close second with $3,022,700.

Audition process

Main article: Jeopardy! audition process

The Jeopardy! staff regularly offers auditions for potential contestants. Unlike the audition process for many game shows, the Jeopardy! process is in part merit-based, with 50-questions contestant tests administered at local audition sites and, as of 2006, over the Internet.

Theme songs

"Think!" (originally composed as "A Time for Tony" by Griffin as a lullaby for his son) has served as the Final Jeopardy! countdown music since the show's inception in 1964 (although it was not used in the 1978–79 version, since there was no Final Jeopardy! in that version), and is also the melody for the current opening theme. In the United States, it has insinuated itself into everyday communication; the song applies to any situation in which someone is waiting for another to answer a question or make a decision. For example, the theme is often heard at baseball stadiums when the manager goes to the pitcher's mound to discuss a replacement, or at football games during instant replay reviews, or on the Jerry Springer show, a parodied remix is heard when a choice has to be made. A variation of "Think!" was used as a jewelry prize cue, officially called "A Time for Tony", on Wheel of Fortune in the 1980s.

Griffin estimated that the Jeopardy! theme song earned him over $70 million in royalties.

The main theme song to the original NBC version is called "Take 10", a jazz number composed by Griffin's wife, Julann. On the final episode, however, Art Fleming walked off the set at the end of the show to the tune of "Smile", originally composed by Charlie Chaplin. As the song played, credits rolled over a shot of the darkened set, with no applause.

The main theme to the 1978–1979 revival was called "Frisco Disco" and was composed by Merv Griffin and arranged by Mort Lindsey (the bandleader on Griffin's syndicated talk show). "Frisco Disco" would also resurface in 1983 as a prize cue on Wheel of Fortune, and would continue to be used until 1989. The opening theme used was called "January, February, March" also composed by Griffin and arranged by Lindsey, and was also used as the main theme on the first pilot of the Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! in 1983. (Both themes were composed and released in 1976, two years prior to the revival of Jeopardy! in 1978.)

After a second pilot was made with Alex Trebek in 1984, Jeopardy! went back on the air. An electronic version of the "Think!" melody became the main theme, while the original recording was recycled for the Final Jeopardy! Round. The main theme was remixed in 1991 to include a bongo track. In 1997, both the main theme and the "Think!" music were updated, with jazzy orchestral arrangements by Steve Kaplan. The main theme was updated again in 2000 & again in 2001, with an arrangement similar to the previous one, but looser and more upbeat. The theme has gone through some slight re-orchestrations since then.

The electric guitar-based theme from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! has been used on Jeopardy! leading into and out of commercial breaks during College Championships, Teen Tournaments, recent Back to School Week/Kids Week, and November 2006 Celebrity Jeopardy! episodes. (During a few of those tournaments, it was also played during Final Jeopardy!)

Alternate versions of the Final Jeopardy! music have been performed by the UCLA marching band (during the 2001 College Championship), the Yale Whiffenpoofs (during the 2003 College Championship), and organist Trent Johnson during the final Celebrity Jeopardy! show at Radio City Music Hall in 2006. During the show's first trip to New York City, a piano rendition was used. On an episode aired in May 2007, another piano rendition was used, played by a piano player aboard the Orient Express.

On at least one occasion, the "Think!" theme was not played at all during Final Jeopardy! Before, during, and after Alex Trebek's reading of the Final Jeopardy! clue for show #3985, aired Friday, December 21,2001, the L.A. Spirit Chorale sang a live, a cappella rendition of "Silent Night", with Clue Crew member Cheryl Farrell performing the solo. This appeared to confuse challenger Carly Minner, who looked up from her podium in surprise when it was announced that time had expired.

The set

Main article: Jeopardy! set evolution

Like the theme music, the Jeopardy! set has also changed over the years. The set currently in use is as of September 11, 2006. For a summary of changes to the set, see Jeopardy! set evolution.

International adaptations

Countries with versions of Jeopardy!

Country	Title(s)	Network(s)	Host(s)	Dates aired
United Kingdom	Jeopardy!	Channel 4	Derek Hobson	1984
		ITV1	Chris Donat	1990
		ITV1	Steve Jones	1991-1993
		Sky One	Paul Ross	1995-1996
Australia	Jeopardy!	Network Ten	Tony Barber (former Sale of the Century host)	1993 (canceled after six months)
New Zealand	Jeopardy!	TVNZ	Mark Leishman (his brother Phillip hosted Wheel of Fortune)	1992
Sweden	Jeopardy![?]	TV4	Magnus Härenstam	1991-2005
			Adam Alsing	2006-present
Quebec (French Canada)	Jéopardy![?]	TVA network	Réal Giguère	1991-1993
Germany	Riskant!	RTL	Hans-Jürgen Bäumler	1990-1992
	Jeopardy!		Frank Elstner	1994-1998
		tm3	Gerriet Danz	2000-2001
Russia	Svoya Igra	NTV	Pyotr Kuleshov	1994-present
France	Jeopardy!	TF1	Philippe Risoli (host of Le Juste Prix, the French version of The Price is Right)	Early 1990s
Denmark	Jeopardy!	TV2	Søren Kaster	1995-2000
			Lasse Rimmer	2000-2003
			Lars Daneskov	2003-present
Israel	Melech Ha'Trivia	Israel 10	Ronny Yovel	1997-?
Spain	Jeopardy	Antena 3	Carlos Sobera	2007
Estonia	Kuldvillak	TV3	Mart Mardisalu	Early 2000s
Poland	Va Banque	TVP2	Kazimierz Kaczor	1996-2002
Netherlands	Waagstuk!	SBS6	Albert Verlinde	1995-?
Mexico	Jeopardy!	TV Azteca	Omar Fierro	1998-?
Argentina	Jeopardy![?]	Canal 13	Fernando Bravo (host of El Precio Justo, the local version of The Price is Right)	2006-?
Finland	Jeopardy	Nelonen	Ismo Apell	January 2007-
Turkey	Riziko	Kanal D	Serhat Hacıpaşalıoğlu	1995-?
Hungary	Mindent vagy Semmit!	RTL Klub	István Vágó (later host of Hungary's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire)	1993-2000
Croatia	Izazov	HRT 1	Joško Lokas (a Croatian talk show host)	At least early 2000s
Belgium	Waagstuk!	VTM	Luc Appermont	Mid-1990s
Norway	Jeopardy![?]	TV 2	?	1995-? (started around the time Denmark got its version)
Czech Republic	Risk Riskuj!	Nova	Pavel Svoboda Ivan Vyskočil Jan Krasl Petr Svoboda Jan Rosák	1995 – 2006
Romania	Risti si castigi!	PRO TV	Constantin Cotimanis and Cristi Iacob	1996 - 1998
Slovakia	Pokušenie	Markíza	Michal Duriš Dodo Dúbravský	1996 – 2007
	Riskuj!	JOJ	Štefan Bučko	2002 – present

In addition, the American version of the show is distributed internationally and airs across the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV, and Canadian residents are eligible to be contestants on the U.S. version.

Jeopardy! has occasionally held international tournaments that allow the champions of each country's versions to compete with each other.

Episode status

Fleming era

1964-1975

It is believed that only a small number of the 2,753 episodes from the original NBC Daytime version of Jeopardy! survive, mostly as black-and-white kinescopes of the original color videotapes. In all likelihood, the original tapes were wiped as they were recorded over by NBC with new programming in an era when videotape was an expensive commodity.

• A demonstration episode dated March 5,1964 survives as a black-and-white kinescope. (The first game for broadcast was taped on March 18,1964 and was aired March 30,1964. From the beginning, the show was recorded and broadcast in color.)
• The Museum of Television & Radio in New York City has the 2,000th episode from 1972, a celebrity match featuring Mel Brooks in character as the 2000 Year Old Man. GSN has aired this episode in its entirety.
• A clip from an early 1960s episode aired in 2004 during an ABC News Nightline special on Jeopardy! on the night Ken Jennings lost.
• Two regular play 1974 episodes and the 1975 finale exist among private collectors.
• The UCLA Film and Television Archive has 14 episodes from this era in their collection: black and white kinescopes of episodes from May 1, 3 and 4 1967 (from the Jeopardy! National College Scholarship Contest featuring high school seniors), color tapes of episodes from March 8, 16, 24, and April 1 and 9, 1971; March 12, 20, 28, and April 5 and 13, 1973; and April 24, 1974.

Incomplete paper records of the NBC-era games exist on microfilm at the Library of Congress.

1978-1979 revival

The status of the 1978 version is unknown. The first and last episodes of this series are known to exist in broadcast quality; GSN holds the broadcast rights to these two episodes (and presumably any in between, although only the two mentioned have been rebroadcast on the channel).

Trebek era

File:1992-05-19Jeopardy!Season8LeaderCard.jpg

Slate from a Season 8 broadcast

File:2007-01-11Season23Slate.jpg

Slate from a Season 23 broadcast

The Trebek version is completely intact. GSN—which like Jeopardy! is an affiliate of Sony Pictures Television—has rerun approximately 8 seasons to date, although they continuously aired the 1997–98 season (14th season) from June 2001 until June 13, 2005. Since then, GSN has been rerunning episodes from the 2001–02 season (Season 18), including a series of 2001 episodes that aired only on about 50 syndicated stations due to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

There exists a 66 game disparity between the show numbers assigned new Jeopardy! episodes and the actual number of Trebek-era games played. To assist subscribing affiliate stations in airing episodes in the correct order, a show number is read by announcer Johnny Gilbert just prior to the taping of each game; this number is audible on the episodes as received by the affiliates, and visible on the slate attached to them, but the slate is trimmed from the show prior to broadcast. Each new episode receives an integer show number 1 greater than the previous episode. However, all 65 reruns in Season 1 (1984-1985) were given new show numbers despite not being new games, and a retrospective clip show that aired May 15, 2002 was also given a show number (#4088). As such, the game with show number #5000 aired on May 12, 2006, but the 5,000th game hosted by Alex Trebek did not air until September 25,2006.

Jeopardy! in popular culture

The show has been portrayed or parodied in numerous television shows, films, and works of literature over the years, frequently with one or more characters participating as contestants, or as a television show the character(s) watch and play along with.

Five cultural references stand out among the most popular, having been referenced, in turn, in categories, clues, or interview segments on Jeopardy! itself:

• In an episode of the series Cheers, trivia buff Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! Clavin reached the Final Jeopardy! Round all but assured to win, but lost due to a foolish bet.
• Saturday Night Live has parodied Celebrity Jeopardy! matches, frequently with a twisted version of Sean Connery as a contestant.
• An episode of Mama's Family aired with Themla as a contestant.
• Weird Al Yankovic based one of his song parodies on the Fleming version.
• David Foster Wallace writes a fictional short story based around Jeopardy! called "Little Expressionless Animals," which can be found in his book Girl With Curious Hair.
• In an episode of Family Guy, Brian flashes back when Mayor Adam West was on Jeopardy. When Adam shows Alex his Final Jeopardy answer, it reads "Kebert Xela." Once Alex finishes reading his answer, he suddenly vanishes. When the other two contestants look at Adam surprisingly, Adam replies, "only saying his name backwards takes him back to the 5th dimension, where he belongs.", a reference to Mr. Mxyzptlk from Superman. One real contestant, who entered Final Jeopardy with $1 and thus had no hope of winning, actually attempted this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHnX-fqlo1M

Merchandising

The Jeopardy! brand has been used on products in several other formats.

• There have been Jeopardy! video games made on most platforms including Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Super NES, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, game.com, Sega Dreamcast, Apple Macintosh, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, and mobile phones. A free version of the game can be found at Station.com.
• Tiger Electronics also marketed a hand-held travel version of the game in the late nineties.
• Several board game versions of the game have been produced over the years by Milton Bradley, Pressman Toys (including a Simpsons version), Tyco Toys and Parker Brothers.
• For the show's fifteenth season in 1998-1999, a watch was released. The watch plays the famous theme song with the push of a button, and included 25 game cards with the answer-question format.
• Educational toy company Educational Insights (makers of the Geosafari system) has released a self-contained, programmable Jeopardy! system that can be hooked up to a normal TV set for both home and school use. The school version is marketed as Classroom Jeopardy!, while the home version is called Host Your Own Jeopardy! Except for the names, both systems are identical, using a cartridge-based system for the categories and wireless controls for the players and host. The unit itself acts as the scoreboard.
• A DVD titled Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show was released on November 8, 2005, featuring five full episodes of the show—#1 (Trebek premiere), #4657 (Ken Jennings's loss), #4781, #4782, #4783 (the three final matches of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions), the latter of which can be watched through multiple camera angles—and three featurettes—21 Years of Answers & Questions, Jeopardy!: Behind the Answers, and What Does It Take to Get a Clue?
• Annually, Day-to-Day Calendars releases a daily desktop Jeopardy! Calendar, featuring 6 full games-worth of clues presented 1 clue per day (with the correct response on the back of each day's sheet).
• The brand has been licensed for slot machine games at casinos and online.
• In 2007, MGA Games released a DVD Game version of "Jeopardy!" which was titled the Jeopardy! DVD Home Game System and included 3 wireless buzzers and plugin unit for your DVD player that kept the score. Alex Trebek appeared in the game and read the questions.

See also

• Merv Griffin Productions
• Wheel of Fortune

External links

• Official Jeopardy! Web site
• Official Jeopardy! message board
• J! Archive: Clues from all games, starting from Season 21, as well as selected games from the past
• Ronnie O'Rourke's JEOPARCHIVE!: Clues from all Season 20 games
• Jeopardy! Database of Champions: Tournament of Champions results from Seasons 1–15
• Official site for Finland's version of Jeopardy! on Nelonen
• Funny Jeopardy! answers and questions
• Jeopardy! at IMDb
• U-gottaseethat.com A website from Sony with classic Jeopardy! video clips
• Jeopardy! holdings at the Australian National Film and Sound Archive
• Jeopardy! web game on Station.com