Jeopardy!/Tournaments & Events

Jeopardy! airs some special tournaments throughout the season. Most of the tournaments start on a Monday and some tournaments started on Wednesday. February, May and November are the common months for the premiere of new tournaments. Eliminated contestants leave with some departing money for participating in the tournament.

Tournament of Champions

 * An annual tournament featuring 15 champions who won the most games (minimum of 3 to qualify) as well as winners of the College Championship. From Seasons 1-19, all 5-time undefeated champs automatically qualified. Until 2000, winners of the Teen Tournament were guaranteed a spot in the Tournament of Champions. Since 2011, winners of the Teachers Tournament were guaranteed spots in the ToC. The tournament itself lasts 2 weeks over 10 episodes. The very first Tournament of Champions premiered on November 11, 1985. The first week consists of five quarterfinal games. The five winners of those games advanced to the Semi-Finals along with other four players which were wild card spots for the high-scorers among non-winners. The second week consists of the three semifinal matches and the 2-day final match.
 * There was no Tournament of Champions from Season 1, 17, 20, 23, 27, and 30.
 * The Tournament Player list: Jeopardy!/Tournament of Champions Competitors

Teen Tournament
An annual tournament featuring high school students ages 13-17. The format structure is similar to that of the Tournament of Champions. On the current syndicated version, the Teen Tournament started on February 16, 1987. In November 1998, a Teen Reunion Tournament was held at the Wang Center in Boston, bringing back 12 former Teen Tournament contestants to compete in a single-elimination tournament.


 * There was a 2nd Teen Tournament that took place on the 23rd Season to start the Summer Games.

College Championship

 * The College Championship has been held annually featuring college students, all full-time undergrad students without prior degrees. The structure is similar to the Teen Tournament and Tournament of Champions. The very first College Championship premiered on May 8, 1989.

Super Jeopardy!
Super Jeopardy! aired Saturday nights on ABC in summer 1990 (from June 16 toSeptember 8). It featured 36 former champions from the first 6 seasons of the current version plus Burns Cameron, a former champion from the Art Fleming era, this tournament awarded a $250,000 top cash prize to the winner and was hence referred to as "The $250,000 Challenge" (worded as "The Quarter-of-a-Million-Dollar Challenge"). As noted above and below, the players played for points and not dollars, and there were 4 contestants in each quarterfinal match; the semifinals and final itself had the usual 3. For the quarterfinals and semifinals themselves, there were no wild card spots for the high-scorers among non-winners; it was "win or go home".

Teachers Tournament
The Teachers Tournament debuted in 2011, and features 15 teachers competing in the same 2-week format as the Tournament of Champions, Teen Tournament, and College Championship. The first Teachers Tournament debuted on May 2, 2011.

Ultimate Tournament of Champions

 * The Ultimate Tournament of Champions was held from February 9, 2005 to May 25, 2005, featuring former champions from the past 21 seasons, all vying to compete against 74-game victor Ken Jennings in a 3-game final that would pay a $2,000,000 cash prize to the winner.
 * Members of the "Nifty Nine" were selected based on records set in their Jeopardy careers. Only Rutter and Spangenberg advanced beyond their initial round.
 * Unlike most Jeopardy! tournaments, in which only the final rounds are played for cash equal to the value of winners' scores, the winners of every match received their scores as winnings (or the guaranteed minimum for that round, whichever was greater). In addition, in all rounds, there were no "wild card" spots for the non-winners; it was "win or go home".
 * The Round 4 competing in 2-Game matches, The Round 5 competing 3-Game Matches.

Battle of the Decades Tournament
The Battle of the Decades Tournament was held from February 3, 2014 to May 16, 2014, to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary in syndication. 45 former champions from the past 30 years, represented by decade--1980's (1984-1993), 1990's (1994-2003), and 2000's (2004-2013) all competed in three separate preliminary rounds, with no wild cards for the high-scorers among non-winners; as it was "win or go home". The 15 winners participated in 5 quarterfinal matches similar to that of the other tournaments, with the 5 winners and 4 wild cards for the high-scorers among non-winners advancing to the semifinals. For the semifinals, only the winners advanced to the two-day finals, where a $1,000,000 cash prize was paid to the winner.

Million Dollar Masters Tournament
The Million Dollar Masters Tournament was held in May 2002 to commemorate the show's 4000th episode, featuring former champions competing for a $1,000,000 cash prize. The shows were taped at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

International Tournament/Olympic Games Tournament
The International Tournament featured contestants from various countries around the world. The very first international tournament took place in Culver City, California from July 15 to July 18 of 1996. All the players who participated in the tournament spoke English. the Olympic Games Tournament to commemorate the Centennial Summer Olympic Games which opened on July 19. There were only 9 contestants from 9 different countries and the winners of the 3 semi-final matches got to qualify in a 1 day final. From May 5 to May 9 of 1997, the show traveled out of North America to Stockholm, Sweden for the 2nd international tournament where Magnus Harenstam was the show's announcer. It was the only international tournament to still have a 3 day semi-final match and a 2-day final match. From February 12 to February 16 of 2001, the 3rd international tournament took place in Las Vegas, Nevada for another 3 semi-final match and a 1 day match.

Seniors Tournament
The Seniors Tournament, which launched in 1987, featured 15 contestants all aged 50 and older (hence the name); the same format used for the Tournament of Champions and Teen Tournament (the latter of which launched 3 months prior) was used. Since its discontinuation in 1995, players aged 50 and older have appeared in regular games. As always, the winner received an automatic spot in the Tournament of Champions.

Celebrity Jeopardy!
A special edition of the show featuring celebrities competing for their favorite charities. Premiering in 1992, these games are usually week-long events, and occasionally are called Power Players Week featuring personalities in politics and journalism. The difficulty of the material is significantly reduced, and because of that, it was parodied several times on Saturday Night Live. Unlike regular play, where a player finishing Double Jeopardy! with zero or a negative score is disqualified from playing in Final Jeopardy!, celebrities who finish the second round with zero or negative are guaranteed a nominal score to work with in the final round.

The IBM Challenge
An exhibition match held on February 14-16, 2011, featuring Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter competing against the Watson supercomputer for a $1,000,000 top prize. Second place won $300,000 and third place won $200,000. All three players donated their winnings to a charity of their choice.

Kids Week/Back to School Week
It began on September 6, 1999 at the start of the show's 16th season featuring 10-12 year old children.(Except for Season 30) Like regular play, winners keep whatever they have won at the end of the game while the second and third place finishers receive consolation prizes. However, there are no returning champions for this event. A Kids Week Reunion was held during the second week of Season 25 bringing back 15 Kids Week alumni from 1999 and 2000.

Road Trips

 * Starting in 1997, some of these tournaments and events were taped at venues outside Culver City. For instance, from 1997 to 2008, the College Championship was taped at a college campus (The 2000-A College Championship, however, was taped in Culver City).
 * Power Players Week was always taped at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. The Million Dollar Masters Tournament and 2006 Celebrity Jeopardy! games were taped at Radio City Music Hall.
 * The Tournament of Champions was taped on the road twice, in 2000 and 2009 respectively; the 2009 ToC was taped at the Consumer Electronics Show. Season 26, 29, 30 were during this time span that didn't have any road shows, probably because it was the first season with the current set.