Jeopardy!

A long-running show with a backwards format where you have to provide the question to an answer.

Gameplay
Three contestants competed each show, all trying to win money by correctly phrasing answers in a form of a question.

The First Two Rounds
In the first two rounds, the three contestants faced a game board with six categories each with five clues behind money amounts (30 in all).

On a player's turn, he/she selected a category and an amount, then a clue was read. The first player to ring-in with a correct question won the value of the answer, but if he/she rung in and was wrong, the value of the answer was deducted from that player's score and the other player(s) had a chance at it. From 1964-1985, contestants could ring-in at any time while the host was reading a clue; starting in the second season of the current version, contestants were/are forced to wait out until after the clue was read. The player who got the question right or was the last to choose if nobody got the question right got to choose another clue. The round continued until time ran out or if all the clues were played.

In the 1978 revival, the two contestants with the highest scores moved on to Double Jeopardy, while the third place player was eliminated from the game but kept the cash he/she won.

Money Amounts
Money amounts are minimal in the Jeopardy round, while the money amounts are doubled in the Double Jeopardy round.

Here are the amounts for each round and on each version:

1964-1975

 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $10 to $50. Each category is worth up to $150 for a maximum for the entire board of $900.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $20 to $100. Each category is worth up to $300 for a maximum for the entire board of $1,800.

1978-1979 & 1983 Pilot

 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $25 to $125. Each category is worth up to $375 for a maximum for the entire board of $2,250.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $50 to $250. Each category is worth up to $750 for a maximum for the entire board of $4,500.

1984 Pilot

 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $50 to $250. Each category is worth up to $750 for a maximum for the entire board of $4,500.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $100 to $500. Each category is worth up to $1,500 for a maximum for the entire board of $9,000.

1984-2001

 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $100 to $500. Each category is worth up to $1,500 for a maximum for the entire board of $9,000.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $200 to $1,000. Each category is worth up to $3,000 for a maximum for the entire board of $18,000.

1990 Super Version
Contestants on this version played for points instead of dollars. Though there is a payoff of $250,000 for the winner of the tournament.


 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from 200 to 1,000. Each category is worth up to 3,000 for a maximum for the entire board of 18,000.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from 500 to 2,500. Each category is worth up to 7,500 for a maximum for the entire board of 45,000. This was the only round where the second clue values were not double that of the first.

2001-present

 * Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $200 to $1,000. Each category is worth up to $3,000 for a maximum for the entire board of $18,000.
 * Double Jeopardy! - The clues are worth anywhere from $400 to $2,000. Each category is worth up to $6,000 for a maximum for the entire board of $36,000.

Daily Double
At some point in the round(s), the contestant in control will uncover a very special clue hidden somewhere on the Jeopardy! board called the "Daily Double". On a Daily Double, the contestant who picked it can wager any or all of his/her current score (wagering all is classified as a "True Daily Double"). If the contestant has a low score, has a zero score or has a negative score, he/she can risk up to the maximum clue value (which usually happens) on that clue. In either case, only the contestant who picked it can give the response. A correct response added the wager, but an incorrect response or an improperly-phrased response (even if correct and regardless of the round) deducted the wager. Either way, the contestant then choose another clue afterwards. There is only one Daily Double in the Jeopardy! round, and two Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy! round.

Special Daily Doubles
Sometimes a Daily Double clue would appear differently. A Daily Double would have a sound clue after the main clue, this is called an Audio Daily Double. Another Daily Double would show the contestant a picture or a video clip mostly featuring a member of the Clue Crew after the main clue, this is called a Video Daily Double (in the Art Fleming era it was called a Film Daily Double). One last type called the Celebrity Daily Double featured a celebrity guest giving a clue himself/herself.

Clue Crew
Starting in 2001, a group of correspondents called the Clue Crew came to effect. On certain clues, one member of the clue crew would be at a certain location and give a clue under the selected category.

When the group was first formed, they consisted of Cheryl Farrell, Sofia Lidskog, Jimmy McGuire, and Sarah Whitcomb. Sofia left in 2004, and in 2005, the group added two new members: Jon Cannon and Kelly Miyahara. Both Jon and Cheryl left in 2009, leaving only Jimmy, Kelly, and Sarah.

Phrasing
In the Jeopardy! round, if a contestant forgets their phrasing, they will be reminded but not penalized if the response itself is correct. However in both the Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! rounds, the rule is more strict, and there are no reminders; an improperly phrased response is automatically ruled incorrect, even if the response itself is correct. In both the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! rounds, a player who forgets their phrasing may still correct themselves before time runs out. For Daily Doubles (regardless of the round), improper phrasing will result in an incorrect response, even in the Jeopardy! round; though as before, players who correct themselves before time runs out will be ruled correct. For the Final Jeopardy! round, contestants write "Who is" or "What is" during the third commercial break; this rule has been in effect since at least one instance a player wrote down the correct response but didn't phrase it properly.

Ringing In
On all runs of the Fleming version and the first season of the Trebek version, contestants could ring in anytime a clue was exposed. However, from the second season on, contestants could ring in only after a clue has been read, as ringing in too soon locked out a player for a 1/2-1/4 second. This rule was designed to allow the home audience to play along.

To accomodate this, there are lights that surround the perimeter of the game board that illuminate when a clue has been read, which allows a contestant to ring in. Once a player rings in, they will have 5 seconds to respond; each player's podium has 9 lights that indicate how much time remains for a response, and for each second that goes by, two lights dim.

Final Jeopardy!
At the end of the Double Jeopardy! round, the three contestants (minus the ones who ended the previous round with zero or a negative score) played the final round called Final Jeopardy!. The round started with one last category for that round revealed, then during the final commercial break, the contestants wrote down how much they wish to wager based on that category. When the break was over, the Final Jeopardy clue under that category was revealed, then the contestants had 30 seconds to write down the correct response (since 1990 during that time, the lights dim, and the iconic "Think!" music plays in the background). When the time is up and the music ends, the questions were checked one-by-one and a correct response added the wager but an incorrect response or an improperly-phrased response (even if correct) deducted the wager.

If all three players finished Double Jeopardy! with zero or negative, no Final Jeopardy! round would be played that day, and three new players appear on the next show. So far this has occurred at least once during the Art Fleming era, but not the Alex Trebek era; however, there have been at least two instances during the Alex Trebek era where all available players finished Final Jeopardy! with zero, which still meant three new players appearing on the next show.

In the event that a contestant was blind (like Eddie Timanus), the pen was replaced with a Braille keyboard to type their response. In the event that the pen and/or electronic pad malfunctioned, each player was provided with an index card and a marker to manually write their response.

Winning the Game/Returning Champions
The player with the most money won the game. If the game ended in a tie, the players who were tied won the game. The winning players returned to play the next day.

During the Art Fleming era, all contestants kept their money win or lose. But when Alex Trebek took over in 1984, only the winning contestant kept the cash while the other players won prizes according to what position they finished. However, starting with the May 16, 2002 episode, the losing contestants also won money (2nd place receives $2,000, 3rd place wins $1,000).

Originally, champions stayed on the show until they won five games. After a contestant won five games, three new contestants appeared on the next show. From 1997 to 2003, five time champions also won a new car. At the beginning of Season 20, the five time limit was dismantled, allowing contestants to remain on the show until they lose.

If all three contestants finished with zero or less, they all lost the game and three new contestants played the next day. In the current version, the first time it happened was on the show's second episode.

In case of a tie, in addition to returning on the next show, the contestants who were tied get to keep the cash. On March 16, 2007, history was made when all three contestants were tied at $16,000; it was the first time in any version that a three way tie has occurred. On tournament games, if the game ended in a tie, one final category followed by one final clue is/was revealed. The first player to ring-in with a correct response won the game, as players cannot win by default. The last tournament tiebreaker occurred on November 13, 2007.

Super Jeopardy Bonus Round
In the 1978 revival, the contestant with the most money after Double Jeopardy won the game right away, and went on to play Super Jeopardy.

Super Jeopardy was way different than the regular rounds, for the winning contestants now faced a board of 25 hidden clues behind numbers 1-5 in place of money amounts, so there were five categories instead of six in this round. In this round, the winning contestant chose a number and a clue behind it was revealed. A correct response won $100, but an incorrect response or a pass blocked that square and received a strike; three strikes and that player was out.

Now in addition to the $100 per correct question, giving a correct response also lit up lights around the square with the selected clue. The object of the game was to light up five squares in a row just like in bingo either across, up and down or diagonally. Getting five a row won $5,000 plus $2,500 for every return trip win or lose.

Trivia
Merv created the show with the help of his then-wife Juliann Griffin. He was in desperate need to create a quiz show but not one network would buy it due to the Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s. So his wife said "Why can't you go reversal and do a show where you can give the answers and the contestants give the questions?". Merv said, "I can't, that's why & how everybody went to jail." Juliann: "That's not what I meant, I meant like this: "5,280"". Merv: "How many feet in a mile?" Juliann: "'79 Wistful Vista". Merv: "Was that Fibber & Mollie McGee's address?" That's when the light bulb came on. So Merv pitched the idea to NBC, and they agreed to air the show.

The original name for Jeopardy due to how the format worked was called "What's the Question". It was an unexcitable title, and NBC executives confirmed it by saying "Merv there are no jeopardies in the game, it needs more jeopardies". Merv didn't listen, he kept hearing the word Jeopardy, "Jeopardy? WOW! What a word." So he told the network executives, "I heard what you're saying and we've decided to change the name, from this day on, the name of the show will be called "Jeopardy!". And the rest is history.

Ken Jennings is the highest winner on the show with over $2,000,000 won.

The Muppets (from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, or Fraggle Rock) have never appeared on the show as contestants, but the Sesame Muppets appeared on the 4/4/06 episode to promote their Season 36 "Healthy Habits for Life" initiative as honorary Clue Crew members. The first-round category was "Sesame Street Eats". When players chose to answer clues in that category, they were shown a short clip of Trebek on the Sesame set, talking with the Muppets about healthy food. Big Bird, Elmo, Rosita and Oscar appeared, as did a dozen Muppet Eggs.

Jeopardy! in Popular Culture

 * Before the current version premiered, the original version of Jeopardy! was satirized in a music video by "Weird Al" Yankovic called "I Lost on Jeopardy!" which like all of Weird Al songs was a spoof. This one is of Greg Kihn Band's Jeopardy. Al himself played Rock and Roll Jeopardy, and some categories referencing him were used on the regular show.
 * In 1990 Jeopardy! was featured in the long-running sitcom Cheers. Mailman & frequent bar visitor Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenburger) was a longtime fan of Jeopardy!. When he learned that the show was taping in Boston, he wasted no time in trying and making it to the show. During the show's opening, we saw a brief cameo appearance of announcer Johnny Gilbert introducing Alex. The six categories for the Jeopardy! round were Civil Servants, Stamps From Around The World, Mothers & Sons, Beer, Bar Trivia, and finally Celibacy; Woody (Woody Harrelson) referred to this round as "Cliff's Dream Board". The scene instantly changed from the first round to Final Jeopardy!, and this was where everything went south. The Final Jeopardy! category was "Movies" and the clue was "Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz and Lucille LeSueur"; the correct response was "Who are the real names of Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and Joan Crawford?", but Cliff's response was "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?"; Cliff in his cocky manner risked everything and lost causing a lady contestant who only had $400 to win, Cliff then protested that they should've accepted his answer. In the final scenes of the episode, Alex walked into the bar (he actually stopped by to get a drink) and Cliff was there (he was completely embarrassed by his appearance & performance on the show at the time); Alex then walked up to Cliff and consoled him about his end of the show troubles and even thought of leaving the show and moving to Tibet; but Cliff seeing that he worships the show didn't want Alex to go away, so he successfully convinces Alex to stay seeing that he makes the show an American institution. When Alex did agree, Cliff's obsession disappeared and went out to share the news that he saved Jeopardy!; after that, Cliff's friend Norm Peterson (George Wendt) talks with Alex and tells him that it's admirable that Trebek would come all the way over to the bar just to try to make Cliff feel better; Alex then reveals that he didn't know Cliff was at the bar, and that running into him had only been a coincidence, so made up the remarks about quitting as improvisation to placate Cliff because "he scares me", and Norm replied "you too?". This very episode created "Clavin's Rule" or "pulling a Cliff Clavin"; take for example a contestant from the real show on a 2000 episode who did that on a "Daily Double".
 * On Mama's Family, Thelma Harper's (Vicki Lawrence (who hosted Win, Lose or Draw for NBC at the time)) friend Iola (Beverly Archer) tried out for Jeopardy! as a way of meeting host Alex Trebek, but after missing a few questions (both on Shakespeare) Thelma was the one who made it to the show. When she got there, Thelma did terrible, for she was in the negative zone up until Double Jeopardy! where she got two right (the first she stumbled into the correct response, and the second was about The Three Stooges) causing her to get out of the hole with +$100 and allowing her to play Final Jeopardy! in which the category (as luck would have it) was "Shakespeare". Thelma however did not get the clue right even though she didn't risked it all (the lady player on her left did) causing the champion at the time to remain champion. Thelma thought she saw going home with Lee Press-On Nails but actually as announced by Johnny Gilbert, she won a trip four four to Hawaii which pleased Mama and announced she's taking her worthless family with her. This was sort of a lead-in to a two parter which followed.
 * Tiny Toon Adventures paid homage to Jeopardy with the spoof Gyp-Parody!. The show was hosted by Buster, and three of the contestants were Elmyra, Byron, and Calamity. Gameplay was the same as the show it's spoofing.
 * On The Nanny, nanny Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) appeared as a contestant whom like Mama Harper was in a negative situation up until Double Jeopardy! where she got the last two right (both of which were about food, her second correct response was on a "Daily Double" clue which she rang in on, normally on the real show, contestants who found a Daily Double don't need to ring in since they're the only ones to answer) causing her to get out of the hole with +$100 and allowing her to play Final Jeopardy!. On the real show, the player with the most money going into Final Jeopardy! had his/her response checked last, but in this episode, it was Fran's response that was checked last as a matter of surprise; prior to her response being shown, Fran went into a long lecture until Alex yelled out her name (one of the very rare times Alex loses his cool) as a matter of moving along causing her to announce her response the same time it was revealed. Fran's question was correct, risked it all and won the game with just $200. This was one of the few shows using this plot in which the protagonist comes out victorious. NOTES: Charles Shaughnessy who played Maxwell on the show & Michael McKean who guest starred in that episode would later become celebrity contestants.
 * Jeopardy! made a brief appearance in the opening of the 2000 movie version of Charlie's Angels in which one of the angels Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz) became five-day undefeated champion.
 * Gloria Clemente (played by Rosie Perez) gets on the show and wins $14,100.
 * Ellen DeGeneres plays an energy-themed episode of Jeopardy in EPCOT's Ellen's Energy Adventure attraction. In the attraction, Ellen plays the game as a dream she has while sleeping on the couch, playing against a rival of hers from college, Judy Peterson (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). After failing to give a correct response on her first clue, Bill Nye (one of her neighbors here) helps her by showing her various energy sources during the commercial break. Afterwards, she powers through all the clues in both Single and Double Jeopardy rounds. The Final Jeopardy clue in the category "The Future of Energy" is "It is the one source of power that will never run out." Ellen and Bill have never played the game for real though, not even with the same categories, but Bill did give clues for the show once and Ellen was given a mention in the category "Celebrity Marriages".
 * Jeopardy! was spoofed on Sesame Street in its 37th season. Alex Trebek made a special guest appearance, and Telly was a contestant. Besides a different title ("Special of the Day"), the rules of the game are the same as the show it's spoofing. Unfortunately, on the real show, the Muppets so far haven't become contestants.

Sets
1964 - 1975 (Jeopardy!) The set featured contestant desks on the left and a game board on the right. The game board was covered by a blue cloth-type curtain, which revealed the categories and dollar values at the start of each round. A smaller board was used to reveal the category and clue during Final Jeopardy! Clues were revealed by means of a pull-card. A jumbled Jeopardy! logo was featured on the contestant backdrop. Contestant scores were in slides (similar to Password).

Spin-Offs
Super Jeopardy! - a 13-episode run that aired as a weekly elimination tournament in the summer of 1990 on ABC pairing with another Merv Griffin game show Monopoly. The tournament featured 36 former champions, one of them a champion from the Art Fleming era. The big differences on this version were that the contestants played for points instead of dollars, as well as the quarter-final episodes having four podiums instead of three. The winner of the tournament won $250,000. Second place got $50,000 and third place got $25,000. Semifinalists eliminated received $10,000 and quarterfinalists eliminated received $5,000.

Jep! - Kids' version aired on Game Show Network from 1997-1998

Rock & Roll Jeopardy! - Music version aired on VH1 from 1997-1999

Music
Since Jeopardy! debuted in 1964, the series has had different theme songs. The most well-known tune is "Think!" which serves as the countdown music during the Final Jeopardy! round. Since the syndicated version premiered in 1984, a rendition of "Think!" has served as the show's main theme. During the first 13 seasons of the syndicated version, the original 1964 recording of "Think!" was retained for the Final Jeopardy! round, but since 1997, there have been different arrangements and re-orchestrations of both the main theme and "Think!" music.

1964 - "Take Ten" by Juliann Griffin

1978 - "Frisco Disco" by Merv Griffin (Later used on Wheel of Fortune (2) as a prize cue.)

1978, 1983 (Pilot) - "January, February, March" by Merv Griffin

1983 (Pilot) - "Nightwalk" (Later used on Wheel of Fortune (2) as the second shopping music.)

1984 (Pilot) - "Think!" by Merv Griffin

1984 - by Merv Griffin

1992 - by Merv Griffin

1997 - by Steve Kaplan

2001 - by Steve Kaplan

2010 - by Chris Bell Music Inc.

In addition, the music from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! has been used going into and coming out of commercial breaks during the College Championship, Kids Week episodes, and Teen Tournaments since Season 20. In 2006, it was used during Celebrity episodes. Starting in 2007 and lasting into today, it was used during the introductions. A few of these tournaments also used it during the Final Jeopardy! round.

Inventor
Merv Griffin

Links
Official Site

Info on Past Games

Jeopardy: The Database of Champions

YouTube Videos
The first ever three way tie

YouTube video of the most recent tournament tie-breaker