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 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.

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, the questions were checked one-by-one and a correct response added the wager but an incorrect response deducted the wager.

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.

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).

1978 - 1979 (The All New Jeopardy!) When the series was revived in 1978, a new set was introduced. Contestants walked through sliding doors just behind their desks during their introductions. The game board was on the left this time with the desks on the right. The curtain on the game board was replaced by sliding panels; pull-cards were still used however. Contestant scores were in eggcrate display.

1983 (Pilot 1) The set for the first pilot of the Alex Trebek hosted series retained many of the elements from the Art Fleming Era. The contestant desks, backdrop, and game board resembled PCs from the technology era of the 1980s.

1984 (Pilot 2) The set was completely overhauled for the second pilot, looking more like the 1984-89 set. The game board consisted of 30 television monitors, and the categories were backlit on cards above the monitors. The contestant podiums now had monitors in the center displaying their names, plus there were separate name cards above the monitors. A redesigned Jeopardy logo was crafted out of red neon tubes. For Final Jeopardy! contestants wrote their responses on an electronic tablet using a light pen; this would be done for all other sets since then.

1984-1985 (Season 1) The set for the first season of Jeopardy! in syndication was the same as the one used for the second pilot but with minor facelifts.

1985-1991 (Seasons 2-7) In 1985, the set was overhauled into the form it would retain until 1991. The 9-foot Jeopardy! logo was this time in white neon with acrylic glass covering the letters; the acrylic glass would be gold colored from 1986 until 1991. An entrance arch was built for the contestant entrances in the open. Now, 9 lightbulbs were placed atop the contestant podiums to indicate how much time they had to respond to a clue. For each second that goes by, 2 lights turn off (one on each end), meaning a player has 5 seconds to respond; the last light turning off meant the player ran out of time. The set background changed from blue to red for Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy! Starting in Season 7 and continuing into the present, the lights dimmed during Final Jeopardy!

Super Jeopardy! (1990) For the Super Jeopardy! tournament in the summer of 1990, the set used four podiums in the quarterfinal games; there would be the usual three for the semifinals and finals. This was also the first time the lights dimmed during Final Jeopardy!, which became permanent from Season 7 onward. Also, the category headings were in blue text instead of red as on the regular show.

1991-1996 (Seasons 8-13) At the start of the 8th Season in the fall of 1991, a brand new state-of-the-art set was introduced. It featured a revised 9-foot Jeopardy! logo. The entrance arch was eliminated, and from then on until 2000, contestants simply walked onto the set during the introductions. New podiums were a feature of the set, and contestant scores atop the podiums were in incandescent seven-segment display so they could be seen when the lights dimmed during Final Jeopardy! Also, the monitors on the game board were made sleeker, and the categories were now displayed in monitors with various animations to reveal the categories at the start of each round. The set was best known for its metal-grid backdrop, hence, a few fans nicknamed it the "grid set". Also, from Season 9 until the end of this set's run, the backgrounds for the contestant monitors changed to red for Double Jeopardy! to match the backdrop.

1996-2002 (Seasons 13-19) On the November 11, 1996 episode, two months after the start of Season 13, Jeopardy! introduced an entirely new set, designed by Naomi Slodki. The set featured a more wood-like appearance, and was nicknamed the "Sushi Bar set" by fans. One notable new feature of the set was the show's logo emblazened on sliding doors, which consist of the "P" and "A", in which Alex would make his entrance and walk down a small staircase. The backdrop behind the contestants, and for the entire set, consisted of dark gray granite columns and huge wood panels with small etched glass "windows".

On the first episode with this set, the contestant monitors turned red in Double Jeopardy one last time.

In the first season of this set's run, the category monitors would be blank, and the categories would zoom from both top and bottom and coming together. Beginning in Season 14 and continuing into the current set, the categories were covered by a Jeopardy! logo (or Double Jeopardy! or a logo of a particular tournament). From 1997-2000, the category effect screen rotated the page up, and from 2000 onward, the category effect screen faded in.

Also during Season 14, the podium microphones were removed, so Alex and the contestants wore clip-on mics, which have been used on all other sets since then.

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) - by Merv Griffin

1984 - by Merv Griffin

1992 - by Merv Griffin

1997 - by Steve Kaplan

2001 - by Steve Kaplan

2008 - by Chris Bell Music Inc.

In addition, the music from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! is used during the College Championship, Kids Week episodes, and Teen Tournaments. In 2006, it was used during Celebrity episodes.

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