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 can ring-in while the host was reading a clue; starting in the second season of the current version, contestant 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 $150 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.

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. A correct response added the wager but an incorrect response deducted the wager. Either way the contestant then choose another clue afterwards. There was only one Daily Double in the first 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 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 question. 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, but on May 16, 2002, the losing contestants also won money (2nd place receives $2,000, 3rd place won $1,000).

Champions stayed on the show until they won five games, from 1997 to 2001, five time champions also won a new car. But on season 20, the five day limit was dismantled allowing contestants to stay 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. 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 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.

Spin-Offs
Super Jeopardy! - a 13-episode run that aired as a weekly elimination tournament in the summer of 1990 on ABC. 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.

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

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

Packagers
Merv Griffin Productions/Enterprises 1964-1994

Columbia Tristar Telvision 1994-2002

Sony Pictures Television 2002-present

Distributors
KingWorld 1984-2007

CBS Telvision Distribution 2007-present

Music
1978, 1983 - "January, February, March" by Merv Griffin

1984 (Pilot) - Merv Griffin 1984 - by Merv Griffin & Mort Lindsey

1991 - by Merv Griffin & Mort Lindsey

1997 - by Merv Griffin & Steve Kaplan

2002 - by Steve Kaplan

2007 - by Chris Bell Music Inc.

In addition, the music from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! is used during the Teen Tournaments.

Inventor
Merv Griffin

Links
Official Site

Info on Past Games

YouTube Videos
The first ever three way tie

YouTube video of the most recent tournament tie-breaker