Jeopardy!

An example Jeopardy! screen showing trivia categories and dollar values for each question

Jeopardy! is a popular American trivia television game show that has since been adopted for international markets. It was originally hosted by Art Fleming, but was revived in syndication in the U.S. with host Alex Trebek, who hosted over 8,000 episodes. Currently, the show is hosted by Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. Jeopardy! is played with three contestants coming up with the questions to the answers told to them by a host, typically in front of a live studio audience. Occasionally, there are special editions of Jeopardy!, such as celebrity episodes or champion tournaments. It has also been adapted to video games and a classroom activity.

Alex Trebek continued to host Jeopardy! despite his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, which he publicly announced in March 2019. After Trebek passed away in November of 2020, Jeopardy! was hosted by a series of celebrity guests before the production studio chose a permanent host. Eventually, actress Mayim Bialik was chosen as the hostess of daily syndicated episodes of Jeopardy and Ken Jennings, champion of Jeopardy! with a streak of 74 games won, would host prime-time special episodes. In December 2023, Bialik announced she would no longer be hosting the syndicated edition of Jeopardy!, and Ken Jennings became the solo host of the show.

Rules

The show uses a unique answer and question format. That is, the host will give a contestant an answer in which they must respond with a question. For example, if the host gives the clue This person was the first President of the United States, the correct response the contestant must give is Who was George Washington?. The show originally required the responses to be grammatically correct (for example, Who is, is the only acceptable beginning for a response dealing with a live person) but this was seen as a time waster so any correct response in the form of a question could be accepted.

The show features a board with several categories with clues ranging from $200-$1,000 (in the U.S. version), questions increasing $200 in value further down the category. Clues range from pop culture and sports to history, geography, word play, science and other subjects. The contestant who was the champion from the previous show starts in the first Jeopardy! round and picks a clue. They pick the clue and category, and the host reads the clue which a certain time is given to buzz in. If a contestant tries to buzz in before they are able to, they must wait a moment before they are allowed, giving other players time to buzz in first. If a contestant buzzes in with a correct response, they earn the amount of money for that clue. If a contestant gives an incorrect response, that amount is deducted from their score, and in the case they do not have enough money to deduct, they have a negative score and must give correct responses to get back in the positive.

There is one Daily Double in the round where the contestant who picks it is the only one allowed to respond to that clue, and must wager at least five dollars, and can wager up to their full winnings (making a True Daily Double). Double Jeopardy! is played the same way, but the values are doubled to $400-$2,000 and there are two Daily Doubles.

Final Jeopardy! is the last round of the game. If a contestant has a zero or negative score, they cannot participate. The host gives the contestants the category to the clue and they must write down a wager. They are then given the clue and must write down a response. If it is correct, they are given the amount they wagered added on to their score to make their final score. If it is incorrect, the amount is deducted. The contestant who has the largest earnings at the end of the game win these earnings and are a Champion. They go on to the next game. The other two contestants are given consolation prizes.

IBM Watson

The set of Jeopardy! with Watson the computer between two Jeopardy! champions

In February 2011, IBM had a computer called Watson play on Jeopardy! against Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter to show off its artificial intelligence. Watson was not connected to the internet, but used natural language processing to understand and answer questions. Due to its victory over the two previous champions, Watson is technically the overall Jeopardy! champion (though Jennings still holds the record for longest win streak).