Jeopardy is a popular American television game show that features contestants answering questions in the form of answers, with the goal of accumulating the highest amount of money by the end of the game.
The format of the show is designed to test the contestants' knowledge and ability to recall facts quickly. The clues cover a wide range of topics, including history, literature, science, current events, and popular culture. Some clues are straightforward, while others are more difficult and require a deeper understanding of the topic.
Format of Jeopardy
The Game Board
The Jeopardy game board consists of a grid with six categories and five clues in each category. The clues are arranged in order of increasing value, with the lowest value at the top and the highest value at the bottom.
Contestants
Three contestants stand behind podiums and compete against each other by answering clues correctly.
Source: Jeopardy!’s Facebook
Clues
The game begins with the host, Alex Trebek (or a guest host in recent seasons), reading a clue from one of the categories. Each clue is presented in the form of an "answer," and the contestants must respond with the corresponding "question." For example, if the clue is "This European country is famous for its canals," the correct response would be "What is Italy?"
Responses
To respond to a clue, a contestant must buzz in first and then provide their response in the form of a question. The first contestant to buzz in gets the chance to respond to the clue. If they answer correctly, they are awarded the value of the clue. If they answer incorrectly, the value is deducted from their score.
Daily Double
Somewhere on the board is one Daily Double space, which allows the contestant who chooses it to wager a specific amount of money (up to the amount they have accumulated so far) on their ability to answer a specific clue correctly. The contestant must first choose a category and then decide how much money they want to wager. If they answer the clue correctly, they win the amount they wagered. If they answer incorrectly, the amount is deducted from their score.
Double Jeopardy
After all clues in the first round are answered, the game enters the Double Jeopardy round. In this round, the value of each clue is doubled, and the board includes two Daily Double spaces.
Final Jeopardy
After all clues in the Double Jeopardy round are answered, the contestants are shown a category for the Final Jeopardy question and are allowed to place a wager on their ability to answer it correctly. Once the category is revealed, the contestants have 30 seconds to write down their answer. After the time is up, the contestants reveal their responses, and the contestant with the highest total winnings is declared the winner.
Jeopardy’s Kick Start
Jeopardy was created by Merv Griffin, an American television host and producer, in 1964. Griffin, who was also a successful musician and songwriter, came up with the idea for the show while on a plane ride. He reportedly saw a crossword puzzle and thought it would make a great game show format.
Griffin originally pitched the idea to NBC, but the network turned it down. He then took the idea to other networks and eventually sold the show to a small network in Los Angeles. Jeopardy premiered on March 30, 1964, and was an instant hit.
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