Fun Friday: Jeopardy! Archives

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This post is inspired by the apparently many people I follow on Twitter who watch Jeopardy! on a regular basis. In the past few weeks, it seems that quite a few folks I know would have won big had they been on recent episodes. Now, I don't watch Jeopardy! too regularly, and haven't in over three years (when I used to go to the gym when it was airing), but I do enjoy the show if there's not much else on or if I'm in the kitchen - you can easily play along while only listening unless it's a visual Daily Double!

jeopardy.com

Anyway, today I wanted to share a site with you that you might not know exists. I have talked about it before, but it has been a LONG time! [and, in fact, I actually met Dan from that episode at a conference in Denver last year. he was a bit surprised that I recognized him, actually!] A fan-run website, this Jeopardy! archive boasts an extensive collection of Jeopardy! games in an easy-to-read format. You can challenge yourself with any of the boards, and all you have to do to find out the question is scroll over the money amount in that square! You can also see which contestant from that game gave the correct response, PLUS you can read their responses to the "Final Jeopardy!" clue.

Particularly fun, if you ask me, is to search through the archives for clues dealing with specific items or people. That little box at the top of every page will bring up tons of instances where your term appears! For instance, searching "Hamlet" retrieves 312 results from regular rounds (11 of which came from last year!) and 12 additional results from "Final Jeopardy!" rounds. You can also search the contestant blurbs to find people from your hometown, who share your profession, or other commonalities.

There's also a wagering calculator, to help you figure out what you should bet! It takes some time to understand the theories, but not a bad idea if you can't handle the "all or nothing" approach! For the hardcore statistics people, you can also look at the game dynamics of each match as well.

Go play around on the site - come back and let us know what you found!