The Game Show Legacy of Jeopardy

Few game shows can live up to the sheer popularity of Jeopardy. Hosted by Alex Trebek, the show is one of the first things that come to mind when game shows are brought up. Having been around for over 40 years, many people have grown up with Jeopardy. In the game, three contestants are faced with a board full of tiles which represent trivia that they have to answer. Each column corresponds to a topic, and each row corresponds to a cash value that is credited to the contestant who answers the question correctly.

Jeopardy is perhaps most recognizable for the form that the trivia takes. The tiles take the form of the answer to a question, and the contestant has to come up with its corresponding question. This is the signature question style that was pioneered by Jeopardy, and you will see it in all sorts of other places. The first stage of Jeopardy is the most basic one, and includes a full game board of questions. This round lets contestants get into the game and start racking up the cash, but the real tension starts to occur in the second round which is known as Double Jeopardy.

During Double Jeopardy, the contestants answer questions worth twice the previous value. This is when the people can dig themselves out of holes of low scores. The money starts to really pile up at this point. On 2 random squares in both of the stages, there is something known as the Daily Double. The contestants can wager a certain amount of their score (between 0 and 100 percent) that they will answer the question correctly. Therefore if someone wagers their whole score and is able to answer it correctly, they can effectively double their score.

At the end of the game, the contestants all have to answer the final question. This is when the signature music plays, and each writes their answer to the question along with their wager value. It is displayed after the extremely recognizable music is done playing, and the bets are either taken away or added to the person’s score. The final round is when the tables can really turn. If someone makes a wise wager and wins, they can beat someone who it would have seemed impossible to beat before. Jeopardy is an intense game, and the tables can turn at any second. That is why it is so exciting.