Jeopardy! is an American media franchise that began with a television quiz show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. Over the years, the show has expanded its brand beyond television and been licensed into products of various formats.
Television
Jeopardy! originated as an American television series on March 30, 1964. In its original daytime format, it ran until 1975 on NBC, then was revived by the same network for a 21-week run (with a slightly different format) from 1978 to 1979. Art Fleming hosted the program during its entire run on NBC. The current version of Jeopardy! debuted in first-run syndication in September 1984 with Alex Trebek as the second host, and officially as of December 15, 2023, Ken Jennings as the show's fifth host. It followed the same basic format as the NBC version, with larger prize money and a futuristic set.
With the exception of a 39-episode block of weekly shows placed into syndication near the end of the first NBC run in 1974 and 1975, Jeopardy! has aired its first-run episodes five days a week throughout its existence.
Various international versions have been produced for countries other than the United States. With the exception of the Australian, British, Italian, Japanese, and South Korean versions, all of these began during the current syndicated run in the U.S.
Books In 1990, host Alex Trebek co-authored The Jeopardy! Book along with Peter Barsocchini, which included boards from some of their past tournament games as well as boards specializing in some of the show's various categories. Also included are behind-the-scenes photos of how the show is produced, including writing the game material. (Trebek also voiced the audiobook, which featured the "behind the scenes" material on tape one, and audio versions of select games from the book on tape two.) Its sequel is The Jeopardy! Challenge, also co-authored by Trebek, along with Griffin, included boards from their past tournament games, and was published in 1992.
In 2000, the show's writers released 4 volumes of quiz books titled Jeopardy!: What is Quiz Book 1–4?, each featuring more than 300 pages worth of Jeopardy! boards from Seasons 14–17.
In 2004, Barnes & Noble published This is Jeopardy!: Celebrating America's Favorite Quiz Show, in honor of the show's 20th anniversary. Written by Ray Richmond, it featured selected Final Jeopardy! answers and questions from each of the show's first 20 seasons, plus trivia and other notable facts about the show. The book was released prior to Ken Jennings' run on the show.
The Jeopardy! Book of Answers was released in 2018 in honor of the show's 35th anniversary. Written by executive producer Harry Friedman, it highlighted the show's premiere (September 10, 1984), Ken Jennings' first and last games (June 2, 2004 and November 30, 2004, respectively), the 2009–2010 Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational finals (May 6–7, 2010), the IBM Challenge (February 14–16, 2011), the Battle of the Decades finals (May 15–16, 2014), the Season 33 College Championship finals (February 23–24, 2017), the Season 33 Teachers Tournament finals (May 18–19, 2017), and the Season 34 Tournament of Champions finals (November 16–17, 2017).
A number of unauthorized books have been published about Jeopardy!, written by people with ties to the show. Inside Jeopardy!: What Really Goes on at TV's Top Quiz Show (1993), written by former Jeopardy! writer and producer Harry Eisenberg, was reissued in 1995 as Jeopardy!: A Revealing Look Inside TV's Top Quiz Show with several allegations of scandal removed. Eisenberg's books contained numerous factual errors and unsubstantiated claims. Secrets of the Jeopardy! Champions (1992), written by Tournament of Champions winners Chuck Forrest and Mark Lowenthal, and How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win! (1998), written by Tournament of Champions winner Michael Dupée, serve as preparation aids for the Jeopardy! contestant hopeful; and Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs (2006), by 74-game winner and later host Ken Jennings and Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! (2006), written by comedian and former contestant Bob Harris, provide the insights of the extensive Jeopardy! experiences of two other notable champions who subsequently became authors of several books each.
Trebek's autobiography The Answer Is... features the show prominently and draws its name from the show's catchphrase.
Board games The earliest board games based on Jeopardy! were produced by Milton Bradley, which produced thirteen such games throughout the course of the original Fleming version's run (issued annually from 1964 through 1976); these games were numbered 1–12 and 14, skipping 13.
The Trebek version has also seen various board game adaptations of its own. Pressman Toy Corporation first marketed several versions in the mid-to-late 1980s, including a version with electric signal devices and scoring consoles released in 1987, a "junior" edition (with questions for children ages 8–12), and a "25th Anniversary Edition" to mark the anniversary of the original Art Fleming version debut; the latter had special games featuring questions relating to the 1960s (although mistakenly stating that the original version debuted in 1965 rather than in 1964), in addition to new questions. Later versions were produced in the early 2000s, including a standard version, a version themed after The Simpsons, and most recently, an ESPN-branded sports version (in both standard and "travel folio" variants) which, like the 1987 version before it, features an electronic buzz-in console. Tyco Toys and Parker Brothers have also manufactured their own board game adaptations of the Trebek version of Jeopardy!
In both the Milton Bradley and Pressman versions, each game (a full Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! round) had five categories each; the host designated one of the Double Jeopardy! questions as "Final Jeopardy." The game played identically to the show otherwise.
Video games Jeopardy! has been adapted into a number of video games released on various consoles and handhelds spanning multiple hardware generations. Most Jeopardy! games released prior to 1998 were published by GameTek, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that year.
+ List of Jeopardy! video games Title Release date(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Platform(s) Jeopardy! Unreleased (1983) The Great Game Co. Atari 2600 Jeopardy! 1987 ShareData Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC Jeopardy! September 1988 Rare GameTek Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! Junior Edition October 1989 Rare GameTek Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Edition June 1990 Rare GameTek Nintendo Entertainment System Super Jeopardy! September 1991 Imagineering GameTek Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! December 1991 Data Design Interactive GameTek Game Boy Jeopardy! 1992 Park Place Productions GameTek Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! Deluxe Edition 1993 Absolute Entertainment, Park Place Productions GameTek Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! Sports Edition 1994 GameTek Electro Source, GameTek Game Boy, Game Gear, MacOS, IBM PC, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System Jeopardy! 1994 Absolute Entertainment Sony Imagesoft IBM PC, Sega CD Jeopardy! 1995 Accent Media Productions, Inc. Philips Interactive Media CD-i Jeopardy! February 25, 1998 GameTek Take-Two Interactive Nintendo 64 Jeopardy! October 28, 1998 Artech Studios MacSoft, Hasbro Interactive MacOS, IBM PC, PlayStation Jeopardy! 2nd Edition September 30, 2000 Hasbro Interactive ACE 2, MacSoft, Hasbro Interactive MacOS, IBM PC, PlayStation Jeopardy! November 5, 2000 Electro Source, GameTek MacOS Jeopardy! 2003 October 28, 2003 Artech Studios Atari Interactive IBM PC, PlayStation 2 Jeopardy! Unreleased (2004) Majesco Game Boy Color Jeopardy! Super Deluxe June 16, 2008 Encore, Inc. MacOS, IBM PC Jeopardy! September 11, 2008 Sony Online Entertainment Sony Online Entertainment PlayStation 3 Jeopardy! 2010 Sony Pictures Television iOS Jeopardy! November 2, 2010 Griptonite, Pipeworks Software THQ Nintendo DS, Wii Jeopardy! November 18, 2012 Pipeworks Software THQ PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360 Jeopardy! World Tour May 17, 2017October 6, 2023 Uken Games Uken, Inc. Android, iOS Jeopardy! November 7, 2017 Frima Studio Ubisoft Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Consoles An Atari 2600 adaptation of Jeopardy! was planned by The Great Game Co. in 1983, but that game ended up being cancelled during development. This would have been the only video game based on the Fleming version if it were released.
Then, from 1987 to 1990, Rare developed a series of three Jeopardy! games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The first features general knowledge questions, the second is a "Junior Edition" featuring easier questions and child contestants, and the third is an "Anniversary Edition" honoring the 25th anniversary of the original Art Fleming version's debut. The Super Jeopardy! specials were given a video game adaptation for the NES, titled Talking Super Jeopardy! because of its periodic use of voice synthesis. Entertainment Weekly gave the game a C.
In 1992, GameTek released Jeopardy! video games for the Super NES and the Genesis. These two games were followed up by "Deluxe Editions" and "Sports Editions" in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Of the "Sports Editions" in particular, Computer Gaming World said that despite their "many flaws", they "[exude] a certain degree of charm" in emulating the positive and negative aspects of the television show. Later in 1994, Sony Imagesoft created a game based on the show for the Sega CD (with a subsequent PC version released in 1995), while Philips Interactive Media released a version on CD-i the following year, with clues being read by Wheel of Fortune announcer Charlie O'Donnell instead of Alex Trebek. GameTek's last Jeopardy! video game was completed and released after its bankruptcy, being published in 1998 for the Nintendo 64. It received negative reviews which criticized its graphics (particularly the absence of animation on the contestants) and the frequent recycling of questions. According to Gametek, the latter issue results from the fact that the game loses track of which questions have already been used every time the Nintendo 64 is powered off.
Hasbro Interactive produced two Jeopardy! video game adaptations of its own for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation console in 1998 and 2000 (with subsequent PC versions released in the same years as the PlayStation versions); both versions feature clues that are read by announcer Johnny Gilbert instead of host Alex Trebek, while the latter appears in FMV sequences; while the second edition features behind-the-scenes interviews, an all-access backstage video, and a qualifying exam for contestants. Afterwards, Hasbro Interactive's successor Atari Interactive released a PlayStation 2 edition in October 2003 (with a PC version released the previous year). Then in 2008, Sony Online Entertainment created a Jeopardy! game for the PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network, using the Gamebryo engine.
On November 2, 2010, THQ released Jeopardy! video games for the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. The company followed those up in 2012 by releasing games based on the show as a reworked version of the Wii version for the PlayStation 3, the Wii U, and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
On November 6, 2017, Ubisoft released Jeopardy! for PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, using the Unity engine. It would later be released on the Nintendo Switch a year later. However, the generic female host takes over Alex Trebek (before his death in 2020), while Johnny Gilbert still remains as announcer on the title screen, following the show's opening titles.
Handhelds