Test your Jeopardy! skills with these tough questions, learn the best strategy, reminisce on classic moments, and learn how create your own Jeopardy! game.
November 14, 2023 Table of ContentsDo you ever watch Jeopardy? And secretly wonder how you’d fare on the show?
If you’d like to test your knowledge, this blog post contains 60 tricky questions from actual Jeopardy! Episodes.
We’ll also go over strategies to up your Jeopardy! Skills, dive into some of the lore of Jeopardy! History, and teach you how to create your questions.
Who knows, maybe you’re the next Ken Jennings! Only one way to find out. Check out the questions below.
The list below includes actual Jeopardy! Questions spanning from Season 1 in 1984 to Season 39 in 2023. You’ll also find several questions from 2020’s Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time.
There are questions from each difficulty category (noting that from 1984 until 2001, question values ranged from $100-$500 in the Jeopardy! Round and $200-$1,000 in the Double Jeopardy! Round. Only from 2001 onward did the prize money double per question. As such, questions from older seasons are scaled to the modern prize money ranking).
Let’s get into it! How is your Jeopardy? Smarts?
Clue: The Vatican has an entire museum devoted to these darn people of ancient Etruria
Answer: The Etruscans
Clue: Washington Irving’s tale of this farmer who takes a big snooze was based on a German folktale
Answer: Rip Van Winkle
Clue: In 1984, this 17th c. Quaker who governed a colony was made an honorary U.S. citizen
Answer: William Penn
Clue: This territory was formally transferred to the U.S. at Castle Hill in Sitka
Answer: Alaska
Clue: York, an expert hunter, accompanied this pair on their 1800s expedition
Answer: Lewis and Clark
Clue: This right-wing group was named for the 1st victim of the “Cold War,” killed in China in 1945
Answer: The John Birch Society
Clue: Follows drag & hair, precedes work & worth
Answer: Net
Clue: It’s a calendar or list of the upcoming cases set to be tried at a court
Answer: Docket
Clue: ’80s & ’90s Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady dealt with the crisis & bailout of failing S&Ls, short for these institutions
Answer: Savings & loans
Clue: Clingstone & freestone are the two main classifications for this fruit, once called a Persian apple
Answer: Peach
Clue: “Bazinga!”
Answer: The Big Bang Theory
Clue: In 1995, artist & writer John Byrne took over the comic book starring this Amazon princess.
Answer: Wonder Woman
Clue: Today buried in tunnels, Moscow’s Neglinnaya river fed the moat protecting this fortress
Answer: The Kremlin
Clue: Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler & Joe Perry joined this rap trio on their 1986 hit “Walk This Way.”
Answer: Run-DMC
Clue: On N.B.C., 1997-1998: The uproarious “S”
Answer: Seinfeld
Clue: Beefy Barry Bonds has hit many balls into the “Cove” named for this earlier Giants slugger
Answer: Willie McCovey
Clue: Your place is really full if you’re packed to these exposed beams in the ceiling
Answer: The rafters
Clue: On TV & film, he played Tonto’s partner
Answer: Clayton Moore
Clue: 4 Chinese women meet regularly to play Mah-jongg & to talk about life & their children in this 1989 Amy Tan novel
Answer: The Joy Luck Club
Clue: Homer Simpson asked Bart & Lisa if they wanted to go to Blockoland; their response: this 3-letter word of indifference
Answer: Meh
Clue: Genu (as in genuflect)
Answer: The knee
Clue: This 1971 George Harrison project has raised over $10 million for UNICEF programs
Answer: The Concert for Bangladesh
Clue: This sport combines cross-country skiing with rifle-shooting skills
Answer: Biathlon
Clue: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not…” Doing this
Answer: Dying
Clue: In the 15th century, it was a small coat worn under a larger one; later, it referred to a woman’s underskirt
Answer: Petticoat
Clue: Missionary work by Bishop Palladius & this saint succeeded in converting Ireland to Christianity
Answer: St. Patrick
Clue: In 1956, this Cuban organized the 26th of July Movement, named for the date of his 1953 revolt against Batista
Answer: Castro
Clue: In Mark 1, he says, “There cometh one mightier than I after me.”
Answer: John the Baptist
Clue: When N.Y.C. was a Dutch settlement, this street got its name because it was a wide thoroughfare for wagons
Answer: Broadway
Hint: The word “library” comes from the Latin “liber,” which means this
Answer: Book
Clue: This Beverly Cleary girl has a mom & dad; Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 character of the same name does not
Answer: Ramona
Clue: Copious: a way to serve meat
Answer: Rare
Clue: Sam Bass was a Texas cowboy who stole from the rich & gave to the poor until captured by these lawmen
Answer: The Texas Rangers
Clue: Gee, ghee is a big export from this country, whose capital is Mogadishu
Answer: Somalia
Clue: Putting a little sodium into a Bunsen burner flame will turn the flame this color
Answer: Yellow
Clue: Term for what occurs when a 6-year-old boy fights for the attention given his little sister
Answer: Sibling rivalry
Clue: A coup on 18 Brumaire established the consulate & brought this general to power
Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte
Clue: A coup on 18 Brumaire established the consulate & brought this general to power
Answer: Metamorphoses
Clue: When elected president in 1856, he had just served three years as minister to Great Britain
Answer: James Buchanan
Clue: In 1932, David Manners was the hero of “The Mummy”; in 1999, it was this actor
Answer: Brendan Fraser
Clue: Hawaii’s state plant is kalo, the local name for this root used to make poi
Answer: Taro
Clue: Alexis I, the second czar of this dynasty, reigned 1645-1676
Answer: The Romanovs
Clue: It wasn’t just another day at the office for Daniel when he guested on “Extras”, starring this British comic as Andy
Answer: Ricky Gervais
Clue: A dish served “Veronique” is garnished with this fruit
Answer: Grapes
Clue: Some of the finest singing canaries are bred in the Harz Mountains of this country
Answer: Germany
Clue: Fly, Rex, Farmer Hoggett
Answer: Babe
Clue: In 1598, this dramatist killed an actor in a duel, no doubt putting him out of his humor
Answer: Ben Jonson
Clue: There were also vampires & werewolves on this Showtime series, with characters like Dorian Gray & Victor Frankenstein
Answer: Penny Dreadful
Clue: These subatomic particles come in 6 flavors, including up, down & strange
Answer: Quarks
Clue: Familial relationship of Madame Sun Yat-sen to Madame Chiang Kai-shek
Answer: Sisters
Clue: The College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is named for him
Answer: Howard Hughes
Clue: One of the first recorded autopsies was performed on this man & revealed 23 puncture marks
Answer: Julius Caesar
Clue: In 1936, at age 79, he published an article in Esquire magazine in which he described how to pick a jury
Answer: Clarence Darrow
Clue: This community outside Washington, D.C., is named after a Presbyterian church built there in 1820
Answer: Bethesda, Maryland
Clue: The last Democratic president before 1985 to serve two complete terms, no more, no less
Answer: Woodrow Wilson
Clue: Salvaged from a shipwreck in the 1850s, the Lutine Bell hangs in its British headquarters.
Answer: Lloyd’s of London
Clue: It was said that being with these two leaders, born in 1874 & 1882, “was like sitting between 2 lions roaring at the same time.”
Answer: Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Clue: This Pulitzer winner changed his first name to that of an Irish king, avoiding associations with a famous ventriloquist’s dummy
Answer: Cormac McCarthy
Clue: The two states whose 1-word names are contained in other state names
Answer: Kansas (Arkansas) and Virginia (West Virginia)
Clue: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Evan Strong & Roy Campanella broke barriers representing this brand
Answer: Wheaties
Congrats! You have now tested your knowledge. How’d you do?
If you’ve ever thought about auditioning for Jeopardy! or even just playing for fun with friends, you might benefit from taking a step back and contemplating your game strategy.
Here are a few strategies you could consider employing.
It’s impossible to study every category since Jeopardy! Comes up with new ones every episode. But, there are a few reliable categories that are worth studying.
As Brad Rutter, a Jeopardy! Great, who has won the most money on Jeopardy! of all time, says in this interview 1 https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/jeopardy-brad-rutter-the-chase-alex-trebek/ , “They can conceivably ask you about anything, but you know that presidents are going to come up a lot, Shakespeare is going to come up a lot, world capitals are going to come up a lot. So I generally try to stay in shape with that type of stuff.”
Watching Jeopardy! with friends can be a fun social experience. If you’d like to build some further skills to make your social experiences even more enjoyable, you could check out this free goodie:
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Learn MoreIt might be a good idea to write out the categories you know you excel in and the ones that are harder for you and then give yourself time to read about the latter.
Superchamp Matt Amodio 2 https://www.vulture.com/article/jeopardy-champion-matt-amodio-interview-winning-streak-strategy.html says in an interview that he knew he was strong in categories like history and geography but weaker in pop culture. So he went on T.M.Z. to read about celebrities and let his curiosity take him into internet rabbit holes, learning about the ins and outs of celebrity culture.
You can either watch re-run episodes or take this official Jeopardy! Practice test, or go through the archive of Jeopardy! Episodes.
However, you choose to approach it. Keep reading, consuming media, and taking practice tests.
James Holzhauer (who won the most money on a single episode in Jeopardy! history) changed Jeopardy! Strategy forever when he brought in his sports-betting background.
Holzhauer’s main strategy 3 https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/james-holzhauer-jeopardy-1-million-win-or-lose/587878/ for winning so much money was to go all in on Daily Doubles.
He recognized that he would get the Daily Double questions correct far more often than not. So, statistically, the best strategy is to bet everything on those questions every time. Sometimes, you’ll lose it all, but statistically, you’ll gain far more than you’ll lose.
Jeopardy! has been on the air for over thirty-five years. Over that time, it has given us some of the most iconic moments and memorable episodes in television history.
Here are a few to remember.
In 2011, I.B.M.’s A.I. model Watson competed against the two best Jeopardy! Players Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. In an intense match, Watson ended up winning.
Given that we now have Google and ChatGPT, it may seem obvious that an A.I. could gather data faster than a human. But at the time, this was groundbreaking and set the stage for what was possible.
Another exciting A.I. frontier is reading body language. If you’re curious about the topic, here’s an informative article.
If you’d like to watch a 10-minute documentary on the event, you can check that out below:
In 2019, Alex Trebek announced to the Jeopardy! Fanbase that he had pancreatic cancer.
While he delivered the news with optimism and levity, it was a heavy moment, and fans continued to support him for his next few years of life.
Here is a video of his announcement:
After Trebek passed, Jeopardy! Aired the final episode with him as the host. The episode included a tribute to his career in a short and sweet video.
Over the years, Jeopardy! Footage accumulated plenty of quirky and humorous moments. Here’s a YouTube montage that highlights some of the more memorable ones.
Merv Griffin created the original Jeopardy! In 1964. The modern version was re-launched in 1984 and is taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. It is the same studio where shows like Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, and The Young and the Restless are filmed.
They film five episodes of Jeopardy! a day, twice a week.
Alex Trebek hosted nearly 8,000 episodes from 1984 until his passing in 2020. Upon his death, Trebek had his entire wardrobe (including 300 neckties 5 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/alex-trebek-wardrobe-doe-fund.html#:~:text=When%20he%20died%20in%20November,a%20day%2C%20twice%20a%20week. !) donated to homeless men and men who had just gotten out of jail.
Merv Griffin, who created both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, also wrote the iconic theme song from Jeopardy! It only took him 30 seconds to write the song, originally a lullaby for his son, which he called “A Time for Tony.” When he used the song for Jeopardy!, he renamed it “Think.”
Griffin would receive royalties every time the song played. Those royalties have stacked up to nearly $100,000,000 (including the years since his death in 2007).
While on a flight in 1963, Merv Griffin and his wife Julann devised a unique twist for a game show concept 6 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/How-Merv-Griffin-Came-Up-With-That-Weird-Question-Answer-Format-for-Jeopardy-180949815/ in response to quiz show scandals of the 1950s. Julann suggested reversing the game dynamics by providing answers and having contestants come up with the questions.
At first, Merv didn’t understand. Until Julann said, “The answer is ‘5,280.’”
To which he responded, “The question is, ‘How many feet in a mile?’”
She went on, “The answer is ‘79 Wistful Vista.’”
And Merv came back with “‘Where did Fibber McGee and Molly live?’”
They kept going back and forth, and by the time the plane landed, the premise for Jeopardy! was born.
Ken Jennings (now the host) won a historic 74 games 7 https://www.jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/leaderboard-of-legends in a row in 2004.
Second place is Amy Schneider, with 40 games in 2022.
And third place is Matt Amodio, with 38 games in 2021.
Seven of the top ten win streaks occurred since 2019.
James Holzhauer won the most money 7 https://www.jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/leaderboard-of-legends in a single game of Jeopardy! with $131,127 in 2021. Interestingly, Holzhauer also holds the record for the second through tenth place for most earnings in a game. One main reason Holzhauer won such a large amount of money is because he had a history in sports betting.
Brad Rutter has won more money than any other Jeopardy! Player overall with total earnings of nearly 5 million dollars.
Creating your own Jeopardy! Style questions can be a great way to test your knowledge, challenge friends and family, or even just have fun. To craft quality questions for your own game of Jeopardy! Here are seven tips on how to get started.
With these tips and strategies, you should now have all the knowledge necessary to create your own Jeopardy! Game show! Have fun with it 🙂
Suppose you’d like to create a non-Jeopardy! For trivia night, you might enjoy this list of apps and third parties to help with the ultimate trivia party.
Easy Jeopardy! Questions might include those like: “Made a U.S. federal holiday in 2021, it’s also known as Black Independence Day” (What is Juneteenth?) or “This rock band tops the list with more than 183 million album sales, & that’s all the clue you get” (Who are The Beatles?). These are considered easy as they’re based on fairly common facts and would fall in the bottom category of $200.
Are Jeopardy! Questions easier now?There is no indication that Jeopardy! Questions have gotten easier in recent years. Some internet fans believe this is the case, but the show has made no mention of questions easing up, and ultimately, it’s impossible to tell because it’s hard to measure how difficult a trivia question is.
How do Jeopardy! Do contestants know so much?Jeopardy! contestants typically have a broad base of general knowledge, and they often prepare extensively for the show. They usually study a wide range of topics and practice answering questions in the Jeopardy! Format.
What are the most common final Jeopardy? Categories?The most common Final Jeopardy! Categories often include “U.S. History,” “World Geography,” “Literature,” and “Presidents,” although the categories can vary greatly from game to game.
What is Jeopardy! and how does it work?Jeopardy! is a game show where contestants are given answers and must respond with the corresponding question. The game is played in rounds, with contestants earning money for correct responses, aiming to have the highest total by the end of the game.
How do I come up with interesting and challenging Jeopardy? Questions?To create engaging and challenging Jeopardy! Questions: Choose a broad range of topics, research notable facts or figures within those topics, and formulate your clues in a manner that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Just make sure each question only has one correct response.
What are some popular categories or topics for Jeopardy! questions?Some popular categories for Jeopardy! questions include History, Literature, Pop Culture, Science, World Geography, and Arts. These broad categories allow for a wide range of questions and appeal to a variety of interests.
How can I improve my chances of winning Jeopardy!?To improve your chances of winning at Jeopardy!, practice answering previous show questions, broaden your general knowledge base, and work on increasing your response speed. Understanding betting strategies for Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy can also significantly boost your chances.
Hopefully, you enjoyed some of the practice questions above!
If you’d like to continue to upgrade your Jeopardy! Skills, remember the following tips:
And if you choose to set up your own Jeopardy game amongst your friends, just remember these tips:
There you have it! Good luck on your trivia journey ahead.If you’d like more trivia ideas for a different style of game, you could check out this guide on 150 Family Feud-style questions.
