Quick Rules Q

[Robert K S]

I, for one, somewhat doubt that complete written rules covering all scenarios exist, and I especially doubt that they have existed since the start of the Trebek era. There are simply too many inconsistencies and uncertainties, as anyone who watches or archives old games can readily attest to.

[triviawayne]

Sounds like you are (the former, I mean). The paperwork has nothing of the ins and outs of a game of Jeopardy.

If you are on a show and you choose to ignore these instructions, well that's a you problem.

I find it interesting that both people you chose to lecture about supposedly not reading the rules have each won 6 figures on game shows. Perhaps they learned how to properly play the game instead of memorizing the rule book?

couldn't possibly be they are better at trivia could it...

and at what point in either show I've been on did I play improperly?

[triviawayne]

I, for one, somewhat doubt that complete written rules covering all scenarios exist, and I especially doubt that they have existed since the start of the Trebek era. There are simply too many inconsistencies and uncertainties, as anyone who watches or archives old games can readily attest to.

there would certainly be enough written to cover who goes first in a tie situation, as well as who gets 2nd place vs. 3rd place in a tie situation

[Robert K S]

I, for one, somewhat doubt that complete written rules covering all scenarios exist, and I especially doubt that they have existed since the start of the Trebek era. There are simply too many inconsistencies and uncertainties, as anyone who watches or archives old games can readily attest to.

there would certainly be enough written to cover who goes first in a tie situation, as well as who gets 2nd place vs. 3rd place in a tie situation

And I say, probably not, and almost certainly not since 1984, but until we get the pages, there's no way to prove either of us right or wrong.

[triviawayne]

I, for one, somewhat doubt that complete written rules covering all scenarios exist, and I especially doubt that they have existed since the start of the Trebek era. There are simply too many inconsistencies and uncertainties, as anyone who watches or archives old games can readily attest to.

there would certainly be enough written to cover who goes first in a tie situation, as well as who gets 2nd place vs. 3rd place in a tie situation

And I say, probably not, and almost certainly not since 1984, but until we get the pages, there's no way to prove either of us right or wrong.

because you think it "probably" makes more sense for nothing to be written regarding procedure for the payout of $2000 vs. $1000?

[Robert K S]

If there was something written, why haven't contestants been able to get a straight answer from the contestant coordinators? Corina told me something that was later contradicted by the on-show consolation displays, meaning that if what she told me was true, there had to have been not one but two changes of that rule in the 2000s/2010s. You would think that if something was written, the contestant coordinators would have read it, and would be able to recite it chapter and verse, given all the questions they must get about this sort of thing, week in and week out.

We know with certainty that in March 1998 they just said "screw it" and awarded two players second place prize, even though if there were written rules back then to resolve ties among nonwinners they should have been able to figure out who was second and who was third. Do you really think that if two players today were tied at the end of all three rounds, we would be seeing two displays reading $2,000 on the lecterns at the end of the game?

[jeff6286]

Sounds like you are (the former, I mean). The paperwork has nothing of the ins and outs of a game of Jeopardy.

If you are on a show and you choose to ignore these instructions, well that's a you problem.

I find it interesting that both people you chose to lecture about supposedly not reading the rules have each won 6 figures on game shows. Perhaps they learned how to properly play the game instead of memorizing the rule book?

couldn't possibly be they are better at trivia could it...

and at what point in either show I've been on did I play improperly?

Weren’t you competing on the show that had the largest prize in game show history, and you made the decision not to send yourself back to the chair to earn more money? This is a fuzzy memory from six years ago but as I recall you had the decision in your hands and basically chose not to give yourself a chance to secure your spot in the game. I’m sure you’ll tell me how I’m wrong.

[triviawayne]

Sounds like you are (the former, I mean). The paperwork has nothing of the ins and outs of a game of Jeopardy.

If you are on a show and you choose to ignore these instructions, well that's a you problem.

I find it interesting that both people you chose to lecture about supposedly not reading the rules have each won 6 figures on game shows. Perhaps they learned how to properly play the game instead of memorizing the rule book?

couldn't possibly be they are better at trivia could it...

and at what point in either show I've been on did I play improperly?

Weren’t you competing on the show that had the largest prize in game show history, and you made the decision not to send yourself back to the chair to earn more money? This is a fuzzy memory from six years ago but as I recall you had the decision in your hands and basically chose not to give yourself a chance to secure your spot in the game. I’m sure you’ll tell me how I’m wrong.

I was never Power player, so the choice was never mine to make.

[MinnesotaMyron]

The scores after the Jeopardy round, November 4, 1988. The question: Who picked first in DJ?

The answer, after a few words from our sponsor.

Spoiler

It was Andrew. I assume because he had had the last correct response of the two tied players, but Alex didn't say one way or the other.

[Mathew5000]

Another game in which the Jeopardy round ended in a tie for last place was Show #7419 - Thursday, December 8, 2016. One of the tied contestants, Anton Deljaj, posted on Reddit that the tiebreaking rule is not "leftmost tied player calls the first clue" as stated above, but "Since I had answered the last correct question between the two of us, the other contestant got to pick first in the second round." In this case either of the two rules would have led to the same conclusion: the player at the middle lectern selects first in DJ.

Similarly in the 2012 game that Volante referred to upthread: the returning champion (Beau) selects first under either rule, because he had given a correct response less recently than Sarah.

I suspect that Anton misunderstood, or misremembered, the reason for his opponent being the one to select first in DJ. Most likely Ontario Quizzer is correct (along with Wikipedia, as quoted in that Reddit thread). However, considering that a contestant who was in that exact situation has stated a different rule was applied, there is still some uncertainty. The "Game Rules" section of the official Jeopardy! website does not refer to this issue.

After a failed TDD in my second game I caught up to Sarah with my last get of the J! round, and I got first selection in DJ, so there's a counter to Anton's claim.

Similarly, show #8141 - Monday, January 20, 2020 also supports "leftmost tied player calls the first clue". Returning champion Dennis gave a correct response on the last clue of the J round, moving him from third place to a tie for second/third with Traci. Alex says: "Although Traci and Dennis are tied in second place at 3,000, Dennis is the one picking first in Double Jeopardy and he selects today from these categories ...".

[goongas]

The two game shows that I have been associated with, MSQ and History IQ, both gave us the rules ahead of time to read, and I think we had to sign them. I would have assumed J! did as well, but I guess not. Not that I would waste the mental energy to read them...

[ParrotRob]

Good Lord, I feel like I accidentally stumbled onto Facebook with all the snarky bickering.

We all know that a two way tie going into DJ is always the leftmost player (from the viewer's standpoint). Why would a three-way tie be any different?