J! Clue values-time for a bump again?

[SamJ93]

It's now been almost 16 years since they doubled the amounts to keep pace with inflation...which itself occured 16 years after the revival's premiere. Could it be time for another raise to, say, 250-500-750-1000-1250 in the first round and 500-1000-1500-2000-2500 in the second?

According to j-archive.com, the average winning score this season to date is $18,443. While I certainly wouldn't complain about winning that much, it does seem a tad low for a show that prides itself on being the toughest quiz on TV, especially considering Wheel contestants regularly win $20-30K with far less effort.

[Kevin Prather]

I think they're fine where they are. Especially if the reason they eliminated ties was due to prize budget concerns (which was only speculation), I don't see them getting raised any time soon.

[Nick]

Perhaps someone more mathematically-inclined than myself could crunch some numbers on this, but would a budget bump pass for a mo' money illusion while you drop the necessity to clear both boards in a game to have a net effect of near-zero?  Personally, what I'd rather see is a return to the former style of play that didn't emphasize getting every clue revealed in a half hour, where there could be upwards of five or more clues untouched by the end of a round.

My main gripe for this is with time constraints and longer clues by the Clue Crew, there's an abundance of quick-run categories that show up nowadays where the clues max out around three words, clues that really don't lend themselves to the title of "TV's toughest quiz."

[TLEberle]

Perhaps someone more mathematically-inclined than myself could crunch some numbers on this, but would a budget bump pass for a mo' money illusion while you drop the necessity to clear both boards in a game to have a net effect of near-zero?  Personally, what I'd rather see is a return to the former style of play that didn't emphasize getting every clue revealed in a half hour, where there could be upwards of five or more clues untouched by the end of a round.

My main gripe for this is with time constraints and longer clues by the Clue Crew, there's an abundance of quick-run categories that show up nowadays where the clues max out around three words, clues that really don't lend themselves to the title of "TV's toughest quiz."

That's Krypton Factor, not Jeopardy.

I'm not a fan of the Clue Crew for similar reasons, but the visual clues are a nice palate cleanser, and the clue-answer categories like on Joker's Wild 90 are a nice change of pace. Increasing each clue by 50 or 100 bucks is just silly, and they don't need to redouble. When they have a Final Jeopardy where Alex says "You wrote what is Pennsylvania and Massachusetts but our judge says we can't accept it", that turns me off more than the Clue Crew. I also don't get the quibble about how much of a board remains unrevealed--I like content, so why not reveal all that's possible.

[trainman]

My main gripe for this is with time constraints and longer clues by the Clue Crew, there's an abundance of quick-run categories that show up nowadays where the clues max out around three words, clues that really don't lend themselves to the title of "TV's toughest quiz."

I watch the show every night and am not quite sure what you're referring to -- care to find and provide a recent example or two?

[parliboy]

I watch the show every night and am not quite sure what you're referring to -- care to find and provide a recent example or two?

Three words is a stretch.  But five words?  Try Tuesday's game.

[Flerbert419]

This past Friday's episode had NEXT U.N. MEMBER ALPHABETICALLY which featured one word clues.

[TLEberle]

It sure did.

[BrandonFG]

According to j-archive.com, the average winning score this season to date is $18,443. While I certainly wouldn't complain about winning that much, it does seem a tad low for a show that prides itself on being the toughest quiz on TV, especially considering Wheel contestants regularly win $20-30K with far less effort.

I think the current values hold up fine. IMO, $100 in 2001 vs now is a little different than $100 in 2001 vs. 1984, if that makes any sense.

In the 80s, with the original values, you saw several <10K wins on Jeopardy! (if not less), which amounts to a little more than 18K in 2016 money. If you wanna go way back, a contestant in the Fleming era prolly won on average, what, $1,000? That's roughly 8-9K today. To me, the excitement comes from a longtime champ racking up a nice six-figure haul.

I honestly think Wheel actually gives away more cash and prizes than necessary, but I'm also not the EP, so there you go...

[PYLdude]

Honestly, with all the gimmicks Wheel feels the need to trot out I'm surprised those numbers aren't higher.

Do we really need a prize puzzle every day?

[TLEberle]

The thing about Wheel is you only get the one try.

[PYLdude]

The thing about Wheel is you only get the one try.

True, this. Whereas on its companion show you can go on and on for weeks at a time if you're smart/lucky enough.

[Nick]

I also don't get the quibble about how much of a board remains unrevealed--I like content, so why not reveal all that's possible.

Quality over quantity if you ask me.  I'd much rather see longer clues of substance then the aforementioned short clues which usually fall under the trivia variety.

[Joe Mello]

I'd much rather see longer clues of substance then the aforementioned short clues which usually fall under the trivia variety.

I'd argue it's all trivia.

I'd rather watch players get things right rather get them wrong or not get them at all. The ability to feel smarter than the players comes from the audience not having to wait for the go lights to respond. Hearing a round end short of all 30 clues revealed is frustrating because the round is incomplete. On the bright side for Nick, the College Championship is next week which tends to up the difficulty, and we're due for a ToC soon.

/Unrelated: I thought I heard Lisa's town as Irwin, PA which is on the other side of the state.

[calliaume]

Using the CPI Inflation Calculator (https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl), here are the values of $100 through all of the key Jeopardy! dates:

1964 - $100.00
1970 - $125.16
1975 - $173.55
1978 - $210.32
1984 - $335.16
1990 - $421.61
2002 - $580.32
2016 - $774.22

Honestly, I don't think viewers are thinking the show is cheap.  And the "keep winning and you keep playing" rule certainly attracts viewers.