J! Category Choices

[Joe Mello]

In a tie game, the round should start with a Daily Double already on 2nd.

[JasonA1]

I think you all hit the salient points. Bouncing around really is the best strategic way to play the game, and it's hard to put that toothpaste back in the tube. But Scott hit it on the head for me by saying...

I'm more likely to put up with it if the following two things occur:
(...)
2. Once all of the Daily Doubles in a round are gone, the contestants go back to playing the categories top to bottom. Unless there's less than a minute left in the round

THIS. When I watched Jeopardy! Masters, it wasn't uncommon to end a round with a discordant set of top-row clues. Playing off of Scott's other points -- those were some of the best people in recent memory to play the game. So taking the categories out of order, top-up for the entire time has no true effect, since the playing field is relatively level.

-Jason

[Chuck Sutton]

My unpopular suggestion: require Daily Double wagers to be in $100 increments.

• There's not really any strategic reason to have an oddball wager
• Simplifies FJ math for viewers and contestants

As for second comment,  Making FJ math harder for other contestants is a strategy and I have seen at least once a winner.

[Ian Wallis]

Just to throw my 2 cents in...I kind of like the way the game is played now.  I grew up in the Art Fleming era and the first years of the Trebek era, where most games went top down.  It got kind of boring seeing every game go the exact same way.  For me, it adds interest when they jump around.

If any kind of rules had been in place forcing them to play top down, you never would have had James Holzhauer's dominating streak the way it unfolded.

Want a compromise?...OK, how about this.  Force them to play top down at the beginning of the round...instead of announcing one minute left, announce when there's two.  After that announcement, they're free to jump the board anyway they want.  That way, if a player in distant third place gets control, they could play the higher values, maybe find a Daily Double and get back into the game.

[Matt Ottinger]

Want a compromise?...OK, how about this.  Force them to play top down at the beginning of the round...instead of announcing one minute left, announce when there's two.  After that announcement, they're free to jump the board anyway they want.  That way, if a player in distant third place gets control, they could play the higher values, maybe find a Daily Double and get back into the game.

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.  This seems nice.

[BrandonFG]

Want a compromise?...OK, how about this.  Force them to play top down at the beginning of the round...instead of announcing one minute left, announce when there's two.  After that announcement, they're free to jump the board anyway they want.  That way, if a player in distant third place gets control, they could play the higher values, maybe find a Daily Double and get back into the game.

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.  This seems nice.

Same. I like this, and I say this as someone who’s not a fan of jumping around the board.

[TimK2003]

ISTR reading somewhere an idea that if any contestant should successfully "run" a category from top to bottom, there could be a monetary bonus of some sort.  This would allow better chances for clues to be answered in order from low to high $$ amounts and, if an opponent stops a potential sweep in one category, they may begin a run in one of the remaining categories.

By this idea, once all potential sweep opportunities are exhausted, then you should have decent amounts of high dollar clues remaining.

[SuperMatch93]

ISTR reading somewhere an idea that if any contestant should successfully "run" a category from top to bottom, there could be a monetary bonus of some sort.  This would allow better chances for clues to be answered in order from low to high $$ amounts and, if an opponent stops a potential sweep in one category, they may begin a run in one of the remaining categories.

By this idea, once all potential sweep opportunities are exhausted, then you should have decent amounts of high dollar clues remaining.

I believe Davo suggested that in a recent interview. It was also briefly a part of the Fleming version towards the end.

[chris319]

If it's such a great rule, why didn't they implement it in 1964?

[rjaguar3]

If it's such a great rule, why didn't they implement it in 1964?

Perhaps for the same reason that waiting until the clue was finished being read before a player could buzz wasn't implemented until 1985 (when it became clear that this method of playing the game was problematic)? Likewise with co-champions until 2014.

(To be sure, there were also probably technical limitations with both of these changes—having a lockout device to prevent premature buzzes and setting up the apparatus for a tiebreaker clue—in 1964.)

[nowhammies10]

The removal of the co-champions rule was, according to TPTB, to ensure that everyone who flew out to Culver City to play the game actually got the opportunity to do so.

In actual fact, it's likely because Arthur Chu exploited the "wager for a tie" advice that was first published on Keith Williams's "The Final Wager". It also likely had something to do with the fact that so much of the quizzing/trivia community at large became more and more able to communicate with each other online, and TPTB were worried about contestants conspiring with one another to ensure large paydays for all.

Notwithstanding being Canadian, I think I'd probably be ineligible for both The Chase and Master Minds due to having played with/played against/read matches for no less than three of the resident trivia mavens across both shows in various online trivia leagues.

[Kevin Prather]

Notwithstanding being Canadian, I think I'd probably be ineligible for both The Chase and Master Minds due to having played with/played against/read matches for no less than three of the resident trivia mavens across both shows in various online trivia leagues.

Granted I'm sure the rules are likely stricter in America, but Jenny Ryan has said that this wouldn't be disqualifying on the British show. In order to be ineligible, you'd pretty much have to have been to one of the Chaser's houses or vice versa.

[PYLdude]

Notwithstanding being Canadian, I think I'd probably be ineligible for both The Chase and Master Minds due to having played with/played against/read matches for no less than three of the resident trivia mavens across both shows in various online trivia leagues.

Granted I'm sure the rules are likely stricter in America, but Jenny Ryan has said that this wouldn't be disqualifying on the British show. In order to be ineligible, you'd pretty much have to have been to one of the Chaser's houses or vice versa.

This is part of the reason why there are some shows that I've purposely avoided auditioning for. When I heard Split Second was coming back, I got excited. And then I found out that I know at least one of the people involved in the production, so I dialed it back. Lord forbid I run afoul of the rules in any way. Ditto Pyramid, ditto Weakest Link.

[trainman]

Granted I'm sure the rules are likely stricter in America, but Jenny Ryan has said that this wouldn't be disqualifying on the British show. In order to be ineligible, you'd pretty much have to have been to one of the Chaser's houses or vice versa.

Heh, I was found to be ineligible for "Master Minds" a few days before I was scheduled to tape in February 2020 because I had been to the apartment of one of the researchers.

[TLEberle]

Similar to the way that game shows change in small ways that are large when sen over the corse of generations, I like the freedom afforded by “control of the board” and also am sympathetic to those who want to follow along or would prefer a climactic outcome:

The current production company is trying to massage Jeopardy into a sport. Taken as a whole product, they just are. Box scores, a promotion and relegation ladder—it’s all stuff from soccer and baseball. The same way that they are not going to impose a winnings limit that was the way things were for twenty years, I cannot see the show taking away the weapon for players who want to be elite and to pile up huge prize money in a hurry,

Part of my issue is that game shows as a whole are moving in ways I don’t love. I guess we all have something to bear in a fashion.