Author Topic: Jeopardy Question (Read 2514 times)

abba · « **on:** September 17, 2009, 12:03:52 AM »

How do they decide it when more than one person buzzes in at the same time for one question? (i.e 2 people ring in at the same time). How do they decide which one is called on?

gameshowcrazy · « **Reply #1 on:** September 17, 2009, 09:53:31 AM »

[quote name=\'abba\' post=\'226231\' date=\'Sep 17 2009, 12:03 AM\']How do they decide it when more than one person buzzes in at the same time for one question? (i.e 2 people ring in at the same time). How do they decide which one is called on?[/quote]

are you serious?

this is why they have buzzers, one ringing in does lock out the others

curtking · « **Reply #2 on:** September 17, 2009, 11:10:19 AM »

[quote name=\'abba\' post=\'226231\' date=\'Sep 16 2009, 11:03 PM\']How do they decide it when more than one person buzzes in at the same time for one question? (i.e 2 people ring in at the same time). How do they decide which one is called on?[/quote]
When I was on, we were told that if two players hit the buzzers at the same time, neither rings in. YMMV, considering that this was 1986. ;-)

Curt

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 17, 2009, 11:46:36 AM »

I'd be interested to know the granularity with which the buzzers work. It's basic electronics, probably being polled by a computer, so I have to think it's at least to the 1/1000th of a second.

rjaguar3 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:14:41 PM »

[quote name=\'abba\' post=\'226231\' date=\'Sep 16 2009, 11:03 PM\']How do they decide it when more than one person buzzes in at the same time for one question? (i.e 2 people ring in at the same time). How do they decide which one is called on?[/quote]

On the earliest 1984 episodes, you could see two lights go on at once, at which point Alex would ask both players to signal again.

dale_grass · « **Reply #5 on:** September 17, 2009, 07:52:13 PM »

[quote name=\'gameshowcrazy\' post=\'226244\' date=\'Sep 17 2009, 08:53 AM\'][quote name=\'abba\' post=\'226231\' date=\'Sep 17 2009, 12:03 AM\']How do they decide it when more than one person buzzes in at the same time for one question? (i.e 2 people ring in at the same time). How do they decide which one is called on?[/quote]
are you serious?

this is why they have buzzers, one ringing in does lock out the others
[/quote]

[quote name=\'rjaguar3\' date=\'a short time ago\']On the earliest 1984 episodes, you could see two lights go on at once, at which point Alex would ask both players to signal again.[/quote]
There, gameshowcrazy, if that is your real name, don't you feel just a bit silly?

HYHYBT · « **Reply #6 on:** September 17, 2009, 10:46:15 PM »

I remember Jim Lange on Chance Of A Lifetime saying their buzzers were timed to 1/100 second. Of course, it's always possible he wasn't talking out of his mouth.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #7 on:** September 18, 2009, 12:40:25 PM »

[quote name=\'rjaguar3\' post=\'226261\' date=\'Sep 17 2009, 01:14 PM\']On the earliest 1984 episodes, you could see two lights go on at once, at which point Alex would ask both players to signal again.[/quote]
Seems odd that something they could do for Bill Cullen on Winner Take All would somehow be fallible in the mid-80s.

Of course, this gives me an excuse to tell yet again my favorite example of this sort of thing. Bible Baffle on the old Christian Broadcasting Network. Tried its best to be Jeopardy-style, with three players buzzing in to answer questions. Except they didn't have a lockout device. National show, no lockout device. The host tried to identify which player signalled first, but if he couldn't tell, he'd call it a tie and throw the question out. Often it was absurdly obvious that he had made a mistake, but the game kept right on going.

rjaguar3 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 18, 2009, 12:58:00 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'226361\' date=\'Sep 18 2009, 11:40 AM\'][quote name=\'rjaguar3\' post=\'226261\' date=\'Sep 17 2009, 01:14 PM\']On the earliest 1984 episodes, you could see two lights go on at once, at which point Alex would ask both players to signal again.[/quote]
Seems odd that something they could do for Bill Cullen on Winner Take All would somehow be fallible in the mid-80s.

[/quote]

Lockouts were historically unreliable until the past two decades or so. Ties happening were not unheard of (cf. the College Bowl Agnes Scott v. Princeton match from 1966 and the $10,000 Sweep pilot from 1972). Only with modern electronics has the possibility of the system registering a tie disappeared.

Also, I'm not an expert here, but the origin of having different buzzers using different sounds (like the bell and the buzzer on Winner Take All and College Bowl) might be so that there could be an aural determination which came first if the lockout for some reason was unable to make that determination.

Finally, about the Jeopardy! lockout system and ties: the second episode has two ties, both of which are on the rebound after Paul misses the question on the first buzz. I presume Greg and Lynne were both holding down their buttons since they knew the answer. Thus, when the system clears, both circuits are simultaneously open, so they would both register a buzz at the same time. This is one reason I believe they installed a buzzer lockout that would require the button to be pressed after not having been depressed for the past quarter-second, even while the rules still permitted early buzzing.