tl;dr
Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider’s Guide to Jeopardy! by Claire McNear
My Takeaways
- Getting on Jeopardy! is really hard. Doing well on it is even harder.
- To expand your breadth of knowledge, read children’s picture books–they quickly give you the gist of history, culture, literature, etc. without going too deep.
- Alex Trebek can still encourage you from the grave.
This isn’t a takeaway, but the author pointed me to this old TV ad, which I thought was hilarious.
Should you read it?
If you’re a Jeopardy! fan, sure! It’s a quick, light, fun read. Well-researched and decently written.
Review
I’ve been a fan of Jeopardy! since High School, and it was a dream of mine to be on the show. I was going to wait until just after I graduated college so that I wouldn’t have to do the super competitive College Tournament but could still compete at my “prime” (why I thought I would know more general knowledge right after college than having lived real life for a while, I have no idea).
I got Answers in the Form of Questions by Claire McNear about a month after Alex Trebek died. It has a ton of fun facts about what it’s like behind-the-scenes of America’s Favorite Game Show. And, it showed me how even when I was at my nerdiest and was tracking my Jeopardy! progress on my TI-83 in high school, I would have had to be a whole lot nerdier and devoted to stand a chance.
Knowledge
People spend years training to go on Jeopardy!. There’s a very established alumni network of past contestants who will help you train in local bar trivia nights, and entire online communities filled with training regimens. You might think that to compete well, you would need to read a lot of literature, intensely study pop culture, and Potent Potable recipes (at least, that’s what I thought when I fancied myself as a potential contestant in high school). In reality, most trainees put aside War and Peace and pick up a children’s storybook Bible or historic graphic novel. Reading factual children’s books is great practice because they give you a very high-level view of the most important aspects of literature, history, mythology, etc. (too bad Wishbone isn’t on air anymore…) Doing well on Jeopardy! is a matter of breadth, not depth.
But, even if you have an inexhaustible knowledge, you will still probably lose on Jeopardy!. I had a high school teacher who was on Jeopardy! years earlier. I looked her up on the JArchive Jeopardy! database–not only did she lose, but she barely answered any questions and barely made any money. I was shocked, because she was definitely the smartest person I knew at the time.
The fact is, nearly all contestants know nearly all of the answers nearly all of the time (including my AP European History teacher). The thing that will really set you apart from your opponents isn’t how much more you know, but how fast your thumb is.
The Buzzer
The book describes the show as being equal parts trivia and reaction time test. Former contestants will go to great lengths to build signalling devices that are “just like” the ones on set–same shape, weight, diameter, “clickiness” and sell/give away the designs to help others train.
In the early days of the show, contestants could ring in at any time during the question (some of these episodes are available on Netflix). Alex would finish the question, but you would hear the “beep” of the buzzer about four words in. Try playing along when people buzz in before you finish reading the question–not fun.
The producers recognized this, so they changed the rules. Now, people can only buzz in once the host is finished with the question (err, answer). A light on set will go on when the question is done. If you buzz in before the light comes on, not only does your buzz not count, but you get penalized–you won’t be able to ring in for another fraction of a second. This is usually enough time for someone else to ring in before you.
There’s an entire art to clicking the clicker. Some people train by clicking as soon as a light comes on. Others relied on Alex’s voice–they would deeply internalize the cadence of his speech and could anticipate the exact moment he would finish his sentence. I’m sure there were hundreds of people who had been practicing with Alex’s voice for years whose entire training regimen and hopes of being competitive was completely destroyed by his death.
Betting
Most people who have made it to Jeopardy! are really really smart, and really really fast. So, the last thing you have to set you apart is how you bet in Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy. Do you do a “True Daily Double”, or hedge your bets? How does that change when you’re in the lead? Third place? There are entire mathematical systems for evaluating the optimal bet (assuming that, like all the other contestants, you know all the things all the time).
James Holzhauer, the third-highest winning contestant on Jeopardy! took this to a new level. His strategy was centered around finding as many Daily Doubles as he could and betting outrageously. Most contestants through the history of the game would pick a category they liked, and start at the top (with easier questions) and then work their way down the category. Picking the last category is one less thing to think about when you’re on stage, and it helps with continuity of thought. Holzhauer knew that Daily Doubles were more likely to occur in the lower half of the board, so he started randomly picking around the board, hoping to get the chance to make bets. It worked, and he walked away with nearly 3 million dollars.
On Set
This was my favorite part, getting to see what happens behind the scenes.
Multiple shows are taped per day, far in advance. Whenever the host says, “have a Happy Thanksgiving, and we’ll see you next week”, they recorded that in March. When Alex says, “Yesterday, our champion made some bold wagers”, those wagers probably happened less than a half hour before.
The whole thing is a blur for contestants, who are waiting anxiously in the audience. Alex was deliberately absent beforehand so no one can get any advantage–their 30 second interview with him after the commercial break was the first and only time they interacted with him.
If you win, you get to step away from your podium with the hydraulic lift (so everyone looks the same height), change into another outfit, get your makeup touched up, and go back out to do it again. And you keep doing this until you lose.
The Trail of Broken Dreams
And chances are, you will lose pretty quickly. 75% of contestants will lose their first game. Second and third place get $2000 and $1000 a piece. Since the show doesn’t cover your hotel or transportation, that means most contestants are lucky to break even.
To even get to the point where you’re on air, you need to take online tests and show up for an in-person evaluation where “talent scouts” watch you play a fake game. They see how smart you are, how fast you are, how personable you are, and how emotive you are. No one wants to watch a robot, and The Price is Right-style reactions aren’t dignified enough for Jeopardy!. So, not only do you need to be smart and fast, but personable and interesting.
All this means that the path to getting on Jeopardy! is long and hard. People train for years to fulfill their dream, go on their favorite show…and probably lose.
This is why the author says:
The only thing more preposterous than going on Jeopardy! is going on and thinking you can win