As Las Vegas professional sports gambler James Holzhauer etches his name into Jeopardy lore, we thought it would be fun to put together a list of Jeopardy trivia through the ages.

  1. The original daytime version of Jeopardy, hosted by Art Fleming, debuted more than 55 years ago on March 30th, 1964. The syndicated version, hosted by Alex Trebek, launched September 10, 1984.
  2. Alex Trebek’s full name is Giorgi Suka-Alex Trebek (George Alexander Trebek). His mother was French-Canadian, his father Ukrainian. He was born in Sudbury, Ontario on July 22nd, 1940 (he is currently 78).
  3. As announced in March, Trebek is currently battling Stage IV pancreatic cancer.
  4. Jeopardy films a week’s worth of episodes in one day. But Trebek changes suits (he says he has “about a hundred”) between each episode to maintain the illusion of time passing.
  5. Ken Jennings holds the record for the most wins on the show — 74 times in a row.
  6. …But Jennings is not the biggest monetary winner. Brad Rutter holds the record for the most cash won by a single player: $4,688,436.
  7. Although it’s never happened, the maximum winnable sum in a single game is $566,400. A single contestant would have to sweep both boards, find all three Daily Doubles – in the top tier and at the end of each round – make them true Daily Doubles and then wager everything in Final Jeopardy
  8. The highest one-day winning total is $131,127: On April 17, 2019 by James Holzhauer
  9. Holzhauer actually holds the top 8 highest single-game winnings (through April 2019)
  10. Before Holzhauer’s impressive streak, the highest one-day winning total was $77,000: On September 14, 2010, when Jeopardy contestant Roger Craig set the record, breaking Jeopardy legend Ken Jennings’ previous record of $75,000
  11. Jeopardy has won 34 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. That’s more than any other syndicated game show.
  12. Jeopardy averages 23 million viewers per week. That’s more people than the entire state of Florida
  13. Jeopardy’s average viewer is 65 years old. That’s down from the average age of 70 back in 2000.
  14. Jeopardy has foreign adaptations in 33 countries. You ready? Arab World, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan
  15. People who have competed on Jeopardy are ineligible for Wheel of Fortune. And vice versa. (They’re sister shows.)
  16. Shifting rapidly between Jeopardy categories is known as “Forrest Bouncing.” Named for the 1986 Tournament of Champions winner and category-jumper Chuck Forrest, this unorthodox strategy is legal, yet is frowned upon by Jeopardy staff because it complicates production and confuses viewers.
  17. Only once in Jeopardy history has there ever been a three-way tie. On March 16, 2007, all three contestants answered the Final Jeopardy question correctly with matching scores of $16,000 a piece. All were invited back to play again. Watch a clip from that episode here.
  18. Only 3 contestants in the history of Jeopardy have ever surpassed the five game mark: The most recent contestant is the currently streaking James Holzhauer (19 games through April 2019).
  19. The Jeopardy theme song is called “Think!” The notorious earworm was written by show creator Merv Griffin, and was originally a lullaby for his son called “A Time For Tony.”
  20. And that little song has earned Griffin $100 million. Even though he sold Merv Griffin Enterprises to Coca Cola in 1986 (for $250M!), Griffin retained the rights to “Think!” and receives a royalty every time it’s played – be it a rerun or foreign adaptation. Not bad for a ditty that he claims “took 30 seconds to write.”
  21. During the first syndicated season of Jeopardy, the buzzers would sound when a contestant rang in. In 1985, producers decided to silence the buzzers because the noise was “too distracting” and kept interrupting the questions.
  22. There is a Jeopardy staffer whose sole job is “button enabler.” This employee flips the switch that allows contestants to buzz in once Trebek is finished reading the answer.
•May 1, 2019