Tag: trivia

Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions: 2022! 😊

The race is on to find Jeopardy! champion for 2022! 👍
The Tournament of Champions started on Monday this week, hosted by Ken Jennings. It’s a multiple-week event featuring some of the biggest winners from the previous season. This year the excitement level is even higher as the tournament features many super-champs. Three of them (Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach) with 20+ wins in the regular season got a first-round bye in a nod to their impressive run earlier 👌. The first week couldn’t have had a better ending with Friday winner hitting Daily Double! in Double Jeopardy! round back-to-back, betting it all both times and getting it right! 👏 The first time his score doubled from 5,800 to 11,600. When his next clue selection also happened to be a Daily Double and he announced his intent to make it again a “true daily double” the shock was evident in Ken’s face. By the time I collected my jaw that had dropped to the floor on hearing “true daily double” wager 😂 the contestant, Eric Ahasic, got the response right and his score jumped to 23,200! It’s always fun to see contestants bet big, get it right and win big! It’s a tribute to the quality of other two contestants that the game did not turn out to be a runway for the champ before Final Jeopardy! round. 👍
This year’s tournament may very well be historic in that it features a non-binary person, a transgender, a lesbian, a turbaned Sikh. Fun to see diversity when it results from inclusiveness instead of being in-your-face. 👏 Kudos to Ken Jennings for doing good as host. 👏 When he immediately followed as host after the legendary Alex Trebek he appeared stilted and a little awkward and Mayim Bialik appeared more at ease as the host. Some of it may have been due to emotions as he was close to Alex, some of it nerves stepping into the shoes of a legend and rest of it for trying to stick to the Alex way of hosting too much. In contrast Mayim appeared to be more at comfort in front of the camera. At this time Ken is better as host of the show than Mayim IMHO. What has changed? While Mayim appears to be solid professional Ken brings passion to the job. Whether consciously or through feedback from others Ken has been more Ken and less wannabe-Alex! That passion combined with other p’s (product, participants, presentation) combine for a great watch. 👍 When Ken praises a contestant for responding correctly to a difficult clue it appears genuine. Staying true to himself also means he brings in his own sense of humor. Of course, sometimes it may land well, sometimes it may not (I should know that from personal experience 🤣). Also, some attributes that could have been a disadvantage actually turns out to be a blessing. Ken speaks fast which means when he is hosting all clues are covered in a game pretty much always! I am all for no clues left uncovered in a game and maximizing winning for the contestants. Hopefully the rest of the tournament is thrilling too that the participation of super-champs promises, with a memorable ending for the tournament. Can’t wait to see what is in store! 😊🙏

Jeopardy! – Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda!

https://people.com/tv/jeopardy-mattea-roach-winning-streak-ends/

Mattea Roach’s fantastic run on Jeopardy! trivia show came to an end in game aired yesterday (5/6/2022). I did not watch all the games Mattea played but I thoroughly enjoyed the games I watched. Reason being it was good to see a contestant show personality, be authentic, have fun and do extremely well. Rare it is to see vivacity on display on the show and Mattea brought loads of it while playing the game. Her playing style was conservative compared to more recent champions with long winning streaks in that the wager on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! were typically to not lose much ground if the response was wrong or pad the lead a bit more if right. The game she lost I would argue that the primary reason for the loss was Mattea was not her authentic self while wagering on Final Jeopardy! Going into Final Jeopardy! Mattea had $19,200 and the eventual deserving winner Danielle Maurer had $11,400. Danielle’s best chance to win was to go for broke, bet it all, get it right and hope Mattea got it wrong. In that scenario if the outcome went Danielle’s way her winning amount would have been $22,800. The next best chance was to be a bit more conservative while taking a risk. The assumption in that choice is that the person with the lead would bet just enough to edge out the challenger (if the response is right) and lose less money if wrong in the hope that the wagered amount increases the chance of not losing. With the target of $22,800 to beat in mind Mattea wagered $3,601 to the $19,200 she had going in to ensure the final amount $22,801 would be unbeatable. Danielle, probably guessing right which way the returning champion would go and/or choosing to be conservative, bet $4,200. Why that amount? A $3,601 wrong bet with $19,200 in hand would reduce the final tally to $15,599 and a winning wager of $4,200 with $11,400 in hand would bump the final tally to $15,600! Which is how it unfolded!

Why do I think Mattea’s defeat was due to her not being her authentic self? The two factors that determine the final wager have to be the category (which is announced prior to the round so that the contestants can decide how much to wager based on their confidence in the category) and a player’s risk tolerance. The category was USA. Given the scores going into Final Jeopardy! round and given her conservative betting nature I think there were two safer options available for Mattea.

1) Bet nothing and retain $19,200 at the end. This would work if the challenger got the final response wrong or got it right but did not wager more than $8,000 to bridge the gap between $19,200 and $11,200.

2) The second safer option for Mattea would have been to wager one $ lesser than her wager of $3,601. In case she got her response right the worst-case scenario would have resulted in both players finishing in a tie with final tally of $22,800 forcing a tie-breaker. In that scenario I would rate the possibility of a 23-day returning champ winning against a first time challenger higher due to greater experience, buzzing speed and the confidence of having being there and done it all 23 times before.

I realize ultimately these are woulda, coulda, shoudas amounting to Monday morning quarterbacking and doesn’t take into consideration the fatigue that creeps in after playing 20+ games. It’s fun to imagine the possibilities though 😊

TV Series# 2: What is “Jeopardy!”?

The second in the series of TV Series is Jeopardy! , a favorite of trivia buffs. The show in its current avatar debuted in 1984 (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy! ) with Alex Trebek as the host. The original version aired in 1964 with a different host (and possibly different format) and continued in the 1970s. In its current version the show has 3 rounds: The Jeopardy! round, the Double Jeopardy! round and the Final Jeopardy!. The Jeopardy! round has one Daily Double and Double Jeopardy! has two Daily Doubles where the contestant who buzzes for the clue can bet a max of all their earnings till that point (or max $1000 or $2000 respectively if they have less than those amounts). In the Final Jeopardy!, open for all contestants who have positive earnings, they can again bet all their earnings. Goes without saying if a contestant gives wrong response he/she loses whatever they bet and gain the same amount to the final tally if the response is correct. In the first two rounds person buzzing in first for a clue gets first crack, if the response is wrong person who buzzed later gets their turn until the response is right or all who have buzzed in get a chance. It’s a fast moving quiz show with knowledge level of contestants pretty high.

Alex Trebek has been hosting the show since the mid-1980s and he is very popular deservedly. The kind of host who comes across as knowledgeable, well prepared, witty and classy without imposing himself 👌 It also helps he is fluent in multiple languages (English and French for sure, possibly Spanish too. Can’t say the same about his pronunciation of clues with Indian origin though 😆 ). In short, Trebek, who is 80 now, is a consummate professional. The announcer for the show is a spry/sprightly Johnny Gilbert who is a young 96 year old. His voice sounds like someone half his age 👏. The show enjoys cult following with some of the big winners in the show enjoying a big fan following too. Among the winners Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer, Brad Rutter have become household names for those who watch the show. The show has also spawned variations of the regular format targeted for specific contestants. ‘Tournament of Champions’, ‘Teen Tournament’, ‘College Championship’, ‘Teachers Tournament’, ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ are testament to the show’s enduring popularity. 👍

The three biggest winners of prize money in the show have been Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. I don’t remember watching shows when Brad Rutter won in his initial run. I have seen him win in other tournaments subsequent to his Tournament of Champions win. When Ken Jennings went on his incredible 74 wins streak I watched some of the games. Apart from encyclopedic knowledge that kind of streak requires focus, buzzer timing and endurance of the highest order which is quite likely not going to be matched for a long time. I watched most of James Holzhauer wins during his run. That’s the advantage of working from home and when the show airs towards the end of work day (4:30pm-5pm). When his run was on I blocked my calendar on all days when the show was on. Work is important but for the 30 minutes the show was on at that time nothing else mattered 🤣 When James was winning astonishing amount of money in each game my favorite activity was capturing his winning amount and when my wife came home from work ask her the question “Can you guess how much James won today?” 😂 Another highlight was watching Ken and Brad take on IBM powered AI competitor Watson.

Having watched Jeopardy! since mid-1990s I have seen some amazing champions who have been dominant and crushing competition or win through sheer will against strong competition. I generally get a few clues right. The ones that I get right tend to be ones that are generic, not involving knowledge specific to America. Categories like “Before and After” I don’t even try guessing. In that context I could identify with 2010 Tournament of Champions winner Vijay Balse. An Indian American he generally wouldn’t even attempt clues in couple of categories (out of 6) but the other 4 he would do remarkably well. He won 4 games in the regular season. So, he wasn’t an automatic contestant in Tournament of Champions. He qualified by virtue of having quite a bit of money during his 4 wins. Did not see his Tournament of Champions win but I was amazed he won against what must have been very strong competition. Kudos to him for winning on his strengths. 👏

Among the things I like about the show is real time check by the judges in case a contestant gives a response that is initially deemed incorrect and then they find the response is acceptable. In such instances the contestant gets credited for correct response which is fair. 👍 Few things I wish were different. Whenever I see a round finish with a few clues not completed I feel bad if it is not due to delay by contestant/s. IMHO all clues should be covered to maximize the opportunity and prize money win. Other thing that I don’t really like is pickiness when it comes to acceptable response. 👎 For example if there is a slight mispronounce in response it’s deemed incorrect and contestant is penalized. A little bit of leeway should be provided. Also, the response is always expected to be in the form of a question and I think it is strictly enforced in Double Jeopardy! round which can be tough when a contestant has got it right but forgot to phrase it in the form of a question. But these are minor irritants and on the whole I enjoy the shows quite a bit. 👍 The one allowance that is allowed is incorrect spelling in Final Jeopardy! Possibly a nod to the falling standards in spelling in these autocorrect and spell checker powered times when people sometimes use “Your” and “You are” in Emails to mean the same 🤣 Among the interesting trivia I have learned watching the show couple come to mind: 7 eleven shops got their name because those shops used to be open from 7am to 11pm (don’t know if it is still true), The Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park. If there is a clue “It’s the most popular trivia/quiz show” my response will be “What is Jeopardy!?” 🙂👍🙏