Game Records
These are all records as far as I know; I do not watch every show so I may have missed a few good ones. If you can convince me that any of these are incorrect, I'll be happy to change them. I'll try to add more of these in the future, too, as time permits.
- That would be Bruce Seymour, whose $305,989 is not likely to be broken anytime soon. Bruce won $250,000 of that in the Super Jeopardy! tournament in 1990, defeating many other recordholders and likely favorites. Bruce himself was a very good player even though he didn't advance into the semifinals of his Tournament of Champions.
- That honor belongs to Bob Blake, who won $82,501 in five regular appearances (a record for a short while) and then came back to win the $100,000 Tournament of Champions. In between the two, Bob competed in Super Jeopardy! and won another $10,000.
- Frank Spangenberg with $102,597. Frank's record was set in
the first half of 1990 just after Bob Blake appeared. At the
time, he set a record for most money won in a single game with
$30,600. That record was later broken by Jerome Vered,
who won $34,000 in one game and came close to Frank's 5-time
record but felt just short, winning a total of $96,801.
Last time I checked, the official Jeopardy! site had a page that listed the top one-day scores.
When Jeopardy! debuted, there was a $75,000 cap on regular season winnings; any excess was donated to a charity. The first player to do this was Bob Blake, who donated $7,501 to Oxfam. Spangenberg had to donate a hefty $27,597 to charity. After that experience, the rules changed to allow up to $100,000 in winnings; hence Jerome Vered got to keep the entire $96,801. Starting in September 1997, the cap was increased to $200,000, with the advent of cars for 5-time champions.
Many people have asked what is the maximum amount that can be won in a single game. For a detailed answer, click here.
What's the highest score in the Tournament of Champions 2-day final?
- Tom Nosek won a combined $27,600 in two finals.
- Matt Zielenski won $42,300 in the 1995 Teen Tournament.
- Contrary to previous reports here, this record actually belongs to Ouida Rellstab (not Bob Harris) who qualified for the semifinals with only $1,399.
- John Kelly, who won $84,701, didn't make the semis. There have been several other $80,000+ winners to do the same.
- Col. Darryl Scott won exactly $1 in his first game,
on January 19, 1993.
(He won his second game with over $13,000 and so doesn't hold
the record for lowest overall winnings.)
I've recently discovered what I believe is the record for lowest total winnings: $100, earned by Jimmie Bucci around 1988. Next lowest would be 1992's Steven Rapkin, who won with $101.
There has been some confusion about this question, and I am mostly to blame for publishing incorrect information here before. The answer is that it has happened three times.
The first time it happened was episode #2, in a close game, in which everyone wagered everything in Final Jeopardy!, and all were incorrect. The clue dealt with the fact that the 21st century begins in the year 2001. For several years afterwards, a similar clue was played often to reiterate the fact.
Later that first season, around April, 1985, it happened again, on a clue about the date of the Rose Bowl, which was played on January 2 since the 1st fell on a Sunday.
On Friday the 12th of June, 1998, a game was played in which two players were tied going into Final Jeopardy!, and one player was eliminated earlier because of a negative score. The two left both risked everything and missed. Alex commented on the rarity of the event.
On a couple of other occasions, the possibility existed near the end of the game but didn't happen.
Also, there was a three-way tie zero at the end of one of the quarterfinals of the 1989 Seniors Tournament, so there was no automatic qualifier that day and an extra wildcard was selected from the remaining four games.
Yes, at least once, I can remember it happening in the first or second season. That player is automatically champion unless he/she bets everything and misses, in which case there is no champion. For a little more suspense, the wager is revealed first, and then the player's response.
- Yes, but I haven't see it, but several others supposedly have. They simply didn't play Final Jeopardy! that day.
- In 1986, Gary Palmer made the TOC as a four-time champ with only $18,400. More recently, 1999 ToC participant Melissa Zygmunt made it with only $23,599, which is third lowest.
- Yes, in the 1992 College Tournament, Billy Baxter, Nick Jungman, and Stephanie Leveene all played in the Friday quarterfinal. Stephanie won that game, but the other two qualified as wild cards; each played and won in a different semifinal, and the three met once again for two more games against each other in the finals, which Billy won.
- Yes, only once, on March 16, 2007: all three players tied at $16,000. It had almost happened on May 26, 1997; two players tied at $10,200, and the other had $10,199. She held back $1 (why?) in her Final Jeopardy! wager and thus lost.
- Many times. For example, in 1987, Keith Walker won his fifth game
qualifying for the TOC, but he didn't play to beat the person in second -- he
played for the tie. And thus John Ryan became the new champion, and he, too,
would go on to win five games. They didn't play each other in the TOC, but
Keith lost out in the quarterfinals, and John didn't. I'm sure John is indebted
to Keith for life.
In 1998 Wes Ulm lost his fifth regular game to Arthur Phillips, who himself went on to win 5 games, but they didn't play each other and neither advanced to the semis.
- That would have to go to the 1996 Teen Tournament, where the three finalists earned a combined $87,200. This broke the previous record from the 1995 Teen Tournament, in which the final threesome's scores total $85,800.
Has a contestant ever scored 5 shutouts in regular competition?
- Yes, in 1999 Robin Carroll won her original five games as shutouts. She could not be caught in Final Jeopardy! ever.