Tournament Rules
Tournament Basics
A tournament will begin with 15 contestants and consist of 10 games aired over a two-week period. Each of the 15 contestants will be sequestered during the quarterfinals until his/her game begins. Each game will be played by 3 players.
Normal rules for each game apply. Player farthest left selects first at the beginning of the game; the player in third place selects first at the beginning of Double Jeopardy!; and minimum wagers on Daily Doubles are $5.
First-round (quarterfinal) games' contestants are chosen at random. (At least, theoretically. We don't know this for sure.) The winners of each of the 5 quarterfinals automatically qualify for the semifinals. In addition, the 4 highest scores among the non-winners move to the semifinals as Wild Cards. Thus, the semifinals will consist of 9 out of the original 15.
The pairings are again chosen at random (again, in theory) for the 3 semifinal matches. However, two players who competed against each other during the quarterfinals cannot face again in the semifinals. Only the winners of those semifinals advance to the finals.
The 3 finalists compete in a two-game, total point final. Each game is scored separately, with the scores totaled at the very end to determine the champion. Negative scores from either game are treated as zeroes when totaling the scores.
Again, as far as random pairings are selected, no two players with the same first name will compete in the same match, as long as this is possible.
Tournament Payouts
Traditionally, in all tournaments, the 6 who lose in the quarterfinals receive $1,000 each. Losing semifinalists each receive $5,000. Finalists receive their total winnings in the two-game finals, with minimum guarantees of $7,500 for the third-place finisher and $10,000 for second-place. For the Tournament of Champions, the winner receives $100,000. For all other tournaments (Teen, College, and Seniors), the winner receives $25,000, unless his/her total score exceeds that, in which case the greater amount is awarded.
Starting with the 1998 Tournament of Champions, losing quarterfinalists in all tournaments receive $2,500 each; the third place minimum guarantee is increased to $10,000; and the second place guarantee is $15,000. Semifinalists still receive $5,000 as before.
In 2000, the College Tournament upped the champions' winnings to $50,000.
NOTE: For the first two seasons, ToC players who were eliminated in the quarterfinals did not receive the $1,000 minimum, and finalists' guarantees were the same as those of the semifinalists: $5,000.
Order of Appearance
For the first round of all tournaments but the Tournament of Champions, order of appearance is chosen at random. For the Tournament of Champions, the contestant with the highest regular season score plays at the champion's podium.
For the semifinals, order is determined by scores from the quarterfinal games only. For both of the final games, order is determined by scores from the semifinals.
Tournament Rules - Tie Breakers
If at the end of a game there is a nonzero tie for first place, then a tie-breaker clue is played to determine the winner. The tie-breaker is a buzz-in clue worth no additional dollar value. The first contestant to ring in and give the correct response wins. There is no penalty for an incorrect response; if all contestants involved in the tie-breaker miss or cannot come up with the correct response, then another tie-breaker is played until a winner is determined.
In the finals, a tie-breaker is played only after the two games have been totaled.
In the semifinals, if there is a three-way tie for zero, then the player who was leading at the end of Double Jeopardy! is declared the winner. Presumably this same rule would be applied for the finals, though that will never happen.
In the quarterfinals, if there is a three-way tie for zero, then none of the three players advance to the semifinals, and an extra Wild Card is chosen from among the other games to ensure 9 semifinalists. This rule also applies in the event that all three players are negative at the end of Double Jeopardy!, and no Final Jeopardy! is played in this case. If this happens twice (i.e. 6 contestants at zero in two games), then the other 9 automatically qualify for the semifinals. If it happens three times, who knows what happens (they fire the contestant coordinators? Or turn it into an episode of The X-Files?)
Wild Card Ties
In determining the four Wild Cards, if there is a tie for the final Wild Card position, then the player with the higher score at the end of Double Jeopardy! wins the spot. If the players are tied there, then the score at the end of the Jeopardy! round is used to break the tie. Beyond that, who knows what they do, but again, it is very unlikely.