ABC tournaments Five
Jeopardy! events have been scheduled outside the show's usual syndication run, all on
ABC:
Super Jeopardy! aired in 1990,
The Greatest of All Time aired in 2020, the
National College Championship aired in February 2022, the aforementioned
Celebrity Jeopardy! primetime tournament aired from September 2022 to February 2023, September 2023 to January 2024, January to April 2025, and March to May 2026 (as All Stars) and
Jeopardy! Masters airing in May 2023, May 2024, and April to June 2025. The
ABC Owned Television Stations group has been the lead broadcaster of the syndicated version for most of its run.
Super Jeopardy! Super Jeopardy! was a special summer series that premiered June 16, 1990, on
ABC. It was the first attempt during Alex Trebek's hosting run to gather the series' best contestants up to that date. A total of thirty-six contestants competed in
Super Jeopardy!. Thirty-five of them were some of the biggest winners who had competed in the first six years of the syndicated
Jeopardy! series that had aired to that point. The other spot was reserved for Burns Cameron, who had appeared on the original daytime series in 1965 and won a total of $11,110 in regular and tournament play to set that series' all-time record.
Super Jeopardy! featured four contestants per episode in the quarterfinal games, while subsequent rounds were played with the usual three players. Each game was played for points instead of money, and the clue values were adjusted accordingly; correct responses were worth 200–1000 points in the Jeopardy! round and 500–2500 points in Double Jeopardy!; this was the only time in the show's history that the second round values were
not double those of the first round. The tournament was divided into three parts, each lasting a total of four weeks. The first three weeks consisted of the quarterfinal matches, with the winners advancing to the semifinal match. The winner of that match advanced to the final, and the process would repeat until the three finalists were determined. Any contestant eliminated in the quarterfinal round won $5,000 and the contestants eliminated in the semifinal round won $10,000. Bob Verini, winner of the 1987 Tournament of Champions, was the first to qualify for the final on July 7, 1990 when he defeated 1989 Teen Tournament winner Eric Newhouse and 1987 Tournament of Champions finalist Eugene Finerman in the first semifinal. The second semifinal took place on August 4 and was won by season 4 champion Bruce Seymour over season 3 champions Roger Storm and Keith Walker. The third semifinal was played on September 1 and won by season 3 champion Dave Traini over 1988 champion Jeff Richmond and Bob Blake, who had set a winnings record during his run in 1989. Seymour won the tournament final on the following episode, with Verini finishing second and Traini automatically placing third for finishing in negative territory after Double Jeopardy.
The Greatest of All Time Announced on November 18, 2019, and aired beginning January 7, 2020, the tournament featured contestants Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer competing in a tournament with a top prize of $1 million. The tournament was structured as first-to-three-wins format over a series of one-hour episodes, with each episode a stand-alone match consisting of two back-to-back complete Jeopardy! games, using points instead of dollars. Ken Jennings won the tournament in four matches, with James Holzhauer winning one match and Brad Rutter winning none. As the tournament winner, Jennings was named "The Greatest of All Time", won the $1 million prize, and reclaimed the top spot for most money won on a game show. Rutter and Holzhauer, the two runners-up, received $250,000 each.
National College Championship The
Jeopardy! National College Championship premiered on ABC on February 8, 2022. Unlike
Super Jeopardy! and
The Greatest of All Time, this tournament is an annual event. There are a few differences from the previous syndicated tournament: The format was changed to expand the pool to 36 contestants, and there are twelve quarterfinal matches and four semifinals, with no wild cards. The semifinalist who finishes in fourth place receives $35,000 and an entry into the Second Chance Tournament. The winner takes home $250,000 and an entry into the Tournament of Champions, while the runners-up receive $100,000 and $50,000 for second and third place, respectively. Eliminated semifinalists receive $20,000 while eliminated quarterfinalists receive $10,000.
Jeopardy! Masters Jeopardy! Masters premiered on ABC on May 8, 2023, featuring six top
Jeopardy! players competing for a grand prize of $500,000. The clues are valued in points instead of the traditional dollar amounts. The tournament was structured as a "
Champions League-style" format, with the winner of each game receiving three match points, the second-place contestant receiving one match point, and the third-place contestant receiving zero match points. In the event of match point ties, they are broken by the following criteria in this order: the number of games won, the total number of correct responses for that stage of the competition (including Final Jeopardy!), the cumulative total score excluding Final Jeopardy! and Daily Double wagers, and the cumulative total score excluding only Final Jeopardy! wagers. The bottom two contestants with the lowest match points at the end of the quarterfinals are eliminated and receive $75,000 for fifth place and $50,000 for sixth place. The match point values are reset during the semifinals, at which the contestant with the lowest match points receives the $100,000 fourth-place prize. In the finals, the winner is determined based on the two-game total point values, with second place receiving $250,000 and third place receiving $150,000. Additionally, in the first season, all three finalists will receive entry into the season two
Masters tournament. Starting in season three, the number of top
Jeopardy! players was increased to nine, with the tournament now being a four-round structure. The bottom three contestants with the lowest match points following the initial round are eliminated and receive $15,000 each. The same cash prizes are still awarded for first- through sixth-place contestants.
Other all-time best tournaments 10th Anniversary Tournament From November 29 to December 3, 1993,
Jeopardy! held a special one-week
10th Anniversary Tournament to honor the Trebek version's 10th season, which featured one Tournament of Champions-qualified contestant from each of the nine completed seasons to that point. Eight contestants were drawn at random and were revealed over the course of four episodes. After Tom Nosek won the 1993 Tournament of Champions, he received the ninth position. Contestants competed for a winner's prize of a combined two-day final score total plus a $25,000 bonus. The event resembled the show's regular tournaments sans a quarterfinal round, with three semifinal matches to determine three finalists, who then competed against each other in a two-game total point match. Eliminated semifinalists received consolation prizes of $5,000, while the second runner-up received a guaranteed minimum of $7,500, the first runner-up received a guaranteed minimum of $10,000, and the winner earned his or her two-game total plus a $25,000 bonus. Frank Spangenberg won the tournament with a two-game score of $16,800 plus a $25,000 bonus for a total of $41,800. Tom Nosek finished second with $13,600, while Leslie Frates won the $7,500 guaranteed third place prize, which exceeded her score of $4,499.
Million Dollar Masters In May 2002, to commemorate the Trebek version's 4,000th episode,
Jeopardy! invited fifteen former champions to participate in a special tournament called the
Million Dollar Masters Tournament, with a guaranteed seven-figure payday for the winner. The tournament was held at
Radio City Music Hall in
New York City and featured the same two-week, three-round format as the traditional tournaments on
Jeopardy! The event's first round ran from May 1 to May 7, and the three semifinal matches aired from May 8–10. The three finalists were Eric Newhouse, who won the 1989 Teen Tournament and the special 1998 Teen Reunion Tournament;
Brad Rutter, a five-time champion from 2000 who won the Tournament of Champions held earlier in the 2001–02 season; and Bob Verini, the winner of the 1987 Tournament of Champions and the runner-up in the 1990
Super Jeopardy! tournament. The tournament ended with Rutter winning the $1,000,000 grand prize, Newhouse coming in second and winning $100,000, and Verini placing third and winning $50,000.
Ultimate Tournament of Champions The
Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a special 15-week
single-elimination tournament held during Season 21. It began airing on February 9, 2005, and concluded on May 25, 2005, covering 76 shows in total. The overall winner of the tournament would receive a cash prize of $2 million, with the first runner-up receiving an additional $500,000 and the second an additional $250,000. The producers of
Jeopardy! invited 144 former contestants from the previous twenty seasons to participate. The invitations were given to any past five-time champion in regular play, as well as winners of the Tournament of Champions, College Championship, and Teen Tournament in past years. Of the 144 contestants invited, 135 would face off in the first nine weeks of the tournament and the winners of those matches would advance to the next round of play. The other nine contestants were given byes into the next round of competition, and were selected by the producers based on their accomplishments during their runs on the show. Six of the byes were given to these contestants: • Chuck Forrest, who set an early winnings record by recording $72,800 in his five wins as champion during 1986; also won the subsequent Tournament of Champions • Frank Spangenberg, who became the first champion to surpass $100,000 in regular game play when he won $102,597 in 1990 • Brian Weikle, who was the highest money winner in regular play before the elimination of the five-game limit, won $149,200 in 2003 • Robin Carroll, who won $214,100 across her five wins in 1999, the 2000 Tournament of Champions, and the 2001 International Tournament of Champions; at the time, she was the highest winning female contestant • Sean Ryan, who became the first contestant to win six games when he did so in 2003; won a total of $125,797 over his reign as champion • Tom Walsh, who won seven games and $186,900 during 2004; at the time, his wins and earnings total were regular play records that were surpassed by Jennings later in the year The last three contestants to receive byes were the finalists from the most recent alumni tournament, the 2002 Million Dollar Masters: •
Brad Rutter, the winner of the tournament; won five games in 2000 and the 2001 Tournament of Champions • Eric Newhouse, the first runner-up; won the 1989 Teen Tournament and the 1998 Teen Reunion Tournament • Bob Verini, the second runner-up; won five games in 1987 and the Tournament of Champions that same year, finished second in 1990
Super Jeopardy! tournament The eighteen winners from the second round advanced to the quarterfinals, and the six winners from those matches faced off in the semifinals for the chance to face Jennings in the finals. Both semifinal matchups were conducted as two-day, cumulative score matches, with the highest combined score advancing. The first semifinal was won by 1992 Tournament of Champions finalist
Jerome Vered, who defeated Frank Spangenberg and 2000 College Champion Pam Mueller. Brad Rutter won the other semifinal over 1993 champion John Cuthbertson and 2004 champion Chris Miller. Rutter, Vered, and Jennings then competed in a three-game cumulative score final match for the top prize. Rutter, who had the highest total in all three of the games, finished with $62,000 and won the $2,000,000 prize. Jennings finished second with $34,599 and collected $500,000, while Vered finished third with $20,600, and took home $250,000. All in all, the tournament's contestants won a combined grand total of $5,604,413.
Battle of the Decades In 2014,
Jeopardy! held a special 5-week tournament billed as the
Battle of the Decades to commemorate the Trebek version's 30th season, involving a total of 45 former champions from each of the first 29 completed seasons to that point, and divided into three decades (1984–1993, 1994–2003, and 2004–2013). The winner of the tournament would receive a cash prize of $1 million. There were five matches from each decade to decide who advances to the quarterfinals. The first decade was aired February 3 to 7, 2014, with the second decade airing March 3 to 7, 2014; and the third aired from March 31 to April 4, 2014. The quarterfinal matches aired May 5–9, 2014; and the semifinals and finals aired May 12–16, 2014. Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and
Roger Craig competed in the two-day cumulative score final match for the championship. Rutter won the tournament and took home the $1,000,000 prize. Jennings finished as the first runner-up with $100,000, while Craig was the second runner-up taking home $50,000.
All-Star Games The '''
Jeopardy! All-Star Games''', conducted in 2019, featured a team format in which eighteen champions were split up into six groups of three. The six teams were captained by Jennings, Rutter,
Colby Burnett, Buzzy Cohen, Austin Rogers and
Julia Collins, who each
drafted two players from a pool that included Leonard Cooper, Roger Craig, Jennifer Giles, Ben Ingram, Matt Jackson,
Alex Jacob,
Larissa Kelly, Alan Lin,
David Madden, Pam Mueller, Monica Thieu, and Seth Wilson. The draft was streamed live over
Facebook on September 22, 2018, with the games themselves airing from February 20 to March 5, 2019. A concurrent
fantasy sweepstakes awarded a prize to a home viewer who selected the highest-grossing three individual contestants in the tournament. Team Colby consisted of Burnett, Mueller and Lin, Team Buzzy consisted of Cohen, Jacob, and Giles, Team Julia consisted of Collins, Ingram, and Wilson, Team Ken consisted of Jennings, Jackson, and Thieu; Team Austin consisted of Rogers, Craig, and Cooper, and Team Brad consisted of Rutter, Kelly, and Madden. Each match was played as a relay; one player on each team played a different round of the game, with the winning trio splitting a $1,000,000 prize. Rutter's team won the contest, with Jennings's team finishing second and splitting $300,000; Burnett's team (the wild card entry) came in third, splitting $100,000.
Reunion tournaments A special one-week
Teen Reunion Tournament held in November 1998 invited back 12 former Teen Tournament contestants from that event's first three installments (1987–1989) to compete in a single-elimination tournament. The three highest-scoring winners of the four semifinal matches competed in a one-game final where the champion received $50,000; the second and third-place players received $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. The semifinal winner who did not participate in the finals received $7,500, and the other contestants each received $5,000. The tournament was won by Eric Newhouse, who had previously won the 1989 Teen Tournament. The
Jeopardy! Kids Week Reunion brought back 15 Kids Week alumni from the 1999 and 2000 Kids Week games to compete for a minimum $25,000 each game. The special week of programming was taped on August 12, 2008, and was broadcast from September 15 to 19, 2008. A December 2022 announcement detailed a second teen reunion tournament, billed as the
High School Reunion Tournament. 27 contestants, all from the two Season 35 tournaments (2018–19), participated in a three-week tournament, with a $100,000 prize and the winner competing in the 2023 Tournament of Champions, the first time a Teen Tournament player has been invited to a Tournament of Champions since 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Mayim Bialik hosted the tournament, consisting of nine quarterfinal games, three semifinal games, and a two-game total-point final, with no wild cards.
Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament The
Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament began on March 20, 2024, with a field of 27 past champions and favorite contestants. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds followed the same structure as the Champions Wildcard Tournament, but the finals were decided by the first contestant to win two games. Prize amounts were the same as for Champions Wildcard; in addition, the champion advanced to the 2024
Jeopardy! Masters Tournament. It was also announced that one of the other two finalists is also invited to the 2024
Jeopardy! Masters Tournament as a wildcard contestant, chosen by the producers. For season 41, all three finalists also received an invitation to the 2025
Jeopardy! Masters tournament. The winner received $150,000 in 2025 and $100,000 in 2024. Second place received $50,000; third place also received $50,000 in 2025 but received $25,000 in 2024. Semifinalists earned $10,000 each, and quarterfinalists earned $5,000 each.
IBM Challenge A special three day exhibition match, '''
Jeopardy!s IBM Challenge''', aired February 14 to 16, 2011, and featured
IBM's
Watson computer facing off against Jennings and Rutter in two games, played over three shows. This was the first man-vs.-machine competition in
Jeopardy!s history. Watson locked up the first game and the match to win the grand prize of $1 million, which IBM divided between two charities (
World Vision International and
World Community Grid). Jennings, who won $300,000 for second place, and Rutter, who won the $200,000 third-place prize, both pledged to donate half of their total winnings to their respective charities (Ken's charity was VillageReach, while Brad's was the Lancaster County Community Foundation). The competition brought the show its highest ratings since the Ultimate Tournament of Champions.
International Tournaments One-week tournaments featuring champions from each of the
international versions of Jeopardy! were held in 1996, 1997, and 2001. Each of the countries that aired their own version of the show in those years could nominate a contestant. The format was identical to the semifinals and finals of the Tournament of Champions, save for the inaugural 1996 tournament, which was conducted over four days and featured a one-game final match. The 1996 tournament took place in the normal
Jeopardy! studio in California, while the 1997 tournament took place on the set of the Swedish version of the program in
Stockholm and the 2001 tournament was held at the
Las Vegas Hilton in Nevada. In the first two tournaments, the winner was awarded $25,000, while the first and second runners-up received $10,000 and $7,500 respectively, with semifinalists receiving $5,000. For the 2001 tournament, the winner's prize was doubled to $50,000, while the two runners-up received $15,000 and $10,000. The 1996 international tournament was titled the
Olympic Games Tournament, as part of promotional tie-ins for the
1996 Summer Olympics being conducted across
Jeopardy! and
Wheel of Fortune. It was won by Ulf Jensen from Sweden, while Michael Daunt from Canada won the second and Robin Carroll from the United States won the third. The second tournament actually featured two contestants from the American series, with the United States represented by 1996 three-time champion Gay Mollette; Daunt, who placed third in the Tournament of Champions earlier in the 1996–97 season, was one of many Canadians to compete on
Jeopardy! over the years as Canada does not have its own version of the program. == See also ==