Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows.

The show was created in 1964 by television host Merv Griffin, who would also create Wheel of Fortune. Griffin wanted to launch a game show but found that networks were hesitant after the 1950s quiz show scandals.

Each team takes turns choosing a point value, which will reveal the clue. If a team provides the correct response to a clue, they earn the value of the clue. If they answer incorrectly, the value is subtracted from their score. The clues range in point value from $100 to $400 in both Rounds.

The original name for Jeopardy!, due to how the format worked, was called "What's the Question?" It was an unexcitable title, and NBC executives confirmed it by saying, "Merv, there are no jeopardies in the game. It needs more jeopardies." Merv didn't completely listen; he kept hearing the word Jeopardy.

Objective: To be the player or team at the end of Round 3 (Final Jeopardy) with the highest score. Jeopardy! is a three-round trivia game in which questions are worded as answers and answers must be worded as questions. Jeopardy! is best with one host and three players, but two players can suffice.

When a contestant appears on the show, they have to pay for their own airfare and hotel. While this has been the policy for several years, many people are just finding out about it after recent champion Ben Goldstein spoke out about the issues with this practice.

"Jeopardy!" has aired over 8,000 episodes. The modern iteration of the game show is currently on its 39th season. According to the official "Jeopardy!" website, the show tapes five episodes a day around 46 days a year for the regular-season episodes, meaning there are about 230 new episodes shot every year.

It originated as a lullaby The music was not originally written for Jeopardy! In fact, Griffin wrote the 30-second jingle in 1963 to help his five-year-old son Tony fall asleep.

Basic Rules Give teams one minute to answer each selected question correctly. Teammates must collaborate before giving the answer. If the answer is correct, the team earns the amount of 'money' the question was worth. That is, they earn 100 points for a $100 question.

According to Saunders, those who make it to the Jeopardy! tournament do have their flights and hotels paid for by the show. Each episode, non-winners are also given consolation prizes of $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place. Goldstein's revelation shocked many Jeopardy!

Meanwhile, the winner takes home all the cash they earned during the game. In a perfect game, getting all the questions right and finding Daily Doubles at the end of the rounds to get the max value, a player could potentially win up to $566,400, a huge prize.

The categories which producers pick for contestants to select from also plays a role in Jeopardy appealing to the intellectual everyman in ways other long-running game shows like Wheel of Fortune or The Price Is Right do not. “The variety of topics is one of the other attractive elements of the show.