Like many people here, I dream of going on Jeopardy. If I ever make it on I feel reasonably prepared for the actual trivia, though of course there’s no way to be fully prepared. The thing that I think would possibly derail my dream of winning is the buzzer. You’ve got to ring in first, but after Alex has finished reading, so your timing has to be perfect, and I don’t know if I have that. Is there a way that contestants prepare, or do they just do a click pen while watching TV and hope for the best once they are on?
In his book “Prisoner of Trebekistan”, Jeopardy! champ Bob Harris describes how he prepped for being on Jeopardy!, including setting up a fake podium with a fake buzzer in his living room and practicing ringing in. It’s been a while since I read the book so I don’t remember all the details, but it worked out well for him.
Use a simple click pen. The buzzer is very similar in action.
Use your index finger instead of your thumb.
That’s not the problem. I came in second when I was on because my buzzing was terrible - even during practice.
You don’t have to listen to Alex - there is a light above the board which goes on (or off, I forget) when you can buzz in. You can’t see the light on TV. You have to get in right after the light changes, which is tough. The buzzer itself is pretty easy to use.
I practiced on the computer game, which was useful in helping me derive betting strategies, but useless for buzzing practice.
Building a podium is a bit much, and you’d need to practice against some good players in any case.
Cool “Behind The Scenes” article at the Jeopardy website:
There is s company that makes a mock Jeopardy buzzer system so you can play at home. Their buttons look very much like the ones on the show.
Here’s a simple reaction time test. You’re using a mouse clicker instead of a buzzer, but it still uses the fundamental “see light change, move fingers” reaction and would probably help to train your brain.
I wish they would show the light on Tv when it’s time to buzz in. Lots of times I’d like to know if anyone has buzzed in or if they’re waiting for the question to end.
Couldn’t you practice against any taped version, say YouTube, by pausing it as soon as you have your answer? The light comes on when Alex finishes reading the question so you can tell if you would have buzzed too early.
Ken Jennings in his wonderful book Brainiac talks about practicing at home with a child’s handheld clicker toy before he first went on the show. I don’t think he described it any more specifically than that.
Remember when Jeopardy featured the Man vs Computer demonstration with champ Ken Jennings going up against Watson, IBM’s super computer?
The machine rang in first just about every time and proceeded to whup the tar out of Jennings and the other guy.
This was hailed as a breakthrough in smart technology but the machine was obviously calibrated to ring in at the microsecond level and that’s why it won. They should have changed the format for the challenge since this produced an unfair advantage.
Is this fact or opinion?
mmm
I do this sometimes when watching the show, I guess that probably does help for muscle reaction instead of just doing my automatic reaction of just yelling out the answer, but it doesn’t help me know how I am timing wise.
I’ve read other people say the same thing, that must be so frustrating, to know the answers but not get it because of the buzzer. But I guess that’s probably the case for a lot of contestants, there are lots of questions that I’m sure each person knows so it’s just who is able to ring in first.
Thank you, that is interesting! I’d heard about the lights but never seen them in action.
Wow, that is impressive, but I think more than I need. But in my dreams when I go on Jeopardy and become a huge winner, I will by that and will throw Jeopardy parties at my house.
If I am ever called to go on the show I guess I could get some of my friends from my trivia team to come over and watch me try buzzing in against a taped version. But it seems the time is so split second, it seems the show does it by computers, I don’t know how easy it would be for someone eyeing it to say if I rang in a split second before or after the question is over.
I think this might be what I’m looking for! It looks like my time is higher than average, but this will now be the game I’m playing on my phone when I’m bored.
I have no citation, nor am I an expert on anatomy, but I read once that the reaction time from your brain to your index finger is quicker than the reaction time from your brain to your thumb.
I was sometimes roped into timing races in high school and was told to use my index finger because the thumb has more padding on it. I’ve had that internalized for a long time now, but the reaction time thing makes more sense, unless one is timing things at probably sub-microseconds.
Honestly… they should change the rules for the whole show due to this. It’s not like it’s any less unfair when a human does it.
Let people buzz in any time between when Alex starts reading the question up until say 100ms after the light comes on (or whatever we want our measure of human reaction time to be). One of the players that buzzed in randomly wins.
Ken Jennings is on record as saying that he (and other winners) have a huge advantage in extending a streak because they have multiple games of practice and everyone else they play against is starting cold.
It’s supposed to be a trivia knowledge competition, not a reaction-time competition between equally knowledgable contestants.
I remember 2 pieces of advice from Ken Jennings.
First, don’t wait until you actually remember the answer. If you’re confident that you know it, buzz instantly and hope that it comes to you in time. If you’re not sure, don’t buzz in because of the penalty for a wrong or missing response.
Second, I remember him saying that a toilet paper holder feels closest to the official clicker.
Yeah, I came in to mention this. The actual buzzer is way thicker than the pen I was clicking to practice (although nowhere near as large as a toilet paper roll … unless they’ve been changed) and, for me at least, kinda uncomfortable to curl my fingers around and click with my thumb. I would suggest using a fat Magic Marker (do they still exist?) for practice.
And that reaction-time test. If I’d had that back then, I might have won. :mad:
Toilet paper roll holder, the dowel that the roll goes on. The Jeopardy! franchise should sell actual buzzers. I bet that they’d sell really well.