I did when I was preparing to be on the show… but not before or after. In fact, when I was preparing for the show, I would play Trivial Pursuit and my family and friends would say my answer was wrong unless I phrased it in the form of a question, just to reinforce the behavior.
Ah yes. I remember a woman who said that she had a cat with a pretty good sense of timing. This cat of hers jumped up on the table when it wanted to be fed. Hence a phrase that has entered my lexicon…“he’s so boring he doesn’t have a cat with a pretty good sense of timing”
Yeah, that’s annoying to watch. Lately (this week anyway) it seems that contestants really want to get as many questions in as they can, using just one word from the category title with no “please” or “I’ll take”. It seems almost rude, but it helps get the board cleared.
Is there an unspoken rule that the contestants start with the lowest $ question? When a contestant starts with a higher figure, Alex almost always repeats it. It’s like whoever’s pushing the buttons needs an extra second because he didn’t expect the first in the category to be the $800 one. You hear “France” and you expect it to be followed by $200, so your finger’s hovering over the $200 button.
Not a rule so much as a common practice. It’s not a bad idea, since sometimes the category has a pattern that the low-value clues establish. Also, if you jump to the middle or high range of a category you might be tempted to give a response that was used by a lower-value clue. So it’s a risky strategy.
But a few players have intentionally jumped around categories and amounts unpredictably to throw off competitors. I’m not sure it worked, but I’ve heard that people tried it.
A lot of times they jump around categories because they’re fishing for Daily Doubles. After the DDs have been found, then I think you are just messing with your competitors.
And re the category names, I read (I think either in Ken Jennings’ or Bob Harris’ book, but maybe in a blog) that they tell you to shorten the category name to save time. So if the category is Movies by Steven Spielberg, you should just say Spielberg. Constantly saying “I’ll take” Spielberg for $200, “I’ll take,” “I’ll take” is just delay of game. At the audition I realized I was saying “please” too much and had to make myself stop.
I imagine if you are playing a real game and are a little bit ahead you might do that to stall. It’s dirty pool, but it probably is done.
I found that you build up a rhythm, so starting with a lower value question which you know you can answer helps. When people start at the top it seems to be mostly to catch up when behind.
My first thought after I finished my show was that I wanted to do it again. I also understood the rush my daughter got from acting.
I just found out GSN reran it. I wished we got residuals - this was the second rerun I know of. No such luck.
I can’t wait till the college test comes back around, should be near the end of summer/fall if it follows the same pattern. I want to try to get on the college tourney while I can, but if not, I’m definitely gonna try to audition for the real thing. I only recently (2 years) started watching Jeopardy, and I just can’t get enough, I think I’m obsessed. I’ll play by myself of J-Archive.org at work when I have nothing to do. Maybe I’m not smart enough, but if I did go on Jeopardy, I know the first thing i’d do is flash card the hell out of the presidents so I know exactly who was president in what year. That seems to be a good strategy as its on almost every show. Same with characters/plots of Shakespeare plays.
Presidents/ Vice Presidents.
Monarchs
Oscar, Grammy, Tony winners.
Olympics.
State Nicknames and Capitals
Shakespeare and the Bible
Charles Dickens, Mark Twain
Geography
… and a metric buttload of other facts which need to be known.
This is a good strategy; I don’t understand people who go on the show without memorizing U.S. Presidents or betting strategies. Just this week, ALL three contestants missed a Final Jeopardy question, which when boiled down amounted to this: “Who was the President of the United States in 1895?” Not one of the three. Pathetic. That’s $10,000 or $20,000 you’re throwing away.