# My Random Thought Of the Day: What if the highest score on Jeopardy is negative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614 "2004-07-24T00:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cockatiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cockatiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cockatiel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/1 "2004-07-24T00:26:34Z")
Sometimes random thoughts pop into my head as I’m doing things throughout the day. Today, my dad was watching Jeopardy and there’s this guy who’s been on for a while and who’s won over a million. Which got me thinking: what if everyone on a certain episode of Jeopardy (let’s call it the Idiot Edition) all had negative scores? Out of scores of -300, -400, and -500, would the person with -300 “win”? And if they did, would they have to pay the studio 😃 ? Well, that was my RToTD. Clearly me thinking too much is dangerous… ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/2 "2004-07-24T00:32:15Z")
> [@Cockatiel](#): > > Sometimes random thoughts pop into my head as I’m doing things throughout the day. Today, my dad was watching Jeopardy and there’s this guy who’s been on for a while and who’s won over a million. Which got me thinking: what if everyone on a certain episode of Jeopardy (let’s call it the Idiot Edition) all had negative scores? Out of scores of -300, -400, and -500, would the person with > -300 “win”? And if they did, would they have to pay the studio 😃 ? > > Well, that was my RToTD. Clearly me thinking too much is dangerous… No,. they wouldn’t have to pay, but if all three were negative there would be no Final Jeopardy. I saw that occur at least once in the Art Fleming era. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/3 "2004-07-24T00:33:48Z")
Well, the Jeopardy rules say that you can’t participate in Final Jeopardy with a negative score. However, it’s never occurred (to my knowledge) that more than ONE player had a negative score, so I doubt that contingency plans for such a situation exist. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/4 "2004-07-24T00:35:03Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > No,. they wouldn’t have to pay, but if all three were negative there would be no Final Jeopardy. I saw that occur at least once in the Art Fleming era. D’oh! I forgot about the Art Fleming era. I wonder if the rules changed when they brought it back with Trebek, though. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/5 "2004-07-24T00:36:45Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > D’oh! I forgot about the Art Fleming era. I wonder if the rules changed when they brought it back with Trebek, though. Not _that_ rule. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/6 "2004-07-24T02:36:54Z")
If two people have a negative score at the end of Double Jeopardy, then the third player, with the positive score, automatically wins, and is allowed to bet up to x-1 dollars in Final Jeopardy, where x is the amount the player has going in. I have seen triple negatives at the end of Double Jeopardy once. Alex Trebeck took a glove out of his pocket, and slapped the three with the glove Moe Howard-style. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/7 "2004-07-24T02:52:41Z")
I’ll have Anal Bum Covers for $1000. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/8 "2004-07-24T08:17:17Z")
You wrote, “Who is Buck Futter?” I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/9 "2004-07-24T15:56:26Z")
I haven’t watched the show in years but my college roommates and I used to be avid watched in the late 80’s. I saw a show where two out of the three had negative scores. The one guy left got to do Final Jeopardy alone. No, he didn’t bet everything. Haj ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/10 "2004-07-24T17:21:24Z")
Catagory 3: a petit’ dejuneur. thats about french things, so lets just skip it. Burt Reynolds: yeah, i’ll take ape tit for 400. Trebeck:its not ape tit, its a petit… oh nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/11 "2004-07-24T18:31:31Z")
I’ve never seen an episode in which 3 contestants had negative scores, but I HAVE seen an episode in which one contestant had zero and the other two had negative scores. No, the guy with zero didn’t win. They brought in 3 new contestants the next day. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/12 "2004-07-24T18:36:32Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > I have seen triple negatives at the end of Double Jeopardy once. Alex Trebeck took a glove out of his pocket, and slapped the three with the glove Moe Howard-style. So, did they not play Final Jeopardy? Did they just repeat the clip about what departing contestants win three or four times? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-random-thought-of-the-day-what-if-the-highest-score-on-jeopardy-is-negative/256614/13 "2004-07-27T20:59:37Z")
Nope, they didn’t get to play Final Jeopardy.