# Please help me win on “Jeopardy!” **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320 "2022-04-23T15:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/21 "2022-04-24T03:39:14Z")
I wish they would show the TV audience some kind of indicator as to when it’s safe to ring in. I can tell when players are pressing their buttons but not getting in; I’d like to know if it’s because they’re too early. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/22 "2022-04-24T19:01:12Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > The main thing is, you can’t ring in until the host has finished reading the question. So you want to practice timing it so that you can start pressing the button as soon as the host stops reading, but not before. More specifically, when a light above the board (which you can’t see on TV) goes on. (Or off, I don’t remember.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/23 "2022-04-24T21:17:24Z")
Learn the first and second sentences to every classic novel you can think of. As for practicing timing on ringing in, I remember one champion saying he had practiced using one of those depressible toilet-paper holders as a buzzer while watching the show. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/24 "2022-04-24T21:26:33Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And if your personality doesn’t sparkle, nothing else matters. They don’t choose plodders even if they get every question right in the tests. I remember _Mad_ magazine parody of “The Price is Right” where one of the contestants was a sour old man who’d just sit with his arms folded but had the price correct down to the penny every single time. The desperate producers had him win an Atlas rocket – which he knew the price of – stuffed him into it and fired it into the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/25 "2022-04-25T22:20:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And if your personality doesn’t sparkle, nothing else matters. They don’t choose plodders even if they get every question right in the tests. You must be confused with Wheel. Nothing in the little audition you do after passing the tests involves jumping up and down and shouting big money. The person next to me had a stutter, and said that he had passed the test like four times and never got picked to be on. That’s clearly a problem. But I didn’t get the impression they were going for high energy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/26 "2022-04-25T22:27:30Z")
If a bear is chasing you, you gave to run faster than your buddy - not necessarily the bear. I think I could handle any personality requirements. I am positive, though not always effusive. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/27 "2022-04-26T00:23:40Z")
I’m just reporting what was said in those books. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/28 "2022-05-02T21:39:14Z")
I don’t know if it’s changed since I was on in 2003 or 2004, but the buzzer is the thing that most people don’t prepare for, and it shows. You can’t answer any question, no matter how well prepared you are, if you can’t buzz in! I practiced with a ballpoint pen and had the buzzer with my thumb resting on it. Once the lights went off, I would hit it, even if I was 50-50 on what the answer was. The thing about Jeopardy! is, many times the answer is in the question - or it’s going to help you winnow down what the potential answers would be. On my first day it worked for me, the second day, not so much… ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/29 "2022-05-02T22:14:52Z")
Would one do better if going 80-20 instead of 50-50? I would imagine after being beaten to the buzzer one gets frustrated and tries more often. But I really think avoiding wrong answers a big part of winning. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/30 "2022-05-02T22:44:49Z")
Potpourri seems to come up a lot. I’d probably put a lot of time into that category. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/31 "2022-05-03T17:16:42Z")
Sure, but I think if your trivia knowledge is vast, if you have a sense of what the answer is… you are quite possibly right. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/32 "2022-05-03T18:07:19Z")
I know a lot of trivia about many subjects. Shockingly little about a few, though. Would probably have to brush up on opera, broadway successes, American university and college stuff and African geography for a start… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/33 "2022-05-03T18:20:03Z")
Hope that your opponents aren’t a plumber and an architect, both with a PhD. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/34 "2022-05-03T21:18:34Z")
I suspect the link between occupation and success on the show is fairly weak. A law tutor and a professional Vegas gambler both seem to have done pretty well. There is the occasional doctor on the show. They hardly ever win. They know about health. A lot of academics know less outside their seneschals than they might think. They know little, perhaps, of Le Corbusier or Les Bernoulli. But the ones on the show may be more well rounded than their colleagues.The categories are largely random, and with my luck would not emphasize my strengths. You just never know. Can’t choose your opponents, and the same applies again if you return. You have to be lucky and good and spend your life interested in esoterica. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/35 "2022-05-03T21:59:26Z")
RE: the buzzer. I don’t know if you have a local high school quiz bowl or college bowl team, but the buzzer system is essentially the same as the ones used there. The buzzer is a non-issue if you have any experience with those. There is the difference in the lock-out but they let everybody have a little practice (and do local ads and such) before they start taping episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/36 "2022-05-03T22:20:27Z")
My buddy built a buzzer system for our high school trivia team. This was simple, but had flat buttons instead of the ballpoint pens. We won four games to win the regional, and $1000 scholarships, but then half our team refused to continue since the schedule conflicted with track and field meets. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/37 "2022-05-03T22:25:48Z")
They’re not too dissimilar from [these](http://www.andersonbuzzersystems.com/handheld.html), which is the version I saw at the 2nd round to enter the candidate pool. [These](https://buzzersystems.com/product/3-player-game-show/) are actually probably closer to what we saw at the real deal. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/38 "2022-05-03T23:05:39Z")
Just too bad you can’t wager a negative dollar amount in FJ and then deliberately flub the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/39 "2022-05-03T23:07:39Z")
The buzzer systems look basically like those my buddy built. If you could win by betting negative on daily doubles and such, maybe you could become Trump’s Personal Accountant. Perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320/40 "2022-05-03T23:11:07Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I suspect the link between occupation and success on the show is fairly weak. A law tutor and a professional Vegas gambler both seem to have done pretty well. There is the occasional doctor on the show. They hardly ever win. They know about health. I think what’s required is 1) intelligence, and 2) enough spare time to memorize lots of trivia. Thus the success of lots of these underachieving/“slacker genius” types. Doctors tend to be intelligent, but they also tend to work fairly long hours and have to keep their heads filled with medical facts, leaving less room for general trivia. Same goes for, e.g., a professor who has to publish, publish, publish in his field. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-win-on-jeopardy/963320.md?page=3)