Jeopardy! in merchandising

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Since the debut of Jeopardy! in 1984, the Jeopardy! brand has been used on products in various other formats.

[edit] Books

In 1990, host Alex Trebek co-authored The Jeopardy! Book along with Peter Barsocchini, which included boards from some of their past tournament games as well as boards specializing in some of the show's various categories. Its sequel The Jeopardy! Challenge, also co-authored by Trebek, along with creator Merv Griffin, included boards from their past tournament games, published in 1992.

In 2000, the show's writers released 4 volumes of quiz books titled Jeopardy!: What is Quiz Book 1-4?, each featuring more than 300 pages worth of Jeopardy! boards from Seasons 14-17.

In 2004, Barnes and Noble published This is Jeopardy!: Celebrating America's Favorite Quiz Show. Written by Ray Richmond, it featured selected Jeopardy answers from each of the show's first twenty seasons, plus trivia and other notable facts about the show.

There were also three unofficial books published about Jeopardy!, written by people with ties to the show: Inside Jeopardy!: What Really Goes on at TV's Top Quiz Show (1993), written by former Jeopardy! producer Harry Eisenberg; Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! (2006), written by comedian and former contestant Bob Harris; and Secrets of the Jeopardy! Champions (1992), written by former champion Chuck Forrest with Mark Lowenthal.

[edit] Video games

Since the early 1980s, the Jeopardy! video game has been made on most platforms including Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Super NES, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, game.com, Sega Dreamcast, Apple Macintosh, Playstation 2, Microsoft Windows, and mobile phones. A free version of the game can be found at Station.com. Tiger Electronics also marketed a hand-held travel version of the game in the late 1990s.

The board of the Jeopardy! round from the Sega Genesis version (1992).

The board of the Jeopardy! round from the SNES versions (1993). Notice the orange flashing border around the selected clue.

Each version of the game was different (even though each was released in a different era of video games). For example, the NES versions (including the Super Jeopardy! version) were the same. The categories were limited in space, with the first seven or eight letters on the category space. However, in the 1992-1993 releases for the Genesis and SNES, category names were still limited in space, but they were abbreviated. An example of such is the category "Ex" Marks the Spot; the category name, as displayed on the category monitor, is "Ex" Marks, but on the bottom of the screen (when all categories are revealed), it says "Ex" Marks the Spot.

The Sega Genesis version simulates the "locked buzzers" immediately after an answer is shown on-screen, followed by a countdown timer. (In the actual program, the buzzers are locked while host Alex Trebek reads the answer.)

The 1994 releases for the PC and Sega CD where very similar. Sega's released still used a Sega-style font (similar to that of the three 1992 and 1993 releases for the Genesis), and both used FMV sequences of Alex Trebek.

The Nintendo 64 release used the theme from the 1997 season, but used the 1998 "Think!" theme. The 1997 set (the one dubbed "the Sushi Bar") was also used.

The 2003 Playstation 2 release utilized the set of the time, with the same graphics and images used from that era. However, Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert delivers the clues, and Alex Trebek appears in the game.

[edit] Board games

The earliest board game versions of Jeopardy! were produced by Milton Bradley from the mid-1960s and into the 1980s. Editions by Milton Bradley were numbered 1-12 and 14, skipping 13, owing to common superstition. Upon the popularity of the Trebek version, Pressman Toys has marketed various board game versions of the show, including a version with electric buzzers and scoring consoles in 1987, and Simpsons version. Tyco Toys produced two Masters' Editions in the early to mid-1990s with Alex Trebek featured on the box. In 1999, Parker Brothers marketed a version that was faithful to the TV show (i.e. the usual six categories in each round, pre-selected Daily Doubles and a separate Final Jeopardy! clue; the previous versions only had five categories in each round and the Final Jeopardy! clue replaced one of the higher Double Jeopardy! dollar values).

[edit] Electronic games

In 2002, in response to educators praising the longevity of the show's popularity and their students creating their own versions of the game to encourage student participation in class, educational toy company Educational Insights (which markets the Geosafari system) released a self-contained, programmable Jeopardy! game system that can be hooked up to a normal classroom TV for school use, titled Classroom Jeopardy!^[1] Following successful sales of Classroom Jeopardy!, a home version called Host Your Own Jeopardy! was released in 2004. Except for the names, both systems are identical, using a cartridge-based system for the categories and wireless remotes for the players and the host. The unit itself acts as the scoreboard.

In 2007, MGA Games released the Jeopardy! DVD Game system that includes 3 wireless buzzers and plugin unit for your DVD player that keeps the score. Alex Trebek appears in the game and reads the clues. The game also features the fan-favorite Clue Crew videos.

[edit] Other merchandise

For the show's 15th anniversary season in 1998-1999, a collectible watch was released. The watch plays the famous theme song with a push of a button, and included 25 game cards with the answer-question format. Despite poor sales, several watches are currently being auctioned and sold on eBay as of 2008.

A DVD titled Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show was released on November 8, 2005 and features five full episodes of the show: #1 (Trebek era premiere), #4657 (Ken Jennings' losing episode), #4781, #4782, and #4783 (the three finals games of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, the latter of which can be viewed through multiple camera angles, and three featurettes: 21 Years of Answers & Questions, Jeopardy!: Behind the Answers, and What Does it Take to Get a Clue?^[2]

Every year, Day-to-Day Calendars' Andrews McMeel Publishing subsidiary releases a daily desktop Jeopardy! calendar, featuring 6 full games-worth of clues presented 1 clue per day (with the correct response on the back of each day's sheet).

The brand has also been licensed for slot machine games at casinos and online.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The official website of JEOPARDY!