“Jeopardy!” has no shortage of devoted fans. In fact, Alex Trebek’s final week on the show brought in 11.1 million total viewers. His very last show had 14 million viewers.
While there’s plenty of fans of the show, there are only a few that would be willing to make a database of every question and answer on the show. It’s a huge undertaking.
‘Jeopardy!’ Massive Database
A site called the J! Archive is the go-to destination for any trivia experts. It has nearly every question, every contestant, every show, every answer that the popular game show has ever featured.
At this point, it has well over 412,000 clues updated.
J! Archive is organized exactly like a standard game of “Jeopardy!” The classic blue board is filled with categories and different cash prizes. When you first arrive at the site, everything is organized by seasons.
You can click on any season from the first to the 37th. From here a massive list of episodes and contestant names appears. By clicking on an episode, users are greeted by the familiar “Jeopardy!” board.
The clue appears and the answer will only show up when you hover the mouse over the cash amount.
Whether you’re trying to get an idea of the kind of questions to study for the show or are studying up on trivia in general, it’s a pretty extensive database.
How Are the Questions Created?
With over 412,000 “Jeopardy!” questions, the creators of the show are still finding new and tricky questions to use on contestants.
According to Buzzfeed, the writers’ room has eight writers. Together, they create at least one entire game per day. This includes a total of 61 questions organized into specific categories. However, the show does not always get to all of the questions. The writers will sort through anything to find new questions.
New episodes of “Jeopardy!” actually premiere 46 weeks of the year. The writers’ room is likely a constantly buzzing spot in the studio. A lively host, interesting contestants, and questions that appeal to many kinds of people are what continue to make the show relevant.
Alex Trebek used to spend over an hour reading over the questions and the answers prior to filming the show. The show goes through close to 15,000 questions in one year.
In an interview with Los Angeles Times in 1990, Trebek said that questions do get recycled. However, the writers try to make them unique each time. The topics and answers could be the same, but the overall angle will be different.
There are more “Jeopardy!” contestants that are male. Trebek said that this has to do with the fact that he believes men are more “competitive” in nature. There are about seven men to every woman that tries out. Similarly, the show has very few older contestants. Trebek said this has to do with reflexes. Older individuals have slower reflexes and, therefore, would have a hard time clicking the button first.
