The current series' Tournament of Champions originally lasted two weeks over ten episodes in a format devised by then-host and producer Alex Trebek in 1985.
To prevent preemption by Election Day coverage in some markets, the November 8, 2022 episode was a "warm-up" exhibition game for Amodio, Schneider, and Roach, with no prize money at stake.
The winners of the semifinal matches advanced to the finals, which consisted of a minimum of three and a maximum of seven games, similar to the Greatest of All Time tournament (see below).
The format was changed again in Season 40, affected by the Hollywood labor stoppages, causing additional tournaments to be held in order to allow episodes to be filmed, now featuring an even more expanded field of 27 contestants who played in nine quarterfinal games.
[7] In order to accommodate the revert of the Season 39 format for Season 41's tournament, a similar exhibition game, which featured Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch and Drew Basile, who were automatically qualified to the semifinals as the top three seeds, was broadcast in audio-only on Tunein on January 24, 2025, as part of its continued partnership between Tunein and Sony Pictures Television.
At least one similar tournament was held in May 1967 during Fleming's run, with the winner (out of nine high school seniors who competed) receiving a $10,000 scholarship.
launched a Second Chance Tournament, featuring contestants who had high scores during a previous appearance but failed to win their games.
The 108 participants are divided into four brackets of 27, each designated by one of the four playing card suits (spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts).
In order to reduce the total field for the first bracket to 27, two audio-only "play-in" games were held on January 12, broadcast on TuneIn.
's season 2 winner Lisa Ann Walter's commitments to the ABC sitcom series Abbott Elementary.
However, Andy Richter, who won his quarterfinal game, was unable to make semifinal taping due to scheduling conflicts.
[14] The semi-final winners competed in a two-day total point final to determine the grand champion in a format similar to other annual Jeopardy!
to air Sunday nights beginning fall 2022,[16] with the premiere date subsequently scheduled for September 25.
[17] Executive producer Michael Davies then confirmed in July that Mayim Bialik would host the primetime series.
Beginning with the fall 2023 season, Ken Jennings replaced Bialik as host of Celebrity Jeopardy!
Comic foils to Alex Trebek (Ferrell) included Norm Macdonald as Burt Reynolds and Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery.
The first four times the event was held, the player who had the highest winning score during the week was also awarded a bonus of $5,000.
The ABC Owned Television Stations group has been the lead broadcaster of the syndicated version for most of its run.
featured four contestants per episode in the quarterfinal games, while subsequent rounds were played with the usual three players.
There are a few differences from the previous syndicated tournament: The format was changed to expand the pool to 36 contestants, and there are twelve quarterfinal matches and four semifinals, with no wild cards.
[30] Contestants competed for a winner's prize of a combined two-day final score total plus a $25,000 bonus.
Tom Nosek finished second with $13,600, while Leslie Frates won the $7,500 guaranteed third place prize, which exceeded her score of $4,499.
invited fifteen former champions to participate in a special tournament called the Million Dollar Masters, with a guaranteed seven-figure payday for the winner.
Three other byes were given to the finalists from the Million Dollar Masters tournament held during the 2001–2002 season, with Bob Verini, Eric Newhouse, and Brad Rutter receiving the honors.
Rutter, Vered, and Jennings then competed in a three-game cumulative score final match for the top prize.
Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and Roger Craig competed in the two-day cumulative score final match for the championship.
All-Star Games conducted in 2019 feature a team format in which eighteen champions are split up into six groups of three.
The six teams are captained by Jennings, Rutter, Colby Burnett, Buzzy Cohen, Austin Rogers and Julia Collins, who each drafted two players from a pool that included Leonard Cooper, Roger Craig, Jennifer Giles, Ben Ingram, Matt Jackson, Alex Jacob, Larissa Kelly, Alan Lin, David Madden, Pam Mueller, Monica Thieu, and Seth Wilson.
A concurrent fantasy sweepstakes awarded a prize to a home viewer who selected the highest-grossing three individual contestants in the tournament.
[42] The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds followed the same structure as the Champions Wildcard Tournament, but the finals were decided by the first contestant to win two games.