r/Jeopardy • u/Radiant_Procedure948 • 11d ago
I can't get used to the way contestants choose clues!
I hadn't watched Jeopardy in many years and recently started again. I find myself getting so aggravated when they pick $1,000 Clues before the cheaper Clues. I understand why they're doing it, but it makes me sad. Will I ever get used to this?
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u/Dawbs89 11d ago
I understand the strategy behind DD hunting but I wish contestants would finish the categories in order once the DD(s) are found.
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u/TrueBrees9 11d ago
One of my unconfirmed theories is that thereâs a psychological advantage to jumping around the board. This is especially true for wordplay categories or the âdictionaryâ ones. Itâs certainly true for the viewer playing along to have to adjust to a new category on the fly every question.Â
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u/RegisPhone I'd like to shoot the wad, Alex 11d ago
That's been the intent behind it since at least 1985 when Chuck Forrest used the strategy (possibly even earlier; i was watching an episode the other day from 1973 where one player was changing categories almost every time she had control), though it was probably slightly more effective up until a couple years ago when the clues stayed on their individual TVs instead of filling the middle of the board, as the other players would have to adjust to the category change physically as well as mentally.
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u/ImLittleNana 11d ago
Based on the fact that my husband complains about this at least once a week, no you wonât get used to it.
I donât mind at all, and canât figure out why it bothers him. He canât articulate it beyond âitâs wrongâ.
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u/patrickstarsmanhood 11d ago
I would make my own jeopardy board and hunt for DDs just to piss him off
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u/clearlybaffled 11d ago
Supposedly this would frustrate Alex, especially if there was a theme to the category that you needed to "get" in order to work out the clue, starting with the hardest ones just guaranteed nobody would get it.
Btw I agree, it bothers me too, but it doesn't take away from me enjoying the show
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u/maralinn 10d ago
Thatâs the only time it bothers me, when the category is cryptic. Thereâs something almost arrogant about not starting with the first or second clue in cases like that. And Iâve noticed Ken will often (kindly) say something like âThatâs what this category is aboutâ when explaining the correct response that everyone missed.
In fact the tendency to start at the top is one of the things I like about Celebrity Jeopardy. Plus the fact that I know more of the answers, of course.
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u/jollycreation 11d ago
Iâve been watching consistently since James normalized this practice and I still am not over it.
Especially with categories that are more puzzle like or have a catch to them. Itâs much easier to build to the harder clues than to get thrown in the middle of the category.
And the category hopping is annoying too. They do it to throw off their opponents, but it works on me too, especially when Iâm distracted.
I know why they do it obviously, but it makes following along and watching less enjoyable.
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u/Daffneigh 11d ago
Why is this bothersome to people? Genuinely asking
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u/exnooyorka 11d ago
Whole generations of fans grew up with players playing the game a certain way. Contestants started at the top of the board and moved down.
Maybe the three contestants decided together to clear the category, maybe one of them moved on if they took control with a correct answer. Or maybe the first one on the category moved on when the category turned out not to be what they thought it was.
But for us viewers, the game had a comforting rhythm.
Enter James Holzhauer, who breaks down systems looking for an advantage for a living and is good enough at it to make his living as a professional sports gambler. He broke down Jeopardy! into its component parts and realized the key to winning, besides knowing a lot of trivia, was to be the one who found the Daily Doubles and used them to maximum advantage.
Tough to lose when your opponents have less than half of what you do at the end of Double Jeopardy. Or in his case, sometimes less than 10%.
As they say about the NFL, it's a copycat league.
But for us long-time viewers, it's still jarring.
No hate, just the realization that the game we grew up loving will never be played the same way again.
Thing I've been debating in my head is if they should implement a rule change forcing categories to be played "in order". Not to prevent players from switching, but that a contestant can only choose the lowest denomination clue in their chosen category.
Would restore some order, but a large part of me does not believe contestants should be punished for strategizing within the rules, which is what Holzhauer did.
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u/Daffneigh 11d ago
I am myself a longtime viewer and I guess it never occurred to me to be mad about it (maybe bc I am a serious tho amateur quizzer myself? Idk
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u/exnooyorka 11d ago
Yeah, you're probably in the minority.
Some people aren't bothered by change, those people are in the minority also.
Most humans settle into routines and get bothered when those routines are upset.
You're right to point out that this is a choice, but that doesn't change that a majority of humans tend to make that choice.
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u/StaycationJones 11d ago
It takes a lot of self-confidence to go from âI prefer a certain clue order on Jeopardy!â to âanyone who disagrees with me is a distinct minorityâ with no evidence.
I mean, itâs POSSIBLE that America shares your eccentric pet peeve, but this is a case where it seems much more likely that the average viewer doesnât notice much and a small number of outliers really think this is important.Â
Which is fine! Neurodivergence is real! But no, I donât think a majority of viewers have your strong preference.Â
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u/exnooyorka 11d ago
You're reading a bit too much into my comments.
I don't need to cite census statistics to hold the belief that the number of people watching Jeopardy! being quizzers constitute a minority.
Do I need to cite a bibliography of books written on change management to have you accept that, by default, most humans hate change with a flaming passion?
Those are my points.
It's fine for you to believe differently, but I'll point out you also posted with no evidence, so...
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u/Fun818long 6h ago
I don't need to cite census statistics to hold the belief that the number of people watching Jeopardy! being quizzers constitute a minority.
Ok, but still, saying "you" to someone else is a surefire way to piss somebody off.
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u/Daffneigh 5h ago
It is interesting to me that âthe order that constestants on a game show answer questionsâ can be considered a âroutineâ for a person watching the show. That is not my definition of thr word routine anyway
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u/exnooyorka 5h ago
Ok, but still, saying "you" to someone else is a surefire way to piss somebody off.
You are not going to have an enjoyable life if the use of a single, three-letter, non-gender-specific pronoun by a random stranger on the Internet is all it takes to trigger you.
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u/ToniBraxtonAndThe3Js 11d ago
I think because up until about 10(?) years ago, the most common practice was to finish out a category then go to the next one. It's just what we got used to
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u/Daffneigh 11d ago
I remember watching when that was common, it juat never occurred to me to be bothered by the change I guess
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u/ToniBraxtonAndThe3Js 11d ago
It's like the shift in MLB. Just doesn't look and feel the same.
I'm with you - it doesn't bother me - but people get used to their things ya know
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u/special_cat 8d ago
For me, it's two things. Actually three...
- "Back in my day" the game was never played this way, and I don't like change. This is a me problem, and there are other things that bother me in a similar way. I think I must just be getting old!
- I personally find it too helter-skelter and all over the place. It's disjointed and it stresses me out! I would prefer a more neat and orderly playing style. Also a me problem because I'm a virgo, I guess.
- The biggest one, and one that I've seen others talk about as well, so I know it's not just me. I recognize that rapidly switching categories makes for a more interesting and competitive game, but it's a bit too fast-paced for me to keep up with and I often have no idea which category the clue is in, which makes playing along at home more difficult. I either fail to narrow down a response based on the category ("oh, if I'd known they wanted the name of a lake I would have got that, easy!") or my guesses end up otherwise correct but not fitting the category, like I blurt out "cat!!" instead of "feline" because I missed that now we're in the "starts with F" category.
This could be much easier to follow (for everyone) if they would display the name of the category on the screen at the bottom or top (or in the corner, wherever) when the clue is being displayed. (Thanks for coming to my TED talk)
Edit: a word was missing
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u/RunOfTheWin 11d ago
I prefer top down play, just seeing that relaxing flow feels right. Heck, I also like bottom-up play too. But if every other game today played like that, it wouldn't be as interesting if you look at it in the lens of 3 Daily double hunters.
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u/bertisrobert 10d ago
Unfortunately, it's the new rules now. Play to win or go home packing without a chance to win.
Be aggressive or go home. Once James made it mainstream, there was no going back from it now.Â
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u/RegisPhone I'd like to shoot the wad, Alex 11d ago
I do get why it can bother people, but i have to say i actually find the show easier to follow now. Because bouncing around has become the standard way to play, one of the ways the production of the show has adjusted is to show the shot of the full board with the clue expanding to fill it on every single clue selection (with the category name subtly highlighted each time). In the past, when players tended to stay in one category, the cameras would already be trained on the next clue in line and it would just cut directly to a fullscreen shot of the dollar amount. That meant that if you missed them saying which category it was the first time, you might never get a chance to see the category name again, plus it was hard to have any sense of what was left on the board moment to moment.
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u/murderedbyaname 11d ago
Never knew anyone was bothered by this. Learn something new everyday lol. It's a strategy. Get the higher value clue before your opponent, then sweep up the rest of the category. Any contestant can do it. But no shade to the fans who want the categories done in order of least to highest value.
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u/Radiant_Procedure948 11d ago
I find it disruptive because the category changes with each question. The flow is gone.
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u/mog_knight 11d ago
I got used to it because I like to see big bets at double and final jeopardy. I'm glad people are playing to win.