Jeopardy for the classroom
A review game lives or dies on two things: whether every student is thinking, and whether you spend the lesson refereeing. This is built around both — the board goes on the projector, the class buzzes in from their own phones, and the scores keep themselves so you can watch the room instead of the whiteboard.
A review lesson, start to finish
Build the board from what you are assessing
Six categories, five clues each, pulled from the thing students are about to be tested on. Type them straight in, import them from a spreadsheet if you drafted them there, or copy one of the classroom boards below and swap in your own.
Put it on the projector
Open the presenter view on the classroom machine. It shows a five-letter game code, large enough to read from the back.
Have the class join
One phone per team is enough, and a team buzzer is what you want anyway. Students type the code and a team name. There is no account, no app, and nothing for your district to approve.
Play, and let it keep score
Open the buzzers when you finish reading. The first press to reach the server wins and the whole room sees the same name, so ties are not yours to call. Mark right or wrong and the scoreboard updates in front of the class.
Finish on Final Jeopardy
Every team wagers before the clue is shown, which gives a trailing team a real path back and keeps the room in it to the bell. If you are running short, skip straight to it — a Final is a better ending than an unfinished third column.
What it solves
- No student accounts. Players join with a code and a name, so nothing goes through an approval process and nobody is locked out for forgetting a password.
- No refereeing. The buzz order is settled where the presses arrive, not by whose hand you saw first, which is the part that costs you goodwill.
- No scorekeeper. The scoreboard is on the projector and updates itself, so you are not reconstructing three teams' totals from memory at the bell.
- Nothing to install. It runs in a browser on the projector and on every phone, including a school Chromebook.
- Reusable. Every board keeps a link that works next year, and you can duplicate one to make a second version per section.
A student without a phone can still play. Add them by hand from the presenter view and score them yourself — they get a place on the scoreboard without needing a device.
Fitting it in a period
A full 6 × 5 board with a class of thirty runs 45 to 60 minutes once you include conferring and discussion. In a 45-minute period, build four categories instead of six and keep Final Jeopardy. Cut columns, never rows — the five price points are the difficulty ladder, and a board with three of them stops being a game about choosing.
The other lever is team size. Four to six teams of three to five keeps everyone talking; more teams than that and most of the room is waiting rather than playing.
What is free, and what is not
The whole game is free: a 6 × 5 board, buzzers for as many players as are in the room, live scoring and Final Jeopardy, with no account for you and no logins for students. Pro is $10 a year and adds the time-savers — AI that drafts a board or rewrites a clue, image and video clues, spreadsheet import, bigger boards, Daily Doubles and a dashboard that keeps every board you have made in one place. It does not unlock the ability to play.
Ready-made boards for the classroom
Copy any of them into your own editor and change what you like — free, no account.
Civil War Jeopardy
Causes, battles, leaders, and emancipation in one Civil War review game. Free for teachers to copy; students join and buzz in on their phones.
Solar System Jeopardy
Planets, moons, and comets for young astronomers - a solar system review board that is free to copy and plays with phones or tablets as buzzers.
US States and Capitals Jeopardy
Fifty states, fifty capitals, one loud classroom. This free geography game runs on a projector while students answer on phone or tablet buzzers.
World War II Jeopardy
From blitzkrieg to V-J Day, this free World War II board gives history classes a full-unit review they can play with phones as buzzers.
Common questions
Do students need an account to play?
No. They open the join link, type the five-letter game code and a name, and they are in. There is nothing to install and no sign-up on either end, which also means nothing to get approved.
What if some students do not have phones?
Play in teams — one device per team is enough and teams are better for review anyway. You can also add a player by hand from the presenter view and keep their score yourself, so nobody is left off the board.
Can I reuse the same board next year?
Yes. Every board keeps a link that goes on working, so you can come back and edit or replay it. On Pro they are also collected in a dashboard, so you do not have to keep track of links.
Does it work on school Chromebooks?
Yes. Everything runs in a browser, on the presenter's machine and on player devices alike, so a Chromebook works as a buzzer just as a phone does.
Read next
How to run a Jeopardy review game in class
How to run a Jeopardy review game the whole class plays: team setup, timing, scoring that keeps quiet students in, and the usual failure modes.
How to make a Jeopardy game
How to build a custom Jeopardy game: how many clues you need, writing clues that play, the scoring rules, and how to run it on the day.
How to give everyone a buzzer
The four ways to run buzz-in — shouting, hands, hardware buzzer sets and phones — and what each costs in fairness, setup time and arguments.