Make My Jeopardy

Jeopardy glossary: every term explained

Updated

Twenty-eight terms, defined the way they matter to someone building or hosting a game rather than the way a rulebook would phrase them. For how these terms are used together rather than what each one means on its own, see the rules guide linked at the foot of this page.

How to use this

Roughly ordered from the pieces of the board, through scoring and wagering, to the roles and formats around a game. Everything here describes both the show's convention and, where a homemade game commonly does it differently, what most hosts actually do.

Board
The grid of categories and clues. Standard shape is six categories across and five clues down, with values increasing top to bottom.
Category
One column of the board: five clues on a shared theme, easiest at the top. A good category name is short — two or three words — since it has to be readable from across a room.
Tile
One square on the board, showing a clue's point value until it's played, after which it's marked used and can't be picked again.
Clue
What the host reads. On the show it's phrased as a statement rather than a question, which is a style choice most home and classroom games are free to drop.
Response
What a player says back. The show requires it phrased as a question — "What is Lisbon" rather than "Lisbon" — a rule worth announcing before the game if you're keeping it, since it otherwise causes an argument on the first clue.
Value
The points a clue is worth. Values climb with difficulty — $200 to $1,000 is standard for a single round — so a player can gauge risk before picking.
Round
One full pass through the board. A two-round game (Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy) uses the same board shape twice with doubled values in the second pass, then closes with Final Jeopardy.
Double Jeopardy
The second round in a two-round game, using the same board shape as the first with every value doubled — $400 to $2,000 instead of $200 to $1,000 — and more Daily Doubles hidden in it.
Board control
The right to pick the next clue, held by whoever last answered correctly. It's the rule most home games forget, and without it one player can pick every square all game.
Buzzer
Whatever a player presses to claim a clue first — a hardware button, a hand, or in most online play now, a full-screen button on their own phone.
Buzz-in
The moment of pressing the buzzer. Opening the buzzers only once the clue has been fully read is what stops the fastest reader from having an unfair edge over everyone still listening.
Lockout
A short penalty for buzzing before the clue is finished, used on the show to stop players racing to guess who's about to buzz rather than answer. Most home and online games skip it and simply don't open the buzzers early.
Wager
An amount a player bets on a Daily Double or Final Jeopardy before seeing the clue. A correct answer adds it to their score; a wrong one subtracts it.
Daily Double
A hidden square that, once picked, belongs to that player alone — no buzzing. They wager before the clue appears, then answer it by themselves.
Wager cap
The most a player may bet on a Daily Double: their current score, or a fixed floor if that's higher, so a player who hasn't scored yet can still make a real bet. The show sets that floor at the board's own top value; this site uses $1,000, the top value on its free board.
True Daily Double
A Daily Double where the player wagers everything they have. Named for how it's usually discussed on the show rather than a separately tracked rule.
Final Jeopardy
The closing clue. The category is announced first, every player wagers before the clue is shown, then everyone answers at once. It's what keeps a lopsided game worth finishing.
Negative score
The result of more wrong answers than right ones. It's a normal, expected state — not a bug to work around — since it's what makes wrong answers cost something.
Host
Whoever reads the clues, judges answers, and runs the presenter view. In a classroom it's usually the teacher; at a party, whoever built the board.
Presenter view
The screen the host puts on the TV or projector — the board, the live scoreboard, and whichever clue is in play. Distinct from a player's own screen, which only ever shows a buzzer or an answer box.
Player
Anyone answering clues, individually or as part of a team. A player who joined from their own phone has a buzzer; a player the host added by hand does not, and is scored manually instead.
Adjudication
The host's call on whether an answer given out loud counts as correct. It's the part no software can do for you, and the reason a host stays the final word even when everything else — buzz order, scores — is automated.
Manual player
A player added by the host rather than one who joined with a phone, for someone in the room without a device. They appear on the scoreboard like anyone else, scored by the host rather than by buzzing.
Game code
The short code shown on the presenter view that players type into their own phones to join. Nothing to install and no account on either end.
Team play
Several players sharing one buzzer and one score, common above about eight players so more of the room is talking rather than waiting for a turn.
Board control pass
The moment control moves to a new player after a correct answer — or, if nobody answers, stays with whoever picked the clue. It's what keeps the board moving between players rather than snapping back to one.
Sweep
A round or game where one player or team wins every clue they buzzed on, common in a lopsided game and part of why Final Jeopardy exists — it gives a losing side a real way back in.
Reveal
Showing the correct answer after a clue is played, whether it was answered or not. Doing this even on a miss is what makes a review game a review — the room leaves knowing the right answer either way.

Common questions

What is board control in Jeopardy?

The right to choose the next clue, which passes to whoever most recently answered correctly. It stops one player from monopolising the board and is one of the easiest rules for a homemade game to accidentally drop.

What's the difference between a clue and a response?

The clue is what the host reads, phrased as a statement of fact on the show. The response is what the player says back, which the show's rules require to be phrased as a question. Most home and classroom games keep the clue-as-statement convention but drop the question-phrasing requirement.

Is Final Jeopardy the same as a Daily Double?

No. A Daily Double is one hidden square during the main board, answered by one player alone, mid-game. Final Jeopardy is a single closing clue that every remaining player wagers on and answers at the same time.

What is the maximum Daily Double wager?

A player's current score, or a fixed floor if that's higher — the show sets the floor at the board's top value, so a player who hasn't scored yet can still bet something meaningful rather than nothing.

Can a score go negative?

Yes, and it's meant to. Wrong answers subtract the clue's value the same way right ones add it, which is what stops the winning strategy from being "buzz on everything and guess."

Make one now

A 6 × 5 board with phone buzzers, live scoring and Final Jeopardy — free, no account. Or copy a ready-made board.

Keep reading