Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

Field

According to surviving microfilm records of broadcasts from the era, the original 1964-1975 Tournament of Champions format generally featured the top 9 winners in the given season, inviting the highest earning five-day champions, with four-day and three-day champions invited if necessary in order of winnings.

In the current version of the show, the Tournament of Champions includes 15 players. Most of the slots are reserved for regular-season players who have won the most games since the previous championship contestants were chosen, followed by the most money in the case of the same number of games won. Prior to the end of the five-game limit, champions of five games were traditionally guaranteed a slot in the event, while four-day champions have been involved in most Tournament of Champions fields, and if necessary, three day champions may qualify (which has occurred in seven tournaments to date.) In the one instance where there were more five-day champions in the qualifying period than available slots in the tournament, the most recent overflow contestants were held over for the following tournament (which occurred in 2001, with the last two five-day champions held over to the 2003 event.) Notably, 2004 74-day champion Ken Jennings gave up his bid in the 2006 Tournament of Champions in favor of an automatic finals bye in 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and therefore never competed in the regular tournament.

Winners of the annual College Championships and Teachers Tournaments are also guaranteed slots in the Tournament of Champions. For many years, the winners of the annual Teen and Seniors Tournaments also participated, but the Seniors Tournament was discontinued after 1995, and a Teen Tournament winner was last invited to the Tournament of Champions in 2000, none ever having won the event. Scheduling occurrences can result in multiple winners of a given annual tournament in the same Tournament of Champions field, most recently with two College Champions in the 2014 event. Due to academic study commitments, two College Champions (Vinita Kailasanth in 2001 and Joey Beachum in 2008) have deferred their bid in their original intended Tournament of Champions to the following tournament.

For Jeopardy!'s first nine Tournaments of Champions, the tournament was held each November, with the qualifying period for the event being the entire previous season. Starting after 1993's installment, the qualifying period was modified to any games played between tournaments, and following 1996's installment, tournaments moved to a more fluid schedule, and are no longer solely held in November; it is usually, but not always, held during a "sweeps" month (February, May or November) to maximize the show's Nielsen Ratings. As a result, qualifying periods now vary in length, and the tournament does not have to be held in a given season or calendar year. Due to scheduling delays from prior special events, producers have the option to begin a qualifying period prior to the start of the previous tournament if necessary, such as for 2015's installment.

A sixteenth player, who is the next highest player with the most wins, then by amount of money won, not in the field, is also invited as an alternate contestant in the event that a qualified champion is unable to attend. In the 2001 event, the two overflow five-day champions (Mark Dawson & Alan Bailey) were both invited as alternates, due to travel concerns in the wake of the September 11 attacks, though no one was unable to compete, and both were included as planned in the 2003 tournament. As well, the highest earning contestant to not advance out of the prior round is assigned as an alternate for the semifinals and finals in case of emergency.

There have been at least 2 cases of otherwise-qualified contestants being removed from the Tournament of Champions field due to violations of eligibility requirements (Barbara Lowe in 1986 had appeared on another game show within the probationary period, and Jerry Slowik in 2014 was indicted on sexual abuse charges, and his court case had not come to trial at the time of the taping; he eventually pleaded guilty in February 2015, including a 30-day prison sentence, five year probationary period, and registration as a sex offender). In such cases, the champion with the most wins not already in the tournament, with earnings as the tie-breaker, took their place in the field. In at least one other case, a qualifying contestant died before reaching the Tournament of Champions; six-day champion Cindy Stowell died of colon cancer shortly after she taped her appearance on the show and well before she would have appeared on the 2017 Tournament of Champions.

Format

In most seasons of the Art Fleming era, the Tournament of Champions featured three semifinal games, with the winners competing in a two-legged tie final (similarly to the second half of the modern tournament), though here, scores weren't reset for the second game, allowing contestants to add to, lose, and wager money won in the first game. For the 1969 Tournament of Champions only, 18 champions were invited to compete, who competed in six quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the usual two-day final (with the highest scoring losing semifinalist also competing as a wild card finalist.) The 1970 tournament returned to a one-week format, but featured two separate one day finals involving top performing contestants from the semifinal games.

The 1978 syndicated revival of Jeopardy! held a Tournament of Champions in early 1979 featuring top-earning champions from prior games of that season, though the format is unclear from surviving episodes. A copy of the final episode exists (sans the contestants' last names), which saw contestant Stuart defeat Phillip and Tom to win the event.

With the expansion of the field to 15 players in the Alex Trebek era, the Tournament of Champions now lasts two weeks (10 shows) with the following format, devised by Trebek himself in 1985 to suit the 15 five-time champions from the previous year. The same format applies to all Jeopardy! 15-player tournament formats—the Teen Tournament, College Championship, and Teachers Tournament; it previously applied to the Seniors Tournament, the Million Dollar Masters Tournament, and starting with the second round (15 players), Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades:

Tie-Breakers

The following tie-breaker rules are imposed during the tournament:

Triple Zero Score: All three players are eliminated from contention for an automatic berth to the next round. An additional wild card is added. Players with a score of zero are still eligible for a wild card, should not enough players have a positive score.

Tie Game for First, Positive Score: Tied players participate in one final toss-up clue; the player who rings in and gives the correct question advances. A player cannot win by default, and must give the correct question to win. Should neither player offer a correct response, the question is thrown out and edited out of the final broadcast; only the final question that determines the winner is broadcast. In the final, the tie-breaker is used only if there is a tie after the aggregate.

Tie for Wild Card: In case of a tie among the highest-scoring losers for a Wild Card position, the same rules as determining second and third place prizes is used, with the highest score after "Double Jeopardy!" breaking the tie (and the Jeopardy! round, if necessary). A player with a zero score in their round is still eligible for a Wild Card should it come down to this.

Prizes

The prize amounts for all contestants are as follows:

Other prizes

List of participants

The following is a list of contestants and where they placed in the tournament. Prize amounts for the non-winning finalists who won more than the minimum guarantees are as indicated in parentheses.