The Jeopardy format is easy to play and surprisingly fiddly to run, because most of the rules that matter are about wagering rather than the board itself.
This explains how the televised format works, then covers separately how home, classroom, and office adaptations usually change it. The two are kept apart deliberately, because mixing them is where most explanations go wrong. For running a game with a class, see [how to play a Jeopardy-style game in the classroom](/articles/how-to-play-jeopardy-in-the-classroom).
Part one: the televised rules
The board
The board has six categories, each with five clues, arranged by increasing value. Three contestants play.
Play runs like this:
- A contestant selects a category and a value
- The clue is revealed
- Contestants signal in to respond
- A correct response adds the clue's value; an incorrect response deducts it
- Whoever answered correctly selects next
The response format
Clues are written as statements, and responses must be phrased as a question. A clue reading "This planet is known for its prominent ring system" gets "What is Saturn?"
The show enforces this unevenly by design. Its own rules state that in the first round, a contestant who gives a response to a regular clue without the question phrasing gets a reminder from the host. In the Double Jeopardy! round, on any Daily Double, and in Final Jeopardy!, forgetting the phrasing is ruled incorrect.
Point values and the second round
The first round uses values from $200 to $1,000, rising in $200 increments down each column.
The second round, Double Jeopardy!, doubles everything: $400 to $2,000.
That doubling is the format's most important structural feature, because it means the game isn't decided in the first round. A contestant well behind at the halfway point can still catch up.
If you're building your own board, this is worth copying even when you simplify everything else. A single-round board where one team pulls ahead early tends to lose the room.
Daily Doubles
There is one Daily Double hidden in the first round and two in Double Jeopardy!
When a contestant selects one, they wager before seeing the clue, then answer alone — no one else can respond, and there is no steal.
The wagering rules:
- Minimum wager is $5, in either round. This is stated in the show's own published rules.
- Maximum is the contestant's current score, or the highest clue value available in that round if their score is lower — $1,000 in the first round, $2,000 in Double Jeopardy!
That second part is the rule most people miss, and it exists so a contestant with a low, zero, or negative score isn't locked out. Wagering an entire score is known as a true Daily Double.
A correct response adds the wager. An incorrect one subtracts it.
Final Jeopardy!
One clue, with the category announced first. Only contestants with a positive score at the end of Double Jeopardy! participate. Anyone at zero or below is out.
The wagering rules:
- Maximum is the contestant's entire current score
- Minimum is $0, per the show's published rules
- Wagers are locked in before the clue is revealed
- Responses are written, and must still be in question form
Scores are revealed in ascending order, so the leader's result comes last.
The wagering math
This is where the interesting decision lives, and where explanations most often go wrong. Two situations behave completely differently.
When the leader can be caught. Say the leader has $10,000 and second place has $6,000. Second place can at most double to $12,000. The standard approach is the cover bet: wager enough to finish above $12,000 if correct, so at least $2,001, landing on $12,001.
What that wager does not do is protect the leader from being wrong. A wrong answer leaves them at $7,999, which loses to a correct second place. The cover bet guarantees a win only when the leader answers correctly.
When the leader can't be caught. This is the only situation where the game can be locked before the clue is read, and it requires the leader to hold more than double second place. Say the leader has $13,000 and second has $6,000. Second's maximum is $12,000. If the leader wagers no more than $999, they finish at $12,001 or above even after a wrong answer, and win regardless.
So the shorthand: more than double second place means you can guarantee a win with a small wager. Anything less, and the cover bet only pays off if you're right.
From the trailing seat the logic inverts. A player in second can generally only win if the leader misses, which is why wagering everything is often the reasonable play there.
Part two: common house rules
Most home, classroom, and office adaptations change something. These are adaptations, not the televised rules.
Teams instead of individuals. Teams confer, then one member responds. Rotating who speaks keeps one confident player from answering everything.
Dropping the question format. Many adaptations skip it, since it adds a rule to enforce mid-game without adding much. Decide before you start and say so.
No point deduction on a wrong answer. The televised rule deducts the clue's value. Adaptations often pass the turn instead, sometimes with a steal for the next team. Announce whichever you're using before the first clue.
Fixed rotation instead of board control. Teams take turns in order regardless of who answered correctly. More predictable and easier to run than letting winners keep picking.
Five categories instead of six. A five-by-five board fits a single class period or meeting slot more comfortably than a six-column board.
Simplified values. 100 to 500 instead of 200 to 1,000, for easier mental arithmetic when you're keeping score by hand.
No negative scores. Often used with younger players, where a negative score can take the fun out of the rest of the game.
A single round plus a final question. One board and a wagered final clue preserves the catch-up mechanic without the time cost of a second round.
Time limits. Fifteen to twenty seconds for recall clues, longer for multi-step problems. Announce it and hold to it.
Running the wagering without a tool
If your board doesn't handle wagers, index cards work. Each team writes their wager, cards go face down, the clue is revealed, teams write their response, then wagers and responses are turned over together.
The one thing to enforce: wagers are written before the clue appears. If teams see the clue first, the wagering decision — the most interesting part of the format — disappears entirely.
Adapting the format
The format holds up across settings because the structure does the work. The categories can be a unit's objectives, a company's products, or a family's shared history, and the game plays the same.
For workplace versions, see [office Jeopardy](/office-jeopardy). For family and party versions, see [family Jeopardy](/family-jeopardy). To build a board yourself, Kleveroo's [Jeopardy board maker](/jeopardy-board-maker) is one option, and if you'd rather build it in a slide deck, [building a Google Slides board](/articles/google-slides-jeopardy-template) covers the hyperlink mechanics and what you'll be tracking by hand.
Jeopardy!® is a registered trademark of Jeopardy! Productions, Inc. Kleveroo is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Jeopardy! Productions, Inc. or Sony Pictures. Wagering minimums and response-format rules above are as published by Jeopardy Productions, Inc.; the house rules in part two are common adaptations, not official rules.