Today's Final Jeopardy - December 26, 2018

Merry Christmas! Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Historical Geography) for Wednesday, December 26, 2018 (Season 35, Episode 78):

Most of the land fighting in the First Punic War between Rome & Carthage was on this island

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s contestants:

DeAnn Hale, a stay-at-home mom from Eagle Mountain, Utah
Deann Hale on Jeopardy!

Jon Barber, an investment professional from San Francisco, California
Jon Barber on Jeopardy!

Richard Koehler, a data scientist from Wilmington, Delaware (1-day total: $18,001)
Richard Koehler on Jeopardy!

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Correct response: What is Sicily?

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More information about Final Jeopardy:

The First Punic War, which took place from 264 BC to 241 BC, was largely a naval war, but did take place in spots on land in Sicily and Africa. It began in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines; the Mamertines enlisted the Carthaginian navy, and then proceeded to be turncoats, enlisting the help of the Romans. When the Romans sent assistance, Carthage was outraged, who then lent aid to Syracuse, and things escalated to a full-scale war.

While Carthage originally had naval superiority, the Romans quickly overcame that advantage and dominated the war.

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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!

Scores going into Final:
Jon $18,200
DeAnn $8,200
Richard $8,200

Tonight’s results:
Richard $8,200 + $8,200 = $16,400
DeAnn $8,200 – $8,198 = $2 (What is Crete?)
Jon $18,200 + $1,799 = $19,999 (1-day total: $19,999)

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Richard $4,600
Jon $2,800
DeAnn $2,200

Opening break taken after: 15 clues

Daily Double locations:
1) FAMILY TIES $1000 (27th pick)
Richard 7200 -3000 (Jon 2800 DeAnn 2000)
2) AROUND THE WORLD AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART $1600 (18th pick)
Jon 11600 +4000 (DeAnn 9400 Richard 5800)
3) AMERICAN HISTORY $1200 (19th pick)
Jon 15600 -1000 (DeAnn 9400 Richard 5800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -14

Unplayed clues:
J! round: DEATH ON THE NILE $1000
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $1,000

Game Stats:
Jon $16,800 Coryat, 25 correct, 6 incorrect, 50.00% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts
Richard $11,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 25.00% in first on buzzer, 4/4 on rebound attempts
DeAnn $8,200 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.64% in first on buzzer, 2/2 on rebound attempts
Combined Coryat Score: $36,200
Lach Trash: $6,200 (on 4 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,600

Richard Koehler, final stats:
42 correct, 4 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts
35.78% in first on buzzer (39/109)
0/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,600)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,200

Jon Barber, stats to date:
26 correct, 6 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts
50.00% in first on buzzer (28/56)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,800

Jon Barber, to win:
2 games: 59.08%
3: 34.90%
4: 20.62%
5: 12.18%
6: 7.20%
Avg. streak: 2.444 games.

Tournament of Champions projections:
With a projected 162 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 500,000 simulations, our model shows:
An average of 4.5657 5+-time champions (standard deviation 1.788).
An average of 8.2452 4+-time champions (standard deviation 2.2099).

An early cutoff took place 29.010% of the time (or a 5-game winner will be left out).

Jon Barber qualified 12.261% of the time.
Dave Leffler qualified 42.870% of the time.
Alex Schmidt qualified 18.212% of the time.
Jackie Fuchs qualified 4.659% of the time.
Mary Ann Borer qualified 0.967% of the time.
Kyle Becker qualified 0.095% of the time.

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1 Comment on "Today’s Final Jeopardy – December 26, 2018"

Andy Saunders | December 26, 2018 at 12:09 pm |

Mark Barrett has posted the following on J!Board:

It seemed like the DJ! round was edited a bit for the round’s completion to air in the proper time frame while accounting for the length of the Met category name and the video clues. In that editing process some of Jon’s correct phrasing was slightly clipped (or he was speaking before being completely called on by Alex) to make it sound like Jon was not using proper phrasing.

The contestants will use proper phrasing in the DJ! round or they will be busted. The powers hear everything. For the home viewers it can sometimes seem like there is a violation when none exists.