Welcome back to my weekly Mailbag column! As always, if you have a question that you’d like me to answer, email me at mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com and I’ll answer it in the column!
I’d like to apologize for the shortness of this column; for those of you who aren’t following my personal social media, I had a painful fall last evening and am recuperating from that. Nothing is broken, just bruised, but I have been in pain for most of today and I’ve been unable to work to the fullest of my ability. I considered pushing back the entire column a week, but instead decided that I would publish the one letter that I had already composed a reply to. I very much appreciate your understanding.
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
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Triple Zero?
Leo asks,
With all the tournament play this season, I’ve been wondering what would happen if all 3 contestants finished Final with 0 dollars in a tournament game. I know in a regular game there would be 3 new contestants the next day, but in tournaments it is set up so that someone must advance…
You’re right! Someone must advance! In fact, after the only time a “someone must advance”-type game, Semifinal #2 of the 2013 Teen Tournament, ended in a triple-zero and the show used the less-than-satisfactory “wild card to the final” solution, it instituted a rule. Any game where that is declared that one player must advance (i.e. any tournament game) that ends with three players on $0 will be decided with a three-way tiebreaker clue.
It might feel counter-intuitive to the usual mantra of “Zero is never a winning score”, but that’s the best way for the show to operate in this case. The alternative would be “we have to sequester everyone in every round before the final, just in case there’s a triple-zero”, and that’s unworkable for numerous reasons—namely, the show has taken to taping quarterfinals in 27-player events over two successive days, and it is impossible to operate an overnight sequester.
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So sorry about your fall! Don’t these things seem to always happen at the most inconvenient times? I’m glad you had a question already answered — going with one this weekend seemed the best option. Thanks!
Merry Christmas! (It’s midnight where I am.)
Was wonderinf what happened to your regular Saturday feature. Now I lnow. OUCH!
I’m sure that you know to take it slow. and. let your body recover on it’s own terms.
Hi Andy. I hope that you feel better quickly from your fall. I understand your pain, as I recently crashed and burned into a sidewalk myself. I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and are feeling like your old self soon.
Hope you feel better soon,Andy!