November 27, 2000 - Rules !

To all Jeopardy! International Championship participants:

In reviewing the tapes of your performances on your countries' versions of "Jeopardy!", we find that there may be some slight variations in the manner in which our game and yours are played. Allow me to summarize the main points of our game:

1. No contestant is allowed to "ring in" (signal that they wish to respond to a clue) until after our host, Alex Trebek, has completely read the clue. As he reads the clue, you will be able to visually read the text, and prepare to press your signaling button at the moment the system is activated. (You will also be able to see small white lights around the game board turn on when the system is activated; however, you may want to time your "ringing in" with the host's reading of the clue). If you ring in before the host has finished reading the clue, your "ring in" is not acknowledged by the computer system, so you may wish to practice ringing in only after a clue is read, and you may also wish to get into the habit of pressing your signaling button more than once.

2. The signaling buttons to "ring in" on our show are small hand-held mechanisms affixed by a cord to the contestant podiums. The signaling button is pressed by either a thumb or finger gently tapping down the button. If a player rings in too early (before the system is armed), there is a lock-out for a fraction of a second during which that button is not operating. Therefore, it is generally not in one's best interest to continuously "hit" on the buttons prior to the system being armed. However, in some cases, if a player rings in too early, before the system is armed, it might be beneficial to ring in again.

3. If you ring in first, our host will call your name, and ask you to provide the correct response to the clue. Please wait until your names is called before giving any response, since only the first person to ring in gets the opportunity to respond. This response must be in the form of a question (so all responses must begin with "Who is ..." or "What is. . .").

4. Under separate cover, you will receive a videotape from a previous year's International competition, which may help you familiarize yourself with our format.

I feel confident that you will all perform well, and you will have the opportunity to practice not only the morning before the taping, but also during a briefing session which will be conducted one of the evenings prior to the taping.

I look forward to meeting you all.

Yours sincerely,



Rocky Schmidt,
Producer/JEOPARDY!