I searched the web far and wide for an editable Jeopardy! game that is functional, looks good, and makes the questions disappear after they’ve been taken. I couldn’t find one, so I made one. I incorporated the original sounds, colors, and fonts from the television show. Just like the real deal, there are two Daily Doubles. There is Final Jeopardy!, but I don’t do a Double Jeopardy! round because the game already takes quite a bit of time.
My students love playing this. We use it to review class novels, current events, and notes from Special Person Interviews. Answering Jeopardy! questions is a fun way for students to ask questions in the language. Hopefully you have your question words posted somewhere conspicuous.
How to Play
Give each group (3 or 4 students) a mini-whiteboard, dry erase marker, and an eraser. Here’s a set of 30 white boards, markers, and erasers that ships with Amazon Prime.
All teams attempt to answer each question on their whiteboard, so there is no buzzing in like in the traditional format of the game. This helps keep the whole class engaged. All teams that correctly answer the question receive the money for the question. Teams that answer incorrectly or provide an answer that you feel is incomprehensible lose the dollar amount for that question.
Groups wait to flip over their whiteboard until I call for the answer to prevent groups copying one another’s answers.
If the group that picked the question got it right and at least one team did not, then the group that picked the question gets to also choose the next question. If the team that picked the question got it wrong, then the next group in the rotation that got it correct gets to pick the next question. If all the teams answered the question correctly then I go to the next team in the rotation to change it up.
I have teams keep a running account of their money in a corner of their whiteboards, but you could also have someone who isn’t assigned to a team keep track of everyone’s score. I recommend that you review the procedures for placing a wager for Final Jeopardy prior to starting so that you don’t run out of time at the most exciting point in the game. A team can bet up to the amount of money it has. Teams in the negative can answer the Final Jeopardy! question but may not make a wager.
How to Set Up The Game
Write your questions so that the difficulty of the questions increases with the money. I like to re-cast the answer in a complete sentence when space permits on the answer card. This way, the students hear the correct answer posed as a question and then also read it immediately after.
I made the category title cards in Photoshop, but you could use any basic graphics program that come pre-installed on most computers.
When editing the PowerPoint to add your own questions and answers, be very careful not to change the order of any of the slides. If you mix up even one slide, the entire system of internal links will point to the wrong slides and the game will not work correctly. In this case, just download the file again and start over.
A Few Tips:
- Don’t underestimate how long it takes to get through all of the questions. You need to account for the time it will take to get students into their teams, gather their whiteboards, markers, and erasers.
- Encourage team members to discuss the question within their group, but keep the game moving. Click the speaker icon in the lower right corner of the question slide to indicate that time’s up.
- Based on my experience, this is one activity where it is important to assign teams based on familiarity/ability with the game questions so that one team of high flyers doesn’t run away with the game and cause the other groups to check out.
At 78 years old, there’s a good chance that the show’s host, Alex Trebek, will retire soon. Let’s do our part to help keep this legend alive with this generation of students!
Jeopardy! Game Template – Microsoft PowerPoint
I created the above game for Episode 1 of El Internado. Simply make your own category title cards and substitute your own questions and answers to adapt if for your purposes.
You can download the “Korinna” Jeopardy font that I used in my file free of charge here.
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Hi Marc — This sounds so wonderful! When I hit the download button, it gives me a message Failed, no file”. Is this just my computer?
Hi Marji,
Are you clicking on the download button itself or the link below? Click on the link that says “Jeopardy! Game Template – Microsoft PowerPoint.” The button is not actually the link, although I should probably make it one. Let me know if you’re able to download it now.