The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by gameshowfandanny »

Yeah, I got her mixed up with a Teen Tournament champion.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

So based on the information that's available on J! Archive, these are the early indicators for who may have been the alternates for the respective tournaments:

2021 - Elise Nussbaum - 3 wins - $79,600, Jessica Babbitt - 3 wins - $71,598
2019 - Ryan Bilger - 4 wins - $107,049 (beat Dave Leffler's 4x total of $100,102, but TPTB used discretion to invite Emma Boettcher; invited to 2021)
2017 - Tim Kutz - 4 wins - $107,000
2015 - Sean Anderson - 3 wins - $71,600
2014 - Mike Lewis - 4 wins - $102,800
2013 - Patrick Morrison - 3 wins - $80,701
2011 - Sara Heard - 4 wins - $85,601
2010 - Kevin Joyce - 3 wins - $111,299
2009 - Meredith Robbins - 4 wins - $48,700
2007 - Julie Dunlevy - 3 wins - $73,800
2006 - Bud Humphrey - 3 wins - $56,599
2004 - Patrick Macaraeg - 3 wins - $83,002
2003 - Faith Love - 4 wins - $40,801
2001 - Mark Dawson - 5 wins - $52,599 ($105,198), Alan Bailey - 5 wins - $61,501 ($123,002) (influx of 5x winners, both invited to 2003)
2000 - Jason Karpf - 4 wins - $46,499 ($92,998)
1999 - Louis Cohen - 4 wins - $48,203 ($96,406)
1998 - Bob Willoughby - 3 wins - $36,001 ($72,002)
1996 - Gareth Jones - 4 wins - $27,796 ($55,592)
1995 - Richard Rasmussen - 3 wins - $40,600 ($81,200)
1994 - Bob Majeska? - 4 wins - $33,300 ($66,600)
1993 - Steve Saum - 3 wins - $35,001 ($70,002)
1992 - Josh Vincent - 4 wins - $58,800 ($117,600)
1991 - David Epstein? - 4 wins - $46,101 ($92,202)
1990 - Paula Massengale? - 4 wins - $50,901 ($101,802)
1989 - Jack Lechner - 4 wins - $33,300 ($66,600)
1988 - Michael Shutterly? - 4 wins - $49,200 ($98,400) - apparently not
1987 - Jim Ryan? - 4 wins - $30,250 ($60,500)
1986 - Dan Alves? - 3 wins - $36,100 ($72,200)
1985 - Richard Landon? - 4 wins - $31,400 ($62,800)
Last edited by finishemzoe on Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:48 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present)

Post by yclept »

finishemzoe wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:16 am
seaborgium wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:59 am
finishemzoe wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:39 am Also, please, if you can find any relevant information on Barbara Lowe's run and how much she won, that would really help me complete this list in making it more accurate.
The $50,000 figure for her seems to have been an exaggeration. In a thread about her when video of her second FJ surfaced, Roadgeek Adam shared a newspaper article by Clint Swett, who finished out the week as J! champion directly after Barbara was retired. He reported that she came into his taping as the returning champion with over $14,000 for two wins, which the video bears out as true. He then says that she won two more games and another $10,000 before the dinner break, and that at the end of her fifth game, "She waltzed off the stage more than $30,000 richer," and I think that's meant to represent her five-day total rather than her earnings in the three games of that taping. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5688&p=332385#p332385
Hey! So I actually remember reading this, and now that you broke it down that way it makes a lot more sense. When I saw it, I thought that meant that she had acquired over $30,000 in the last game (to add up to ~$54k), which would frankly be quite insane given the time period. That probably would have been more of a popular media attraction too at the time, since $30k wasn't known to be broken until Frank Spangenberg's fifth game, IIRC. I'm willing to wager that most people on these boards haven't seen Barbara's games all that time ago, and if they did it's probably difficult to remember now. But for now I guess it's just a lost media mystery until more info potentially leaks.

edit: corrected Sahir's name as well, my apologies for the mistake.
I watched a lot of Jeopardy in the mid 1980s. I would be shocked if I didn’t see her games. Do I remember them? Nope.

Thing is, I have a darn good memory of things. I think I would have at least somewhat remembered a contestant who did some of the things she was supposedly known for (questioning Alex when she was ruled wrong. She also supposedly didn’t hold back her happiness when a fellow contestant got something wrong, etc.). But I don’t.

She obviously played pretty well against a 4-day champ in Game 1 (Around $10K or so, given her two day total).

Seriously, I think Jeopardy should allow a re-air at this point. It could make for an interesting scandal special. The show isn’t going to be humiliated 35 years later. I think many people would just love to watch it to see how close she really is to her legend.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

Alright, I've updated the list with most of the alleged alternates. I've only entered the ones confirmed, along with some that I feel certain enough about to put them on the list. I'm about 50/50 on Richard Landon being the '85 alternate, not too certain on Steve Willis being the '86 alternate, not at all confident on Jim Ryan for '87. '89 and '91 aren't for certain either, but I feel pretty confident on Lechner and Epstein. If any TOCers from these classes still visit this board, confirmation on this would be appreciated.

Patrick Hume's total of $60,500 has also been finalized for now.

Edit: Carl Brady (4x, $24,900) earned more than Jim Ryan, so he's now the assumed alternate unless more info is provided otherwise.

Edit 2: Turns out I was right about Jim Ryan being the next top pick after Roger Storm, but had his total incorrect. His total being less than $1,000 short of Roger Storm's ($31,200 to $30,250) leads me to believe that he was probably the alternate for 1987. I'm most uncertain on Steve Willis and Richard Landon, but I'm more 50/50 on Landon.
Last edited by finishemzoe on Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present)

Post by finishemzoe »

yclept wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:56 pm
finishemzoe wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:16 am
seaborgium wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:59 am
finishemzoe wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:39 am Also, please, if you can find any relevant information on Barbara Lowe's run and how much she won, that would really help me complete this list in making it more accurate.
The $50,000 figure for her seems to have been an exaggeration. In a thread about her when video of her second FJ surfaced, Roadgeek Adam shared a newspaper article by Clint Swett, who finished out the week as J! champion directly after Barbara was retired. He reported that she came into his taping as the returning champion with over $14,000 for two wins, which the video bears out as true. He then says that she won two more games and another $10,000 before the dinner break, and that at the end of her fifth game, "She waltzed off the stage more than $30,000 richer," and I think that's meant to represent her five-day total rather than her earnings in the three games of that taping. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5688&p=332385#p332385
Hey! So I actually remember reading this, and now that you broke it down that way it makes a lot more sense. When I saw it, I thought that meant that she had acquired over $30,000 in the last game (to add up to ~$54k), which would frankly be quite insane given the time period. That probably would have been more of a popular media attraction too at the time, since $30k wasn't known to be broken until Frank Spangenberg's fifth game, IIRC. I'm willing to wager that most people on these boards haven't seen Barbara's games all that time ago, and if they did it's probably difficult to remember now. But for now I guess it's just a lost media mystery until more info potentially leaks.

edit: corrected Sahir's name as well, my apologies for the mistake.
I watched a lot of Jeopardy in the mid 1980s. I would be shocked if I didn’t see her games. Do I remember them? Nope.

Thing is, I have a darn good memory of things. I think I would have at least somewhat remembered a contestant who did some of the things she was supposedly known for (questioning Alex when she was ruled wrong. She also supposedly didn’t hold back her happiness when a fellow contestant got something wrong, etc.). But I don’t.

She obviously played pretty well against a 4-day champ in Game 1 (Around $10K or so, given her two day total).

Seriously, I think Jeopardy should allow a re-air at this point. It could make for an interesting scandal special. The show isn’t going to be humiliated 35 years later. I think many people would just love to watch it to see how close she really is to her legend.
Hi there, thank you for your perspective. She played against Lionel Goldbart and won, if that helps any. March 1986. I doubt that provides more info than what you know, but maybe it'll help refresh the time period at least.

This is probably going a step beyond your memory at this point, but any ideas on who some of the 1980s TOC alternates are? Afaik, the only one confirmed is Michael Shutterly of 1988. I have possible choices marked in my other comment, but I don't have much confidence in a few of them.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

I don't know if I'm digging myself into a hole at this point, but I'm now considering expanding the list to include all $25,000+ winners from the pre-doubled era, since there are a lot of great players from those seasons that aren't accounted for on here, and because that would obviously be $50,000 minimum in doubled amounts. I'm also going to include all 4-time winners as a minimum, since Gary Palmer's 4x total of $18,400 is the minimum qualifying score that made a TOC. This means players like Kirstin Cutts and Phillip Steele from the post-doubled era will be accounted for, despite them having less than $50,000. I won't be including any other players who made less than $50,000 from the post-doubled era, or $25,000 from the pre-doubled era, however. Since the lowest TOC-qualifying 3x winner was Aaron Thompson with $57,899 (roughly $29,000 in pre-doubled amounts), I don't see any point in going below $50k or $25k for people who won 1-3 games, since those players would never qualify for a TOC. it's rare enough that 3x winners ever qualify. hope y'all understand. Players who won 4 games and less money than Gary Palmer will be accounted for as well, such as Sid Moore, Jr. or Marc Goldberg.

The list will likely be incomplete for a while, since not every player is accounted for on the archive. I have no idea how big that number is, but I'll make the effort regardless until the day we have access to all games, if that ever comes... I hope it comes.
Last edited by finishemzoe on Fri Apr 23, 2021 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by Bamaman »

Still a ways to go. Today’s game was number 7005 in the archive and it was the 8404th game played since 1984. And quite a few of games from the first 12 seasons are just partials.

Also, not all TOCers are even represented. Only seven from the first season have a regular game archived.

Obviously, the archivers are limited to what games get randomly posted on video sites or if someone discovers on an old tape in their closet. With the death of the VCR, there are probably lots of games out there people have no way of watching.

I agree the Barbara Lowe games might make for a fun documentary on GSN like they did for the Press Your Luck guy. But the games themselves might not be as interesting as we think. Some of her mid-game protests might have been edited out for TV.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

Bamaman wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:12 pm Still a ways to go. Today’s game was number 7005 in the archive and it was the 8404th game played since 1984. And quite a few of games from the first 12 seasons are just partials.

Also, not all TOCers are even represented. Only seven from the first season have a regular game archived.

Obviously, the archivers are limited to what games get randomly posted on video sites or if someone discovers on an old tape in their closet. With the death of the VCR, there are probably lots of games out there people have no way of watching.

I agree the Barbara Lowe games might make for a fun documentary on GSN like they did for the Press Your Luck guy. But the games themselves might not be as interesting as we think. Some of her mid-game protests might have been edited out for TV.
I think any player going on a 5 win streak makes for good TV honestly, but yeah I feel like they were edited out as well. Granted, the documentary could always include that footage as extras, if it were to ever happen. It would make it a more compelling watch.

Funny you mention VCR, I had a few tapes back in the day, when I was like 8 or 9 years old, of several games. A few come to mind like Tom Walsh's 6th game, David Madden's 7th game, a few UTOC matches, and some other regular matches. Sadly, those tapes are lost somewhere in the abyss of Earth, and I certainly don't own a VCR right now. I think the only way to get more games is just to make it of higher demand to the producers, and that'll probably never happen until the show goes off the air or something. They're already very selective as it is.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

List has been updated to include all $25,000+ winners from the pre-doubled era (as of now) and Mike Nelson. All 4-time champions are accounted for as well.

Barbara Lowe is no longer on the list until I can get an official confirmation of what her 5-day total was, if ever. Dan Alves and Rob Lai are two alleged 3-time champions from the 1986 season with unknown totals, so they're not accounted for on the list although there is some curiosity to be had about their totals.

That should be it for now, until more $50,000+ winners come along, and when the TOC airs.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

Movements on the leaderboard post-quarterfinal games for eliminated players:

---

41st place: MacKenzie Jones - $209,808

148th place: Paul Trifiletti - $111,801

176-185th place: Ben Henri - $105,000

217th place: Andy Wood - $96,999

229th place: Sarah Jett Rayburn - $94,300

239th place: Steve Moulds - $90,603

---

137th place: Brayden Smith - $115,798

---

Current regular game champion:

555th place: Amanda Ganske - $53,199*
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by JoshuaSianturi »

Hi finishemzoe,

You wrote at #481, Kevin Rhode. It is supposed to be Tyler Rhode.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

JoshuaSianturi wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:42 am Hi finishemzoe,

You wrote at #481, Kevin Rhode. It is supposed to be Tyler Rhode.
hi there! it's been updated as of today (11/2)'s result, thank you for notifying. i hardly get on here nowadays, but i'm still updating the leaderboard as i watch the show.

you can call me bliss. :)
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

In response to the NCC's rising popularity, as well as the inspiration people are feeling from all three finalists, I've expanded my leaderboard criteria to include all finalists from every non-TOC tournament: Seniors, Teen, College, International, Teachers, Professors, and Wildcard (or Second Chance, or whatever they're going to call it). This also includes the 4th place finishers in the Teen Reunion and the NCC.

I'm also still working on compiling tournament results in separate spreadsheets.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

I added consolation prizes that each player earned ($1k or $2k) because I got bored.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by Robert K S »

finishemzoe wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 7:51 pm I added consolation prizes that each player earned ($1k or $2k) because I got bored.
That's awesome!
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

Just entered all tournament results (teen, seniors, teachers/professors, college, special, etc) and now every player on the board should be up to date! Also extended the board to include all tournament finalists since some of them surpassed the $50,000 and $25,000 limits.

This will probably be the last comment I make in this thread until the big tournaments start airing.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by countyguy »

I hate to bother you, but it now says that I need access in order to view the list.

Thank you so much for all of your work!
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by finishemzoe »

It's public again, sorry for the concerns.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by MDaunt »

Wish I could confirm or deny Gareth Jones as the alternate in 1996, but I just don't remember. If I saw a picture, I would know - I remember what he looked like (actually, I have a picture of all the contestants, including the alternate, to compare it to).

Otherwise - shocked to find I'm still in the top 100. There must be some sort of mistake.
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Re: The all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard (1984-present) (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Post by MarkBarrett »

MDaunt wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 12:06 am Wish I could confirm or deny Gareth Jones as the alternate in 1996, but I just don't remember. If I saw a picture, I would know - I remember what he looked like (actually, I have a picture of all the contestants, including the alternate, to compare it to).

Otherwise - shocked to find I'm still in the top 100. There must be some sort of mistake.
It, of course, does not work for every contestant, but for Gareth Jones I did a board search specifying my posts and then Gareth's name: viewtopic.php?p=360917#p360917
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