And the superchamps get a secret game to practice…

August 16, 2022 5:01 PM

After a season that featured three 20-plus-game-winners, the producers of Jeopardy! must have felt some pressure to supersize the Tournament of Champions as well. So they decided to put 21 contestants in, give the three superchamps a bye to the semis, and make the finals a first-to-three (similar to the GOAT tournament of January 2020). The TOC will also have a “play-in” Second Chance Tournament.
posted by Etrigan (13 comments total)

The descriptions of the format all seem off.

Amy, Matt, and Mattea have been given byes to the semifinals. The remaining 18 players will play over six quarterfinals to give 9 semifinalists. From there, we will have 3 semifinals...

Where do Amy, Matt, and Mattea fit in?

In Week 1, nine contestants will compete in regular games Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, the winners from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will play against one another to determine who will become the first Tournament of Champions competitor. The same process will occur in Week 2.

So, Thursday and Friday is best out of two?

I need to see a bracket.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:06 PM on August 16, 2022

6 quarter finalists + 3 super champions = 9 semifinalists.
posted by muddgirl at 9:37 PM on August 16, 2022

Oh and typically when they have a two-night final like they describe for the play-in tournament, the winner has the best combined score over two nights. But they could have made that clearer.
posted by muddgirl at 9:40 PM on August 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

Team Matt "What is..." Amodio.

Although I think, if I was setting the odds, Amy would be the favorite going in.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:49 PM on August 16, 2022

They really buried the lede there though; Ken Jennings will host!
posted by TedW at 5:31 AM on August 17, 2022

They really buried the lede there though; Ken Jennings will host!

The show really needs to figure out it’s hosting situation. Love, hate, be indifferent to, Mayim, it kind of sends a bad message when your biggest, richest, tournament of the year is hosted by the “now hosting Jeopardy” person, and not the “here’s the host of Jeopardy” person.

Personally, it’s going to be hard to split my allegiances between Amy and Mattea. Dog help me, though, if they bracket both of them into the same semi-final match, I’m gonna put a brick through the tv.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:00 AM on August 17, 2022

They announced at the end of last season that Ken and Mayim will be permanent co-hosts. Mayim is doing the prime time tournaments later next season.
posted by muddgirl at 6:34 AM on August 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

The producers are angling for a Amy/Matt/Mattea final so I would put money that they will be seeded in different semifinals.
posted by muddgirl at 6:36 AM on August 17, 2022

Yeah, you don't typically give some seeds a bye only to immediately pit them against each other. It'll most likely be Amy vs. the #6 and #3 point-total winners from the first round, Matt vs. #5 and #2, and Mattea vs. #4 and #1, maybe with #1 and #3 swapped. Though I'd also like a draft where the top three get to pick their opponents after the first round.
posted by Etrigan at 8:34 AM on August 17, 2022

I have a favorite player in the "second chance" round, so I'll definitely be tuning in those first two weeks of the play-in tourney. Do Park is a sportswriter covering the Minnesota Twins - so I will (hopefully) be cheering both him AND the Twins along as they attempt to overcome insurmountable odds in October.
posted by Gray Duck at 10:35 AM on August 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

So, Thursday and Friday is best out of two?

I need to see a bracket.

No, the finals are structured like the GOAT. It's first person to win three games. No more "combined scores" structure. So the finals can run anywhere from three games to seven games, depending. Those of us in the game show fandom parts of the Internet are theorizing about how they do the taping schedule. We're assuming that quarterfinals is a long tape day where they do six games instead of the usual five.
posted by parliboy at 11:41 AM on August 17, 2022

Those of us in the game show fandom parts of the Internet are theorizing about how they do the taping schedule. We're assuming that quarterfinals is a long tape day where they do six games instead of the usual five.

They'll probably just do a regular two-day five-and-fivefour schedule to get them through the six quarterfinals and then the three semifinals, then do the finals on a separate week of taping.
posted by Etrigan at 1:43 PM on August 17, 2022

And now that I think of it, they said that AM&M will get a full but unaired practice game to get back into buzzer shape, so that could be the tenth game in those first two days.
posted by Etrigan at 2:23 PM on August 17, 2022