UPDATE: I got my numbers wrong. I didn’t remember to “carry the one” so to speak. Thankfully commenter Andy Saunders (who hangs with Ken Jennings!) stopped by to correct the numbers and answer my final Jeopardy question.
Here’s my nerdy trivia for the day.
I just figured out what the maximum dollar amount one could win playing Jeopardy!
It’s $352,800 $566,400 in one game.
The first round can max at $35,600 but it has to work like this:
- One person gets every question right, no one else gets anything correct
- The Daily Double in the first round has to be under one of the $200 clues and found last
- The contestant wagers everything on the Daily Double
The second round (Double Jeopardy) is a little trickier, but it can max at $140,800 if it goes like this:
- One person gets every question right, no one else gets anything correct
- The two Daily Doubles in the second round have to be under two of the $400 clues and found as the last two clues
- The contestant wagers everything on each Daily Double
If this “perfect game” were to happen, there would only be one person playing Final Jeopardy and they would have $176,400 $283,200. If that contestant wagered everything and got it correct they would finish with $352,800 $566,400.
Only trouble with this scenario is I’m not sure if they would allow only one person to play Final Jeopardy alone or not.
PS> In case you were wondering, the record for highest one-day total is $75,000 by Ken Jennings.
