Jeopardy! by the Numbers: 10 You Need to Know

1925

The year Merv Griffin was born.

1964 The year Merv Griffin's wife Julann came up with the idea for a game show where the contestant gets the answer instead of the question. Merv's original name for the show was, indeed, What's the Question?

13,800

The number of clues the writers need to write each season, not including the 230 Final Jeopardy clues (yes, the smart readers have now figured out that there are 230 games per season).

17 The number of writers/researchers paid to come up with the clues. (8 writers, plus 2 producer/writers and 7 researchers)

194,795

The number of archived clues online at j-archive .

99 Percentage of clues that the Jeopardy! team says is "error-free."

5,280

One of the very first clues Julann posed to Merv when "pitching" him the new show idea. The question was, of course, How many feet in a mile?

20-40-60-80-100 The original value of each Double Jeopardy! clue for the first 11 years the show was on air. Today it's 400-800-1,200-1,600-2,000.

The number of consecutive games won by super _flosser Ken Jennings (total winnings = $2,520,700)

28 The record number of Daytime Emmy Awards the show has won