Ken Jennings is the greatest Jeopardy! player of all time.
In Tuesday night’s match, the 4th in a set of prime-time Jeopardy! specials, Jennings, a 45- year-old author from Washington state, bested Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer to earn the GOAT title. He arrived to the competition as a titan: In 2004, he won 74 successive video games, a streak that imbued him with the radiance of a trivia god. The cash was huge– between his initial runs, subsequent invite-only tournaments, and this week’s brand-new bounty, he’s earned over $4.5 million in winnings– however the cultural impact was bigger. In the years that followed, Jennings wrote books, publication columns, and puzzles for any factoid-consuming fans who wished to channel their inner Ken. Jeopardy! became part of his life.
Still, the Greatest of All Time champion offered something completely new. Going up versus Rutter, who beat him in the Fight of the Years competition in 2014, and Holzhauer, whose gameplay calculus turned him into Jeopardy!
Polygon spoke with Jennings shortly after his big win to understand the pressure of the game, review his Jeopardy! career, and question aloud if there’s more answer-questioning in the GOAT’s future.
Polygon: First of all, congratulations.
Jeopardy! does a fantastic job.
What did you leave watching?
I stated I wasn’t going to see it, and then my family kept having it on, and I kept discovering myself getting drawn in since I’ve simply been a Jeopardy! fan my whole life.
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Was there a hesitation about returning for this video game? Putting your reputation on the line isn’t easy.
I actually stated no. When they informed me that they desired the huge face-off with me and James and Brad, I stated, “No, I believe I’m past my Jeopardy! prime.” And fortunately, they talked me into it. I was very stressed about the whole thing, and after that the video game started and everything sort of gotten rid of, due to the fact that I love playing the game a lot, and all those good memories came back. Brad and James were loose and fun, and it was a really excellent week, I believe, win or lose, for all three of us.
How far ahead did you devote to the program? The length of time did you have to practice?
And I thought, No, currently?! Like, I thought I was out, but they pulled me back in. I had my Godfather Part III minute. That did give me a few months, and I understood who I was going to face– which was a genuine novelty for Jeopardy!
Viewing the champion, it appeared clear that this was not how you played Jeopardy! throughout your original run.
Well, during my original streak, I just played one video game at a time. My technique was constantly simply to get through this video game, you know, to remain loose, enjoy, and keep it going. Which ended up being a fantastic strategy to rattle off a long streak– just to play like I do on my couch. However that wasn’t going to work against James Holzhauer. You’re going to need to hunt strongly for Daily Doubles, and you’re going to have to bet substantial on every chance that comes your way. Swing for the fences, and often you’re going to miss out on, however it’s a best of seven, essentially, so swing for the fences and hope that you link on a couple of.
So how did you prep for this tournament?
I watched a ton of James’ video games, mostly so I wouldn’t get frightened. The secret of James’ success is just that he’s so controling out of the gate that the other participants just feel like they have actually lost by the very first commercial. Like they beat themselves. Therefore a lot of it was just watching just to believe, Hey, this is definitely going to happen. because this person is frightening as hell. Um, do not take yourself out of the video game.
How important is your relationship to Alex to playing the game? Do you have an understanding of his vocal mannerisms?
If you’re a Jeopardy! I saw a heap of Jeopardy! in preparation for this, just kind of getting back into the rhythm of his voice and trying to regain that.
When does the buzzer really permit you to call in?
You can’t buzz as soon as you know it. You need to wait on Alex to end up reading the question. When he does, a human someplace turns the switch, triggering your buzzer. And if you buzz in early, prior to your buzzer’s triggered, you get locked out for a fraction of a second. And naturally, if you take too long, you get beat. So there is a very narrow window– perhaps, like, a syllable or a half syllable after Alex finishes reading the question– where you wish to buzz like insane. You’ve simply got to discover that millisecond.
You possess a wealth of trivia understanding, however suddenly, Jeopardy! is like shooting proton torpedoes into the Death Star. Do you have a background playing physical video games that assists you with that coordination?
I have a background in being very competitive at games. I am not a big video game player. I did kind of get extremely addicted to Mario Kart 64 in college, and I had very poor grades for a term.
Has James essentially interrupted how Jeopardy! will be played in the future?
Absolutely. I was on Jeopardy! for six months, and absolutely nothing I did, anybody will ever consider a method to duplicate, since I’m simply screaming out answers. He had a thought-out approach that is amazing to me. He saw Jeopardy! and thought, For 35 years, individuals have been playing this wrong. I have a concept, however I’m simply going to try it out on my very first time on the stage. I’m simply going to play the video game an absolutely different method. And if you’re an extremely knowledgeable, precise player like he is, that’s just unstoppable. I believe you’re going to see more strong players in Jeopardy! in the future, attempting to play his method and winning big. And I believe you’re going to see a few deluded players try to play his method and self-destruct.
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What classification turns up on the board and makes you gulp?
That’s the Jeopardy! trick: You have to know a little bit about whatever. That’s why you have to be young on Jeopardy!
Which brings us to an important concern: Where did you find out “OKAY boomer” in order to use it throughout the tournament?
Everyone understands “OKAY boomer”! I have actually been railing about the Infant Boomers my whole life. My kids are going to grow up on an undersea planet due to the fact that of the Infant Boomers. I was not going to get beat to that.
Exists a concern from your many work on Jeopardy! that haunts you to this day?
Just because I didn’t know enough about the love lives of U.S. secretaries of state.
Your very first record-breaking work on Jeopardy! altered your life by offering you the possibility to shift professions and own a reputation of being fantastic at trivia. What will winning this competition provide for you?
I believe it lets me move on. It always type of pestered me that I kept finishing in 2nd place in all these Jeopardy! competitions, which’s what kept me returning for more. And I feel like now I can gladly retire and end up being a happy ex-game program entrant. I did whatever I set out to do on the program, I’m a little bit previous my prime, and it’s time to hang up my stimulates and my buzzer and ride off into the sunset.
Alex isn’t looking to retire, but in theory, Jeopardy! will go on without him.
To address that concern, it would need believing about a variation of Jeopardy! without Alex Trebek, and I have actually not emotionally prepared for that.
OK, so when can we anticipate you on Wheel of Fortune?
If my country requires me, yes, I will be on Wheel
