30+ Jeopardy Sample Questions and Categories

I’ve heard that some people play Jeopardy in their home — like at a party or something. These folks go to the internet to find Jeopardy categories and questions to use for this.

And pages like this are where they find sample topics, easy questions, and correct answers.

On this page, I’ve listed over 30 sample categories and questions.

You can use these to host your own home version of the game show, but you can also use them to prepare and study to be a competitor on the live show.

All these categories, questions, and answers come directly from the TV show.

Be sure to also check out my post about Jeopardy slot machines.

About Jeopardy Questions

Jeopardy questions seem so unique because they are the answers to clues revealed on the Jeopardy board.

The first time you watch Jeopardy, it takes a little time to get used to the Q&A format.

Even if you’ve watched the game show for years, the first time you play the card game, you might find it tricky to blurt out questions instead of answers.

Jeopardy Categories and Topics

Jeopardy categories and topics also take some getting used to.

The old Saturday Night Live skits where Will Ferrell plays Alex Trebek hit the nail on the head when it always seemed to include the “Potent Potables” category.

Snappy category titles and puns tend to dot the Jeopardy board.

You don’t have to embarrass yourself by thinking up your own clever phrases for categories. I’ve provided several topics below. I’ve also linked to a huge archived list of real categories.

All you have to do is click on some links and jot down the name information.

I’ll show you how.

Sample Jeopardy Categories

These categories come from late in Jeopardy Season 27. These should be old enough that longtime viewers have forgotten them, but current enough that competitors won’t be turned off by them.

I mainly list these categories separately from their clues to provide a sample to those who aren’t familiar with the world’s greatest tv trivia game.

Later on this page, I offer clue lists to go along with these categories.

Here’s a quick explanation of each category:

• Tools of the Writer’s Trade – Self-explanatory.
• Quarterback U. – Match quarterback with their college alma mater.
• The “N” Crowd – Last names starting with N.
• Flaming Foods – Foods cooked by flame.
• Rivers – Names of rivers around the globe.
• Animals in Italian – Italian words for animals.
• The Old West (Double Jeopardy) – American frontier clues.
• Books & Movies (Double Jeopardy) – Completes a book title, begins a film title.
• Julius Caesar Salad (Double Jeopardy) – Words derived from Julius Caesar.
• Boning Up (Double Jeopardy) – Questions about bone structure.
• Big Stuff (Double Jeopardy) – Phrases beginning with the word “big”.
• The Sanders of Time (Double Jeopardy) – People named Sanders.

Sample Jeopardy Questions

Below are the questions that came with each category above.

Remember that the answers are framed in question form. So, the answer to the $200 “Tools of the Writer’s Trade” question would be “What is an index card?”

If not framed that way on Jeopardy, the answer is considered incorrect.

Remember that the “Daily Double” questions don’t have a set value. They allow you to double-up on your money amount by placing a wager on the outcome of the question.

Here’s an example:

If you have $1200, and you wager $1200, you’ll either get the answer right and have $2400, or you’ll get it wrong and be back to $0.

In the event you don’t have $1000, you can wager up to $1000, though this means you could go into the negative cash if you miss the answer.

Also, remember you can wager less than your total amount. So, if you have $1200, you could wager $1000, $800, $600, $200, or some other dollar amount.

Tools of the Writer’s Trade

$200 – Nabokov’s novels all began on 3×5 these, which he kept under his pillow in case of inspiration – Answer: an index card
$400 – In 2009 this, on which Cormac McCarthy produced 5 million words, sold for over $250,000 at auction – Answer: a typewriter
$600 – At London’s Charles Dickens museum, visitors can handle Dickens’ own pen of this type – Answer: a fountain pen
$800 – Raymond Chandler composed screenplays by talking into this machine, a brand name copyrighted in 1907 – Answer: a dictaphone
$1000 – Steinbeck was obsessed with these; the Mongol 2 3/8 model came closest to the perfect point – Answer: a pencil

Quarterback U.

$200 – Peyton Manning – Answer: University of Tennessee
$400 – Vince Young – Answer: University of Texas
$600 – Steve Young – Answer: BYU (Brigham Young)
$800 – Drew Brees – Answer: Purdue
$1000 – Jim Kelly & Gino Torretta – Answer: University of Miami

The “N” Crowd

$200 – He was a great rugby & lacrosse player but he’s better known as “The Father of Basketball” – Answer: Naismith
$400 – Once in the news himself, today this marine colonel hosts “War Stories” on the Fox News Channel – Answer: (Ollie) North
$600 – After a breakdown around 1919, this Russian-born ballet dancer spent the rest of his life in & out of asylums – Answer: Najinksy
$800 (Daily Double) – He not only won the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature, he also served in the Chilean senate – Answer: (Pablo) Neruda
$1000 – Egypt’s president from 1956 to 1970, he dreamed of leading the whole Arab world – Answer: Nasser

Rivers

$200 – As the central river artery, this is one of the world’s busiest waterways – Answer: the Mississippi
$400 – Although its ultimate source is still debated, this river flows into the Atlantic – Answer: the Amazon
$600 – From two small sources, this river flows to the North Sea – Answer: the Rhine
$800 – The head of this river is dry for much of the year and flows to an estuary on the North Sea – Answer: the Thames
$1000 – Flowing westward, this river has a drainage basin that covers seven states – Answer: the Colorado

Flaming Foods

$200 – “Joy of Cooking” instructions for making this cherry dessert: “Standing back, ignite with a long lighted match – Answer: cherries jubilee
$400 – Henri Charpentier is said to have created this dessert crepes dish by accident; the dish was a flaming success – Answer: Crepe Suzette
$600 – You can make a flaming version of this tex-mex dish whose name means “little sashes” – Answer: fajitas
$800 – This dessert, cake & ice cream browned in the oven, can be flambeed for a dramatic presentation – Answer: Baked Alaskan
$1000 – Brennan’s in New Orleans says that this flaming fruity dessert is the most requested item on its menu – Answer: Bananas Foster

Animals in Italian

$200 – Avoid the sting as you tell us that un’ape is this insect – Answer: the bee
$400 – If you’re called un asino, you’re either a fool, or this animal – Answer: a donkey
$600 – That’s the scariest ragno, one of these, I’ve ever seen! Don’t tell Signorina Muffet – Answer: a spider
$800 – Un cane is this; ready for walkies? – Answer: a dog
$1000 – It really gets me that una capra is one of these farm animals – Answer: a goat

Sample Double Jeopardy Questions

These questions are from the Double Jeopardy categories in the same episode as above.

In Double Jeopardy, the answers are a little harder, but the corresponding answers double in value.

The values can really change in Double Jeopardy, since an incorrect answer results in twice the points being deducted.

The Old West

$400 – The first of his cowboy hats was called the boss of the plains; Carlsbad, the most popular model, followed – Answer: Stetson
$800 – The act of herding cattle; death was sometimes called “the last” one – Answer: the roundup
$1200 – In 1859 this Nevada town sprung up virtually overnight with the discovery of the Comstock Lode – Answer: Virginia City
$1600 – In 1867 Joseph McCoy set up a shipping yard in Abilene, Kansas to hold Texas cattle arriving on this trail – Answer: Chisolm Trail
$2000 – As the result of an injury suffered in his first gunfight in 1876, he began using a cane & often used it as a weapon – Answer: Bat Masterson

Books & Movies

$400 – The Power and the ___ Daze – Answer: Glory
$800 – The Confessions of Nat ___ and Hooch – Answer: Turner
$1200 – The Painted ___ on a Wire – Answer: Bird
$1600 – Vanity ___ Game – Answer: Fair
$2000 – The Red and the ___ Knight – Answer: Black

Julius Caesar Salad

$400 – In 2008 a marble one of these was found in a French river, apparently thrown there right after Caesar’s fall – Answer: a bust
$800 – It’s named for Julius Caesar & is sometimes written in a date as “7” – Answer: July
$1200 – In Spanish the name becomes this, as on former boxing champion Chavez – Answer: Julio Caesar Chavez
$1600 – (Daily Double) – This 5-word line spoken by the soothsayer is a quote from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” – Answer: Beware the Ides of March
$2000 – In 45 B.C. Caesar was given permission to wear this, which he appreciated as it covered his baldness – Answer: a laurel wreath

Boning Up

$400 – The name of this condition that affects mostly women literally means “porous bone” – Answer: osteoporosis
$800 – This fatty substance inside the bones is a major site of blood cell production – Answer: the marrow
$1200 – Your false ribs are so called because unlike your true ribs, they aren’t attached to this breastbone – Answer: the sternum
$1600 – (Daily Double) – This bone with a ball-&-socket joint at one end is about 1/4 of your height – Answer: the femur
$2000 – Kelly of the Clue Crew shows an anatomical animation on the monitor.) Most broken bones in children are this type of fracture with a colorful name, in which the break cuts only partway through the bone – Answer: a greenstick

“Big” Stuff

$400 – Jazz musicians & jockeys helped give New York City this nickname – Answer: the Big Apple
$800 – If you’re under this, you’re at the circus – Answer: the big top
$1200 – Digit also known as the hallux – Answer: the big toe
$1600 – In France this feature of the night sky is known as “le casserole” – Answer: the Big Dipper
$2000 – Rhyming nickname of Boston’s Interstate 93 construction project – Answer: the Big Dig

The Sanders of Time

$400 – A Louisville museum is devoted to the success story of this man who was famous for his breasts, thighs & legs – Answer: Col. Sander
$800 – In an episode of this Garry Shandling series, the title star thinks David Duchovny is hitting on him – Answer: The Larry Sanders Show
$1200 – This Heisman trophy winner played his college ball at Oklahoma State – Answer: Barry Sanders
$1600 – Olympic gold medal swimmer and TV personality seen here – Answer: Summer Sanders
$2000 – On Dec. 10, 2010 he conducted a one-man, 9-hour filibuster on the Senate floor to protest a tax bill – Answer: Bernie Sanders

Sample Final Jeopardy Question

Once you’ve finished Double Jeopardy, players move on to the Final Jeopardy.

You’re shown a category (“World History” in this case) and given the opportunity to wager all, none, or some of the prize money you’ve won so far.

The other players do the same.

If you get the answer right, you win the amount you wagered. If you get the answer wrong, you lose a corresponding amount.

Final Jeopardy allows 30 seconds to write down the correct answer.

Jeopardy strategies exist for deciding how much to wager, but the player in the lead usually wagers what it will take to beat their 2nd place opponent’s score if it were doubled–usually you bet twice their total plus $1.

Here’s the sample Final Jeopardy question:

Final Jeopardy!: Surus was the last known one of these to survive a mountain crossing in the 3rd century B.C. – Answer: an elephant

Where to Find More Jeopardy Questions and Categories

To find a huge archive of Jeopardy categories and questions, go to J! Archive.

That site records the questions, answers, and categories from Jeopardy episodes. While the resource doesn’t include every Jeopardy episode since the series relaunch back in 1984, J-Archive has a lot of them.

The site has over 216,000 different Jeopardy clues and answers.

It might take a little while to get your info, but you’ll be able to host a Jeopardy night with official questions and answers.

To see the answer to a listed clue, simply roll the cursor over the corresponding dollar value in the box with the question.

Good luck and have a great time playing the best trivia game in the world.