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Jeopardy! is a pretty straight-forward game, even though it might not seem like it at first. When you get to the bottom of it, you’ll find that Jeopardy! is not all that complicated. Three contestants get to answer trivia questions for a chance to win some money. …But what happens if two or three contestants come out of Final Jeopardy with the same exact score?

That situation, though infrequent, needs to be dealt with. Jeopardy! finally figured out what to do in 2016, when they officially introduced the new rules on tiebreakers in the game. It was a long road before that, paved with multiple winners and even more losers. Keep reading to find out all there is to know about ties on Jeopardy!.

Imagine the unlikely scenario of a two-way, or even a three-way, tie after Final Jeopardy. All the contestants answered correctly and are ready to walk away with their winnings. To explain just how unlikely this scenario is, all three contestants must have the exact same amount of winnings and it cannot be $0. Believe it or not, that actually happened once in 2007. There was a three-way tie, and Anders Martinson, Jamey Kirby, and Scott Weiss all walked away with $16,000. Here is a video!

Even though that was a single incident in the history of Jeopardy!, the show runners have learned their lesson and realized that they needed to implement some rules in case of ties. Up until 2014, it was decided that in case of a tie after Final Jeopardy, both or all three contestants were named co-champions and given their winnings at the end of the show.

It wasn’t until years later that Jeopardy! implemented the tie-breaker rule. If two or more players buzz in the correct answer in Final Jeopardy and end up with the same exact score, they are given a tiebreaker clue. There is no reward for getting that questions right, except, well, winning the game. The first person to buzz in the correct answer wins. If, however, one of the contestants answers incorrectly, the other one doesn’t win by default; they still have to answer the question. If neither player was able to answer correctly, they can have another go with another tiebreaker clue.

It is widely believed that the rules regarding tiebreakers changed in 2016. According to multiple sources, Jeopardy! officially accepted the new tiebreaker rule in 2016. Prior to that, there could technically be two or three co-champions in the rare case of a tie. It is speculated that the reason Jeopardy! changed the rules was because of payouts. It sucks to have to distribute up to three payouts instead of one, right?

Of course, we believe that that’s not the only reason for the recent change in the tie breaking rules. As with most games, there should only be one winner. At least that’s what Jeopardy! believes, anyway. The relatively new rule regarding tiebreakers doesn’t change all that much for the players anyway. The contestants come on the show expecting one of them to win. Very few people have the natural mindset that the game is going to end in a tie. Thus, when the last tie breaking clue is presented, it shouldn’t feel out of the ordinary.

Arthur Chu was called the “Jeopardy! Villain” by ABC News in 2014. There is a reason why he received so much hate from internet trolls. It’s all because his way of playing was very confusing to some people. You could call it that, or you could call it genius. On February 28th, 2014, Chu was going against Semret Lemma in Final Jeopardy. Instead of betting enough money to guarantee a win in case of the right answer, he bet just enough money so that it would put him and Lemma in a tie. His theory was contingent on the fact that Lemma would bet everything, but he didn’t. So, Chu won, again.

Who’s to say where Arthur Chu was going with that? Besides, that wasn’t the only time he decided to play by his own rules. He’s been known to answer questions in order from highest to smallest value and betting large on the Daily Double. To be fair, it’s gotten him quite far and allowed him to win 11 games in a row.

Yes, there is. In the case of a tie, the host gives the contestants a tie-breaking clue. The tied contestants have to race to answer the question. The first contestant to answer correctly wins the game and walks away with their winnings. No additional money is offered for getting the tiebreaker question right. As with all other questions, the tiebreaker is chosen by the show runners and writers.

Believe it or not, there have only been four official ties and tiebreaker rounds in regular-play games since the new rule regarding ties was implemented in 2016. If you’d like to have a look at them, you can!

Episode: Thursday, March 1, 2018

Tie between: Laura McLean and Sarah Norris

Episode: Thursday, July 18, 2019

Tie between: Nathan Kaplan and Roey Hadar

Episode: Friday, January 22, 2021

Tie between: Brian Chang and Jack Weller

Episode: Wednesday, February 23, 20222

Tie between: Christine Whelchel and Henry Rozycki

There have been other instances of ties in Jeopardy! games. Here is a list of ties that occurred outside of the regular-play games realm, as well as before the new rule was implemented in 2016:

Episode: Monday, May 4, 1992

Tie between: Chris Montplaisir and Ken Kansa

Episode: Friday, May 17, 1996

Tie between: Joe Gurski, Amanda Goad, and Derek Bridges

Episode: Monday, May 19, 1997

Tie between: Steven Bevier and Brian Chan

Episode: Friday, March 16, 2007

Tie between: Anders Martinson, Jamey Kirby, and Scott Weiss

Episode: Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tie between: Celeste DiNucci and Christian Haines

Episode: Friday, May 4, 2012

Tie between: Gabriela Gonzales and Evan Eschliman

Episode: Friday, August 1, 2014

Tie between: Jeff Xie, Alan Koolik, and Cooper Lair

Episode: Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Tie between: Jackson Jones and Avi Gupta

Episode: Friday, February 18, 2022

Tie between: Liz Feltner and Kristin Donegan

There is one exception to the tie rule. That is, a tie cannot happen between players whose earnings are $0. Thus, if all three contestants come out of the Final Jeopardy round with $0, there is no official winner. Though this outcome is not very common, it is certainly possible. Sources show that there have been at least seven games with no winner.

When such a three-way tie occurs, the game has no winner. The next game presents three new contestants that will compete for a chance to win money on Jeopardy!.

With the new rules introduced in 2016, the game will likely never end in a tie again. Jeopardy! believes there can only be one winner. Do you agree? After all, that’s how most trivia games end. I can imagine it’s quite difficult to end up as one of the losers after being so close to winning, though it is probably the fairest way to conduct the game. As a result, players have to stick to the rules and stop looking for loopholes.

How do you feel about tiebreakers? Do you think the game should be able to accept two or even three co-champions? Share your opinion with us in the comments!

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