I always liked Jeopardy. When I was growing up, my family would watch Alex Trebek and try to see who was the best player. When I had my own kids, they were too young to watch Jeopardy so I had the idea of creating my own. Fortunately I found Jeopardy Labs.
Jeopardy Labs is an easy online tool that allows you to make your own Jeopardy game or play one of the millions of games created by others. Jeopardy Labs is free to use, but, for $20, you can unlock some extra features.
The most difficult part of creating a Jeopardy game is creating good questions. I’ve created games where the questions were way too hard or way too easy or just not fun. Here’s some pointers:
- Use Images: I use images primarily when I play for fun. It makes it easier for everyone to participate without needing to be a fast reader. Even when I using Jeopardy as a learning activity, I’ll pepper in some images or video. The students seem to appreciate this. In the video, I show you how to find images that work well and are the right size.
- Know you Audience: The older I get, the harder I need to try to find questions that aren’t from 20 to 30 years ago pop culture. Kids will know a Bruno Mars song in half a second but not know a Beatles song. Kids will know Patrick Mahomes but not Brett Favre.
- Check your Motives: Likely your goal is to have fun and maybe learn at the same time, but you may have a “shadow goal.” Sometimes it’s tempting to create questions that show how smart you are or how dumb the other players are.
Useful Links
- Jeopardy Labs: https://jeopardylabs.com/
- Example 1: https://jeopardylabs.com/play/survey-of-accounting-round-4
- Example 2: https://jeopardylabs.com/play/survey-of-accounting-round-1-2