Jeopardy is a re-creation of the popular TV quiz show created just for Wii, featuring a cute Mii-like version of Alec Trebek as your host.
Anywhere from 1 to 3 players can play at a time, and families have the option of choosing whether or not to include computer opponents.
The game progresses just like the TV show, with six categories containing five different “answers” and players must come up with the correct question. Just as you see contestants do in real-life, it’s often a contest to frantically buzz in by pressing the A button on the Wii-mote as soon as Alec finishes reading the question and putting it up for grabs.
The game automatically starts the phrase as a question, and asks players to input their answer. How you input your answer depends upon the difficulty level you are playing. In Easy mode, you’re given three multiple choice answers when you buzz in. In Medium, the game “auto-fills” suggested answers after you have typed three different letters. The hard mode won’t “auto-fill” until you’ve typed five letters. The “auto-fill” actually can be a bit of a cheating mechanism, because you figure that the game will have the correct answer in its database, so you figure if you have typed enough and there are no suggestions showing, then you’re probably wrong.
One other problem with the answers being input this way is that spelling definitely counts. An example of this being a problem is that we incorrectly guess “What is the Can Can?” when the correct answer was “What is the Cancan?” The game also makes you input full names, you can’t just enter someone last name (Must say “Jules Verne” instead of just “Verne”).
It is worth noting that the game is compatible with “Wii Speak.” We did not test it out with this feature, but we imagine it might be more enjoyable being able to use it, because our biggest barrier for enjoyment was the sometimes clunky answering method.
All-in-all, Jeopardy is a solid re-creation of the game show, and helps bring the experience to your living room. It’s a great game for up to three players to test their trivia wits against each other, but the answer-input system can sometimes lead to either cheating or frustration. We still recommend this for teens and up as a fun competitive and educational experience.