Developer: Hasbro
Year: 1998, 2000, 2003
Genre: Game Show
Platform: Windows, Mac, Playstation

My Rating: 9

I’ve played almost every version of Jeopardy! over the years on every system, and the three released by Hasbro at the turn of the century are still my favorite. They’re clean, crisp, and feature Johnny Gilbert reading the questions with FMV sequences featuring Alex Trebek. It’s about as close to the real show as you’re going to get.

Graphics and sounds are pulled straight from the show, and it’s a very user-friendly experience. Even playing against the computer is fun, as they had voice actors record both correct and reasonable incorrect responses, making the game feel even more realistic. The game’s only downfall for me is that the AI is just terrible in final jeopardy no matter how good they were in the first two rounds. I suppose this was done to give the player a better chance to come back and win, but it seems unnecessary.

As a bonus, each game includes a timed sample game that tests you with 50 general knowledge answers to see if you’d qualify to be on the show. It’s identical to the real test, one which I’ve failed on many occasions!

If you don’t mind questions that are a couple decades old and can get a version to work on your computer, you’re in for a treat. I played this several times with my brother and my father when it came out and we had some fun competition (though it was a bit tight with three people sitting around the keyboard).