The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament is a special two-week event that featured up to 15 high school students who were between the ages of 13-17. The layout was the same as the Tournament of Champions and other two-week tournaments. They were 5 quarter-final rounds in the first week. The winners moved on into the semi-finals on the second week and the 4 high-scorers among non-winners will advance as well. The winner of the semi-finals advanced to participate in a 2-day final. The Teen Tournament has been held every season since its 1987 debut, including two installments in seasons 23 and 35 except for season 31, 32, and 34. The teen tournament returned into rotation starting in season 33. On top of that, the cash payout will be just like the college championship that was in existence since 2004. The Teen Tournament is currently on hold.
In November 1998, Jeopardy! held a special Teen Reunion Tournament in Boston featuring 12 contestants from the inaugural three Teen Tournaments. In a unique format for a Jeopardy tournament, the three highest earners in the four semifinal games played in the one-day final on Friday, similarly to Wheel of Fortune's then-Friday Finals format. 1989 Teen champion Eric Newhouse (the only winner in the field) won the $50,000 top prize over 1988 finalist David Javerbaum and semi-finalist Chris Capozzola, while 1987 finalist Dana Venator was the lowest-earning semi-finalist and did not qualify for the finals.
Until 2000, Teen Tournament winners were invited to the Tournament of Champions, where 8 of 14 advanced to the semifinals, including 4 (Eric Newhouse, Matthew Zielenski, Sahir Islam, and Chacko George) who won their quarterfinal game. However, none of them ever advanced to the final round.
Eric Newhouse was also a semi-finalist in 1990's Super Jeopardy! tournament and a finalist in 2002's Million Dollar Masters tournament. Every Teen Tournament winner to that point (save for Michael Block and Amanda Goad) competed in 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions, where 1992 winner April McManus and 1995 winner Matthew Zielenski made the quarterfinals. Newhouse received a bye to the second round, though did not advance further. 1991 winner Andrew Westney also competed in 2014's Battle of the Decades tournament as a fan favorite qualifier for the "1980s decade" round, but did not advance.
2013 winner Leonard Cooper competed in 2019's All-Star Games tournament as a member of Team Austin Rogers. His team wound up competing in the wildcard match where they were eliminated, collecting and splitting $75,000.
There is no Teen Tournament in Seasons 31, 32, and 34. Beginning in Season 36, the Teen Tournament was put on hold. The following reasons are below:
- Celebrity Jeopardy! in Season 31.
- Alex Trebek's full knee replacement surgery in Season 32.
- Alex's brain surgery in Season 34.
- Season 36 ended after July 22, 2020.
- Alex Trebek's death in November 2020.
- Guest host rotation and COVID-19 travel restrictions in Season 37.
- There was no studio audience in Season 38.
| Season | Airdate | Finale | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | February 16, 1987 | February 27, 1987 | Michael Galvin |
| 4 | February 8, 1988 | February 19, 1988 | Michael Block |
| 5 | February 6, 1989 | February 17, 1989 | Eric Newhouse |
| 6 | February 5, 1990 | February 16, 1990 | Jamie Weiss |
| 7 | February 11, 1991 | February 22, 1991 | Andy Westney |
| 8 | February 24, 1992 | March 6, 1992 | April McManus |
| 9 | February 15, 1993 | February 26, 1993 | Fraser Woodford |
| 10 | February 14, 1994 | February 25, 1994 | Matt Morris |
| 11 | February 6, 1995 | February 17, 1995 | Matthew Zielenski |
| 12 | May 6, 1996 | May 17, 1996 | Amanda Goad |
| 13 | February 3, 1997 | February 14, 1997 | Josh DenHartog |
| 14 | November 3, 1997 | November 14, 1997 | Sahir Islam |
| 15† | November 16, 1998 | November 20, 1998 | Eric Newhouse |
| 15 | February 22, 1999 | March 5, 1999 | Melissa Sexstone |
| 16 | November 1, 1999 | November 12, 1999 | Chacko George |
| 17 | April 30, 2001 | May 11, 2001 | Graham Gilmer |
| 18 | February 4, 2002 | February 15, 2002 | Bernard Holloway |
| 19 | February 3, 2003 | February 14, 2003 | John Zhang |
| 20 | February 9, 2004 | February 20, 2004 | Jennifer Wu |
| 21 | January 26, 2005 | February 8, 2005 | Michael Braun |
| 22 | February 6, 2006 | February 17, 2006 | Papa Chakravarthy |
| 23 | February 5, 2007 | February 16, 2007 | David Walter |
| 23* | July 16, 2007 | July 27, 2007 | Meryl Federman |
| 24 | February 11, 2008 | February 22, 2008 | Rachel Horn |
| 25 | November 10, 2008 | November 21, 2008 | Anurag Kashyap |
| 26 | November 2, 2009 | November 13, 2009 | Rachel Rothenberg |
| 27 | February 17, 2011 | March 2, 2011 | Raynell Cooper |
| 28 | April 30, 2012 | May 11, 2012 | Elyse Mancuso |
| 29 | January 30, 2013 | February 12, 2013 | Leonard Cooper |
| 30 | July 21, 2014 | August 1, 2014 | Jeff Xie |
| 33 | November 9, 2016 | November 22, 2016 | Sharath Narayan |
| 35-A | November 7, 2018 | November 20, 2018 | Claire Sattler |
| 35-B | June 17, 2019 | June 28, 2019 | Avi Gupta |
†A one-week Teen Tournament Reunion took place in the 15th season.
- A two-week Teen Tournament Summer Games took place in the end of 23rd season.
Trivia[]
- The 2001 Teen Tournament was taped in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center with the 2005 Closing Theme with the Electric Guitar Riff and Sax.
- The B-Tournament in 2008 uses the 2008 Final Jeopardy music.
- The 2013 Teen Tournament notably saw the first-ever tournament game with a triple zero finish in Final Jeopardy during the semi-finals, necessitating a wild card for that year's finals.
- Due to the Battle of the Decades that year, the 2014 Teen Tournament took place after the regular games.
- The Teen Tournament returned into action on November 9, 2016. The 2016 Teen Tournament was taped at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. The font that was used that year was Dom Casual.
- On top of that, the teen tournament finals will have $100,000 for 1st place, $50,000 for 2nd place, and $25,000 for 3rd place. Eliminated semi-finalists will get $10,000, and eliminated quarter-finalists will get $5,000, the same cash payout format used since 2004 for the College Championship.
- The Teen Tournament was Alex Trebek's favorite Jeopardy! Tournament.
- The 2008-A Tournament saw the record for the highest score before Final in a player’s debut, with Zia Choudhury putting up a pre-Final score of $50,000 in his quarterfinal.
- This also made Zia one of only five people to have ever entered Final Jeopardy! with $50,000 or more. (Bob Beers, Jack Lechner, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer are the other four.)
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