At the start of this season, the Jeopardy! logo changed to yellow. This remained until the end of the set's run in 1991.
This is the first time that the show has taped for 230 half-hour episodes, rather than 195 half-hour episodes in the first two seasons, something that the show still does to this day. In this season only, a Coca-Cola byline is seen in the Merv Griffin Enterprises logo.
Alex no longer enters with a microphone in his hand. So now, he has a clip-on microphone, but the host's podium still has a microphone. Alex makes his entrance, and goes straight to the set; Beginning with this season, announcer Johnny Gilbert's voice became louder.
Starting with this season, Jeopardy! begins a long-standing tradition of making seasons consist of 46 weeks, and 230 half-hour episodes, which is starting on the second Monday in September and ending on the third Friday in July.
The globe opening credits at the start of every episode changed its color to feature yellow Jeopardy! letters on a blue sphere with black lines divided into squares, rotating at warp speed. And then, it explodes to reveal the 1985-1991 set. A couple months into the season, the globe logo in the intro is cleaned up significantly, and introduces a tweak to the show's logo - the bottom right hook of the 'R' is less sharp, the lower hook of the 'Y' is shortened, and the sphere is in a darker blue, in addition to the exclamation point being shortened; however, the 1984 logo variant stayed on the set until it was overhauled after season 7 in 1991.
Starting with this season, the contestants names appear onscreen in gold Korinna font. This remained in use until Season 12.
The title cards for rounds and Daily Doubles changed its color to gold text on a silver vortex, gray wall, or blue grid background; the "DOUBLE" and "FINAL" in Double and Final Jeopardy!, as well as the Daily Double name, now use Gill Sans. For Video and Audio Daily Doubles, a navy-blue, gray, or red banner is featured with neither "VIDEO" nor "AUDIO" in white or gold text, also using Gill Sans. On-screen displays of Daily Doubles and the Final Jeopardy! clue are now surrounded by blue backgrounds.
This is the last season where Alex Trebek is credited as the producer.
The title cards are the same as last season, but there are more color schemes with stretched letters: white text on a red, white, and blue gradient, white text on a gray and pink checkerboard, white text on a blue and turquoise gradient, blue text on an orange and magenta gradient, green text on a gray and peach gradient, peach text on a gray background, pink text on a blue diamond on a gray background, white text on a purple, pink, yellow, and blue gradient and many more.
The primary color of the box displaying the contestants' Final Jeopardy! wagers and responses changed its color back to blue.
During the 1986 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, the Merv Griffin Enterprises text is missing from the logo; all that appears below the griffin is "A Unit of The Coca-Cola Company", in red with the company name in Coca-Cola's proprietary script font and the rest of the text in Helvetica.
After the 1986 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, the Merv Griffin Enterprises text returned and started to be shown between the Griffin and the Coca-Cola byline.
For the 1986 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions only, Johnny Gilbert's closing catchphrase is changed to "Jeopardy! is produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises, and it is distributed by KingWorld".
In some episodes, the sponsor list and eligibility disclaimer appear in Helvetica font, while the closing credits still use Korinna.
The copyright card is the same as in the later portions of Season 2.
This season does not have any female champions for this season making it to the next Tournament of Champions.
September 1986[]
September 8, 1986: Season 3 premieres. Players' names are displayed on screen during their introduction for the first time. Introductory globe changes to yellow on blue. On-set lighted logo changes from white to yellow.
September 18, 1986: Roger Storm retires with $31,200 despite losing his fifth game. For the rest of the entire season, the blue coloration changes its color to teal, the lines are less pronounced, the letters are bolder, and the globe rotates at normal speed. A closed captioning bug is added to the opening credits. This lasted until the 1985 set is retired in 1991.
October 1986[]
October 6, 1986: The top and bottom light bands on the set flash during the introductions, just like in the previous season. This would continue this season until November.
October 16, 1986: Dave Traini retires undefeated with $54,502.
November 1986[]
November 10-21, 1986: The Tournament of Champions aired.
The first Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions consists of 14 men and 1 woman Beryl Arbit.
The first Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions is also the first Tournament of Champions to feature a distinct logo for the Tournament—featuring a bronze Jeopardy! logo on a silver banner, accompanied by light blue banners with gold text reading "$100,000" and "Tournament of Champions!", both in varying widths of Futura.
November 13, 1986: In the category ROMAN EMPIRE, the clue reads: "By the 4th century A.D., Rome had 28 public ones stacked with rolls of papyrus" with Gary Giardina responding "What are public toilets?" causing laughter from Alex and the audience. After Harvey Becker gives the correct response of "What are libraries?", Alex says he loves Gary's line for humor.
November 21, 1986: Chuck Forrest won the Tournament of Champions.
December 1986[]
December 23, 1986: Frank Hughes retires undefeated with $30,900.
January 1987[]
January 1, 1987: A clip was shown in the 2009 documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty.
January 8, 1987: Keith Bell retires undefeated with $41,952. Judi Greenberg lost after the show ruled that she had been disadvantaged by the judges ruling that Keith Bell did not need to specify which Roosevelt on a Final Jeopardy! clue. She came back on September 28, 1987 and lost again the next day.
January 22, 1987: The 24th clue of the Double Jeopardy round and Final Jeopardy appeared on Season Episode 8 of The Goldbergs.
February 1987[]
February 2, 1987: The KingWorld closing catchphrase is slightly changed to say "and is distributed by KingWorld" and Alex announces the upcoming inaugural Teen Tournament at the beginning of the show.
February 3, 1987: The byline in the Merv Griffin Enterprises logo changed to "A unit of Coca-Cola TELEVISION".
February 16-27, 1987: The Teen Tournament is held for the first time. Michael Galvin became the first champion to win $25,000.
March 1987[]
March 2, 1987: Alex announces the first Senior Tournament.
March 11, 1987: Keith Walker retires undefeated with $40,700.
March 13, 1987: Clues 20-28 of the Double Jeopardy! Round appear in Season 1, Episode 7 of the Netflix series GLOW, set in 1985.
March 18, 1987: John Ryan retires undefeated with $61,800.
March 25, 1987: John Podhoretz retires undefeated with $45,600. A rare instance of three consecutive champions.
April 1987[]
April 17, 1987: Every clue was prepared by Jeopardy! staff researcher Victoria Haselton, whose ESL class she taught was in the audience.
April 27, 1987: Richard Cordray retires undefeated with $40,303.
May 1987[]
May 11-22, 1987: The Seniors Tournament is held for the first time. Zeke Sevilla Jr. became the first winner of the tournament.
June 1987[]
June 5, 1987: Eugene Finerman retires undefeated with $57,902.
June 12, 1987: Jonathan Fellows retires with $39,201 despite losing his fifth game.
June 24, 1987: Bob Verini retires undefeated with $46,802.
July 1987[]
July 1, 1987: Doug Molitor plays Final Jeopardy! all by himself.
July 2, 1987: Doug Molitor retires with $51,001 despite losing his fifth game. Also, the ending theme plays it's full duration.
July 8, 1987: Eric Berman retires with $37,101 despite losing his fifth game.
