2026 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament Finals Recap: And the Winner Is...

 

There was a bit of the familiar in the finals of the 2026 JIT. Roger Craig, one of the finalists from last year's Invitational was back for the second straight year. Andrew He, a finalist from the Inaugural Invitational was back as well. And just as with last year, one of the winners from the 2024 Second Chance Tournaments was present Long Nguyen.

But there was also a different kind of excitement as Roger and Andrew had yet to face off against each other in any sort of Tournament. Both men had a history of going up against some of the greatest players of all time. Roger had famously done so in the Battle of the Decades and the Jeopardy All-Star Games. Andrew, in his shorter Jeopardy career had done battle with four of the all-time Jeopardy super-champions and had a very impressive track record against all of them. And as we've already seen in the quarterfinals and semi-finals Long has done very well against players who on paper should be better than him.

With $150,000 and a spot in the Jeopardy Masters at stake here's how the Finals played out.

 

February 18

The first half of the Jeopardy round was a back and forth battle between Roger and Andrew. Andrew got to the Daily Double with $4800 and in tribute to Roger (who Andrew admitted had been a huge influence on his play) he went all in on A GOOD OLD JOB:

The name of this profession is also the action done by the worker who pulls a handle to make nonpotent potables flow.

Andrew figured it out: "What is a soda jerk?" With that he went up to $9600. At the end of the Jeopardy round he had $10,400 to Roger's $5800 and Long's $1600.

Long got a chance to make his move when he found the first Daily Double on his first pick PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. He bet the $2000 he could:

At about 70 million, the Hausa are the largest group in this African country, about 30%.

He said: "What is Nigeria?"

Long then got another chance later in the round when he found the other Daily Double in IDIOMS & EXPRESSIONS. He had $6400 and was a second. As was always the case he was forthright, particularly consider no one had responded correctly in this category so far.

Long: I hate this category.

(Laughter)

Ken: Strong words.

But given who he was up against he really didn't have much of a choice and he bet everything:

To insist on a point until people start to doubt you & it is to do this, spoken by Queen Gertrude in Hamlet.

It didn't go well. He finally guessed: "What is ad nauseam?"

It was actually "protest too much." Long went down to zero.

As a result Long was in third when Double Jeopardy ended with $2000. Roger was in second with $10,600 and Andrew was still in the lead with $16,400.

The Final Jeopardy category was AMERICAN AUTHORS.

She wrote the foreword for a 1971 cookbook sponsored by the Jackson Symphony League.

Long wrote down: "Who is Angelou?" That was incorrect. He wagered $1933, leaving him with $67.

Roger wrote down: "Who is Lee?", crossed it out and wrote down O'Connor. Both were incorrect. It cost him everything.

It came down to Andrew. He wrote down: "Who is Flagg?" They were all thinking of Southern authors, but the one that they were going for was Eudora Welty.

Author: I did know this one. Welty was the only female writer from Mississippi I could think of.

Andrew wagered $4801, but that left him enough to win his first ever match point in his career in the JIT. (He didn't score one in 2024 against Amy Schneider and the eventual winner and future Jeopardy Masters Champion Victoria Groce.)

 

February 19

Helped by the fact both Andrew and Roger were struggling early Long got off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round, helped by getting to the Daily Double ahead of Roger. He bet the $2400 he had in ACROSS THE LIBERAL ARTS:

Psychology: Before graduating from the University of Zurich in 1912, he got the nickname 'Klecks' or 'inkblot'. He figured out it was Rorschach and doubled his score to $4800. Andrew and Roger made up some ground but by the end of the round Long was still in the lead with $6600 to Roger's $2000 and Andrew's $400.

On the third clue of Double Jeopardy Long found the first Daily Double in ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. Even though he had $8200 to the $400 both Andrew and Roger it was hard to blame him for going all in again:

The extinct volcano Ilyas Dag is near the westernmost part of Turkey, while this volcanic massif is near the easternmost part. He hesitated: "What is Mount Ararat?" He was correct and at $16,400.

Andrew finally got a chance when he found the other Daily Double in appropriately PUTTING THE DOUBLE IN DOUBLE JEOPARDY. So naturally he wagered everything:

An article in the journal Nature was titled this 'and the Wronged Heroine' about Rosalind Franklin. He figured it out: "What is the Double helix?" And appropriately doubled his score.

Long gave sixteen correct responses and no incorrect ones. Roger and Andrew each gave 15. However Andrew gave two incorrect responses and Roger gave a whopping 7. Long finished with an impressive $21, 600 but Andrew kept him honest at $12,800 while Roger trailed with $5200.

The Final Jeopardy category was WORLD OF FIRST NAMES: Like an English-language one, this German first name of a physicist of sound & a 1930s film director means 'serious'.

Roger wrote down the kind of response I don't think I've ever seen in thirty plus years of watching Jeopardy: "What is I hope Long writes 'Ernst!?"

Ken actually had to ask the judges before giving the all clear. "This implies that you believe the correct response is Ernst and that's correct. Ernst Mach is the physicist; Ernst Lubitsch is the director. Roger, however, bet nothing.

Andrew guessed: "What is Heinrich? It cost him $12, 733 leaving him with $67. (Something for the kids, Ken said.)

Long did not write down Ernst; he also wrote down Heinrich. And it cost him $4001.  If Roger had played just a bit better the victory could well have been his, but as it stood Long got his first match point.

My guess, for the record, was Fritz. I was thinking of Fritz Lang and hoping that someone like Doppler had the first name Fritz. Wrong.

 

February 20^th

 

Like every climatic game in the short history of the JIT Game 3 was a thriller from beginning to end. The Jeopardy round was a battle for supremacy from start to finish. Roger and Andrew were tied for the lead when Long found the Daily Double late in the round in ON THE ROCKS. He bet the $2800 he had:

A Rhine River rock that produces an echo inspired the story of this siren who seduces sailors with her song. Long knew it was the Lorelei and went into the lead with $5600. It was still incredibly close at the end of the round with Long at $6400, Roger second with $5800 and Andrew in third with $4400.

Long struck first in Double Jeopardy when he found the first Daily Double in WORLD HISTORY. Yet again he bet everything he had, $9200

In 'Mundus Novus', a letter published in the early 1500s & attributed to him, he tells of discovering a new continent. He figured it out: "Who is Vespucci?" He now had $18,400.

But just as in Thursday's game Andrew then found the other Daily Double a few clues later in BOOKS & AUTHORS. He had more money to wager and did, betting $7600:

Pierre Boulle drew upon his wartime experiences for this 1952 novel about POWs building the Burma-Siam railway.

He knew it was Bridge Over the River Kwai and went up to $15,200.

This was a battle to the death by all three players. Roger got 15 correct and 3 incorrect to finish with $6200. Long managed 19 correct responses (including both Daily Doubles he found) and only 2 incorrect ones to finish with $24,400But Andrew managed 22 correct ones (including running the category LOAN WORDS in an impressive streak of seven correct responses) to finish with $31,600 at the end of Double Jeopardy.

The Final Jeopardy category was EUROPE. Thomas Mann's 'The Magic Mountain' is set in this town that in 1971 hosted the first what was then the European Management Symposium.

Roger went through a lot of responses. What is Zurich, then Basil, and finally Baden? All were incorrect. He wagered everything which left him at zero which confirmed the tournament would end today.

Long wrote down: "What is Innsbruck?" That was wrong. He lost $8000.

It was all on Andrew. His response: "What is Davos?" Today it is now known as the World Economic Forum. His wagered was $17,201. That gave him a total of $48,801 by far the highest Final Jeopardy total at the end of this tournament and made him the victor of this year's Invitational.

 

For Andrew it was a fitting victory. In four years of playing some of the greatest Jeopardy players of all time since the 2022 Tournament of Champions, he had yet to win a single tournament. Now he finally managed to prevail to mark a triumphant return to the Jeopardy Masters for the first time in three years.

With his win in this tournament Andrew has now won $375,000 in Tournament Play alone, going back to his second place finish in the 2022 Tournament of Champions. Combined with his original five day total of $157,000 he has now officially entered the all-time leaderboard of Jeopardy greats, putting him just behind Scott Riccardi in sixteenth place all-time. Depending on how this year's Masters play out he could be in the top ten by the time it ends.

As for Roger Craig he finished this year's JIT like he did the last one: without a match point to his name. However he can take consolation that with the $50,000 he gained as a runner-up, he has become only the eleventh player in Jeopardy history to win more than $700,000 all time. And now that he has finally been defeated fans can take comfort that next year we will finally see another Jeopardy great Julia Collins who we've been waiting to return ever since the first Invitational was called.

And Long Nguyen has emerged from this year's Invitational as the new Sam Buttrey for Jeopardy fans. Just as self-effacing but far more ruthless on the trigger Long managed an impressive run when it came to getting to where he did.  He managed to defeat a Jeopardy super-champion, narrowly win over an 8 game winner and go toe-to-toe with two of the all-time Jeopardy greats and not only be their equal but for one game, their superior. I suspect we will be seeing Long soon enough.

It still remains unclear when exactly the Jeopardy Masters will take place this year and who the remaining participants will be. But with Paolo Pasco and Andrew He representing as a mix of the old and the new, it will surely be just as thrilling as the previous ones have been.

Season 42's postseason is in the books. We will now return to regularly scheduled games a little more past the halfway point of the season. Congratulations to all the players in the Masters and a special shout out to Andrew He.

One last author's note: I thought the Final Jeopardy might be referring to Davos but I was more influenced by recent events and wrote down: "What is Munich?" instead. I really need to trust my gut more.