Honors Program Theses
Award/Availability
Open Access Honors Program Thesis
Keywords
Wagers; Jeopardy! (Television program); Television quiz shows; Game theory;
Abstract
This paper examines the quiz show "Jeopardy!." In the game, players accumulate points then wager them in a final round on a single question. My study finds an empirically-best wagering system for these players, then calculates the benefit of using this system through additional games that would be won with the correct bet. My regression model then finds the determinants of empirically-best (EB) betters. The results show players tend to act too aggressively. Half of non-first place players wager incorrectly and nearly 90% of those non- EB wagers are too large. The regression shows players are most likely to make the EB bet when the correct wager is predictable, simple, and large.
Year of Submission
2011
University Honors Designation
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors
Date Original
2011
Object Description
15 p.
Copyright
© 2011 Trevar Boeckmann
Language
EN
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Boeckmann, Trevor, "Rational decision-making in the face of uncertainty: An experiment in Jeopardy!" (2011). Honors Program Theses. 54.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/54
