2026 Tournament of Champions quarterfinal game 1.
Aaron Levine — a sports anchor from Seattle, Washington
Tom Devlin — an attorney from Washington, D.C.
Liam Starnes — a payment program manager from Columbus, Ohio
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam | $1,200 | $1,400 | $6,200 |
$0
3rd place: $5,000 |
$7,800
13 R (including 1 DD), 3 W (including 1 DD) |
| Tom | $1,600 | $5,000 | $19,400 |
$19,400
Winner: guaranteed semifinalist |
$19,400
24 R, 2 W |
| Aaron | $2,000 | $2,000 | $1,600 |
$1,601
2nd place: $5,000 |
$7,200
9 R, 3 W (including 1 DD) |
| LITERARY QUOTATIONS | ANIME | IT'S HYPHENATED | IOWA HISTORY | LET'S TOOL AROUND | SWITCH THE FIRST LETTER |
|
$200
[29]
In a tribute to a dead friend, Tennyson wrote, "'Tis better to have" done this "than never to have loved at all"
loved and lost
Tom
|
$200
[30]
In "Death Note", a high school student called Kira can kill you using his mystical notebook if he does this
write your name (in it)
Tom
|
$200
[28]
We got this term for an impossible situation from the title of a 1961 novel
catch-22
Tom
|
$200
[27]
In 1857 the word Fort was removed from the name of this city & it became the state capital
Des Moines
Liam
|
$200
[26]
Introduced in 1907, this type of adjustable wrench is a brand name, not just a shape
Crescent wrench
|
$200
[6]
A leather seat to put on an equine&a tool for canoe propulsion
saddle & paddle
Liam
|
|
$400
[14]
This Austen dad asks Lizzy, "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"
Mr. Bennet
|
$400
[24]
Thismischief-making lad from the Village Hidden in the Leaves gives his teachers at the Ninja Academy all they can handle
Naruto
|
$400
[23]
It's the military version of a trial for service members; a summary one is for less serious offenses
a court-martial
Tom
|
$400
[22]
Around 1838 Fort Madison newspaper editor James Edwards began promoting this nickname for Iowans
Hawkeyes
Aaron
|
$400
[25]
The spirit or bubble type of this is fine for smaller projects, but for big jobs, the laser type is usually more accurate
a level
Tom
|
$400
[7]
The strongest bone in your body&any of the indigenous primates on a certain island in the Indian Ocean
femur & lemur
Liam
|
|
$600
[9]
Mark Twain wrote, "Adam was but human... he did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was" this
forbidden
Liam
|
$600
[17]
2 young girls find unusual forest creatures living near their new home in this Miyazaki film
My Neighbor Totoro
Tom
Aaron
|
$600
[12]
In the kitchen clean hands & clean surfaces are key to preventing this, the spread of bacteria from one food to another
cross-contamination
Tom
|
$600
[3]
The first white men to set foot in what's now Iowa were most likely these 2 French explorers in the 17th century
Joliet & Marquette
Aaron
|
$600
[18]
Note the rounded shape of the end opposite the face of this type of hammer
a ball-peen hammer
Tom
|
$600
[8]
Rapid flapping of wings on a bird or butterfly&what Marie Kondo wants you to get rid of
flutter & clutter
Aaron
|
|
$800
[4]
What novel but this '50s classic would have the exchange "'Where we going, man?' 'I don't know but we gotta go'"
On the Road
Liam
|
$800
[16]
In a film from this franchise, Goku & Vegeta encounter "Broly, the legendary Super Saiyan"
Dragon Ball
Tom
|
$800
[13]
Aspirin & ibuprofen are both known as this type of drug, so named because they are designed to reduce pain & swelling
anti-inflammatory
Aaron
|
$800
[2]
This Iowa senator made news when, discussing Medicaid cuts at a town hall, she made the point, "We all are going to die"
(Joni) Ernst
Liam
|
$800
[19]
Plumbers use handheld snakes for minor clogs; when the clogging gets tough, they reach for this thicker-cabled relative
a auger (Roto-Rooter)
Aaron
|
$800
[10]
A small compressed block of sugar&the Eastern Himalayas, to World War II pilots
a lump & the Hump
|
|
DD
$1,600
[5]
William Blake wrote that if these portals "were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite"
the doors of perception
Liam
|
$1,000
[20]
The walls just aren't enough to keep out the horrific, man-eating & totally nude giant humanoids on this show
Attack on Titan
Aaron
|
$1,000
[15]
Not as well known as the Research Triangle is N.C.'s metro area of High Point, Greensboro & this birthplace of Krispy Kreme
Winston-Salem
Tom
|
$1,000
[1]
1850s Mormon pioneers set off from Iowa City to Utah pulling this transport rhyming with "make a start" in a song they sang
a hand cart
Tom
|
$1,000
[21]
A drill bit is held in place by a clamp called this, also a male nickname
the chuck
|
$1,000
[11]
A small, fatty bit of bacon&to absolve of a crime
lardon & pardon
Tom
|
| THE ERA OF GOOD CEILINGS | WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO? | IT'S ALL FROM GREEK TO ME | MOUNTAINS | 20th CENTURY WOMEN OF THE WORLD | HOW TARIFF-IC |
|
$400
[30]
The era of this Soviet dictator was not great in many ways but did birth the Moscow metro& thegreat ceilingsin some stations
Stalin
Liam
|
$400
[29]
This duo's "Icky Thump" says, "White Americans... why don't you kick yourself out? You're an immigrant too"
The White Stripes
|
$400
[28]
The Greek word zelos gave us this adjective meaning "envious"
jealous
Tom
|
$400
[27]
This highest peak in the lower 48 is at the eastern border of Sequoia National Park
Mount Whitney
Liam
|
$400
[25]
A motto of this now-sainted nun was "Let us do something beautiful for God"
Mother Teresa
Tom
|
$400
[26]
This economic -ism that uses tariffs to bolster domestic industry helped get William McKinley elected in 1896
protectionism
Tom
|
|
$800
[24]
This era of 1920s & '30designis seen in aceilingin Chicago's Carbide & Carbon Building
Art Deco
Tom
|
$800
[23]
Naturally, this R.E.M. song mentions the rapture as well as "a tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies"
"It's The End Of The World As We Know It"
Tom
|
$800
[22]
This word for a type of gymnast with no fear of heights comes in part from a Greek word for "highest"
an acrobat
Tom
|
$800
[4]
Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America The Beautiful" after visiting this mountain & has a statue in Colorado Springs
Pikes Peak
Aaron
|
$800
[21]
When fashion designer Paul Poiret asked her, "For whom are you in mourning?", she replied, "For you"
Coco Chanel
Liam
|
$800
[20]
This agency that collects tariffs at U.S. ports of entry was formed in 2003 as part of the Dept. of Homeland Security
the CBP (Customs & Border Protection)
|
|
$1,200
[16]
The Beaux-Arts era in the U.S. produced elaborate coffering like at this city's Copley Plaza Hotel
Boston
Tom
|
$1,200
[9]
This track from Sabrina Carpenter's 2025 album "Man's Best Friend" is a question, & apparently refers to Devin's glow-up
"When Did You Get Hot?"
Aaron
|
$1,200
[6]
The name of this device is from Greek for "spiral" & "wing", not that the ancient Greeks ever saw one
helicopter
Tom
|
$1,200
[3]
Just north of the Alps, these mountains in France & Switzerland may get their name from a word meaning "forest"
the Jura Mountains
|
$1,200
[18]
Milliner Lilly Daché designed tutti-frutti headgear for this Portuguese-born Brazilian movie star
(Carmen) Miranda
Tom
|
$1,200
[19]
Aimed at boosting economic recovery after WWII, the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade led to the creation of this group in 1995
the WTO
Liam
|
|
$1,600
[14]
Ceilings called pressed this metal, often really iron, were big around 1900, as in the Palace Saloon, Florida's oldest bar
tin
Tom
|
$1,600
[8]
I can't stop listening to this 1995 album that featured the songs "Wonderwall" & "Champagne Supernova"
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Tom
|
$1,600
[5]
Now often meaning a part of a song, in ancient Greece it meant a band of dramatic singers & dancers
chorus
Tom
|
$1,600
[2]
To complete the Seven Summits, you have to top this Antarctic mountain
Vinson Massif
Aaron
|
$2,000
[11]
This Brit worked tirelessly for women's suffrage & died just three weeks before the UK Equal Franchise Act was adopted in 1928
Pankhurst
Liam
|
$1,600
[13]
Tariffs were a major source of government revenue until 1913, when passage of this constitutional amendment led to a federal income tax
the 16th
Aaron
|
|
$2,000
[17]
Here's a cathedral ceiling in Spain's last Gothic cathedral in this city with the name of a famed guitarist
Segovia
Liam
Tom
|
$2,000
[15]
In '90s songs like "Killing In The Name" & "Testify", you can hear the anger of this band
Rage Against the Machine
Tom
|
$2,000
[7]
From the Greek for "long-lasting", this term for a good buddy comes from 17th century Cambridge University slang
crony
Liam
|
$2,000
[12]
The highest point in the Atlas Mountains is this peak that's south of Marrakech
Jebel Toubkal
Liam
|
DD
$5,600
[10]
In 1935 she became director of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute
Anna Freud
Aaron
|
DD
$2,000
[1]
senate.gov called this 1930 piece of tariff legislation "among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history"
Smoot-Hawley
Liam
|
Being only 5'5", photographer Joe Rosenthal had to climb on top of a Japanese sandbag to snap a photo while on this peak
Mount Suribachi