How to Play a Free Jeopardy Game Online with Friends

You found our guide to Jeopardy game online options.

Jeopardy is a quiz game that challenges players to answer trivia in specific categories. There are several ways to play group Jeopardy online, such as through apps, websites, and Zoom. Online jeopardy is also known as virtual Jeopardy and Zoom Jeopardy.

This game is the most popular virtual game show. For rules and instructions, check out our guide to team building Jeopardy.

This article contains:

• How to play Jeopardy games online
• Free Jeopardy game boards
• Jeopardy online multiplayer games
• how to play jeopardy on zoom with a large group

Here we go!

How play Jeopardy games online

Here a few different ways to play Jeopardy games on Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, and similar virtual meeting platforms.

1. Jeopardy Arkadium (free to play)

There are several websites where you can play a free Jeopardy game online. One of the best options is Arkadium. First, navigate to the site. Then, share your screen and start the game. The site generates random computer competitors, however you and your team can respond to questions together by shouting out answers or typing them into the chat.

Play Jeopardy Arkadium.

Pro tip: Turn off your ad blocker before visiting the site, or pull up an incognito browser.

2. Official Jeopardy! App

You can also use Jeopardy Apps to play with friends or coworkers. To set up a game night, decide on a date and time and instruct participants to download the app beforehand. Then, pull up the application and launch a game together.

We recommend playing during a Zoom call for face-to-face interaction, or holding a group conversation via chat or text while you play the game.

Download Jeopardy Trivia Quiz Game from the App Store or Google Play.

Pro tip: Jeopardy on Drivetime facilitates a hands-free game experience participants can play while driving. This app is a great way option for commuters, road trips, and traveling teammates. Check out Jeopardy on Drivetime.

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3. Online Jeopardy slideshow template

The easiest way to play the game remotely is to use a Jeopardy slideshow template. Simply download the file from Jeopardy Labs, input your questions and answers, pull up presentation mode, and then share your screen. The file is easy to update and navigate in real time, meaning seamless gameplay throughout the call.

For final Jeopardy, you can send teams to breakout rooms and collect written answers via a form or private message.

Pro tip: In case you are short on time, Jeopardy Labs hosts a library of pre-made games you can download and use.

4. Virtual Jeopardy spreadsheet

Click on the image above to make a copy of this spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets make great Jeopardy game boards. We recommend using Google Sheets so that you can directly invite players to the document. However, you can also use PowerPoint or a similar program and share your screen.

To ready the game, make a 6×6 table within the first tab. To save time, copy and paste the point values. As players select questions, delete the point values from the cells. So that you do not have to start a new game from scratch, you can create a master copy of the board in a different tab and make a copy to start a new game. Then, reuse the same game board and enter new category headers.

For a more elaborate game, link each cell to a separate tab with the appropriate questions. Otherwise, have the host read out each question as players choose the category.

5. Online whiteboard Jeopardy

You can also create a Jeopardy game board by using a digital whiteboard. The easiest way to make the board is to copy and paste image tiles or use a template. However, you can also use the draw and text functions to build a board. Players can answer in the chat, or can drop a stamp on the whiteboard to “buzz in.”

Remember that all answers must be in question form.

Then, delete each square once the question is complete. Keep in mind that you can also add multiple pages on the digital whiteboard.

Pro tip: Play a Jeopardy/Pictionary hybrid where players or teams must draw the answer instead of typing or speaking.

6. Video game Jeopardy

Video games are one of the most straightforward ways to play online Jeopardy. At least one player will have to download or purchase the game and share the screen while playing. Or, the team can play a multiplayer game and join a team room. Organizers will have to purchase and install the game beforehand, however this method cuts down on the prep work of writing questions and building a board. Plus, the software keeps score automatically.

One of the most popular and user-friendly online multiplayer Jeopardy games is made by Ubisoft.

7. Slack Jeopardy apps

While there is no official Jeopardy Slack app, you can install open source game bots. Or, you can use a Slack extension like Trivia or QuickQuiz to facilitate the game. A third option is to play manually in a Slack channel by posting progressive pictures of the game board and prompting participants to answer by replying to the thread.

Playing Jeopardy in Slack is a good option for teams with conflicting schedules. You can spread the game out over the course of a work week and ask questions at different hours of the day so that all teammates have an equal chance to join in the fun.

Check out more games to play on Slack.

8. Online Zoom Jeopardy

This version of the game requires coordination and cooperation and is more interactive and hands-on than other online Jeopardy games. This activity resembles a mix of Hollywood Squares and Jeopardy. For this exercise, each meeting participant will become a square on the gameboard.

To Play:

1. Split the group into teams of five.
2. Send teams to breakout rooms.
3. Each team has 8 to 10 minutes to choose a category and write five questions
4. Every group member will claim one question to read.
5. Upon returning to the main room, teammates will display their category and assigned point value as their virtual background or display picture.
6. Teams will take turns choosing questions.
7. When selected, each player will read out their question and confirm the correct answer.

One player can act as the host to moderate the game and keep score.

This version of the game sparks participants’ creativity and saves organizers the work of writing or researching questions.

Pro-tip: Switch to gallery mode so that you can see all question options at once. You can also adjust display settings so that you can view up to 50 screens on one page.

9. Streaming Jeopardy online

Hands down, the most common way to play Jeopardy is to watch the show and scream out answers (especially if you happen to be my grandmother.) You can recreate this situation with your team by streaming the game show online.

Simply pull up clips of the show on YouTube and share your screen, or stream episodes on Netflix and use a program like Watch2Gether to sync video. You can pause the video before contestants reply to give the group a chance to answer. Then, unpause the video and reveal the correct response.

Either have players keep track of their own points or create, update, and display a group scoreboard by using Canva or PowerPoint.

By the way, if your team enjoys streaming together, here are some team building movies you can watch during your next online outing.

10. Jeopardy Anytime Test

You and your teammates can take the official Jeopardy contestant test online to see which of your coworkers could make it onto the game show. The test only takes 15 minutes, and makes a great meeting icebreaker or activity for a midday break. Either take the test together during a Zoom call, or complete individually and compare scores and times.

Take the Jeopardy Anytime Test.

Online Jeopardy categories

Thinking up categories can be just as tough as coming up with questions. Here are some examples of fun Online Jeopardy categories.

1. Potpourri
2. Before & After
3. American History
4. World History
5. Internet History
6. Science
7. Math
8. Politics
9. Geography
10. Philosophy
11. Travel
12. Literature
13. Word Origins
14. Colleges & Universities
15. Sports
16. Movies
17. Technology
18. Television Shows
19. Video Games
20. Pop Culture
21. Phobias
22. Secret Aliases
23. Famous Faux Paus
24. Reality TV
25. Animal Celebrities
26. Bestselling Books
27. Scream Queens
28. It’s All Relative
29. Error Messages
30. Time Travel
31. News To Me
32. Unusual Holidays
33. Eccentric Millionaires
34. Time Wasters
35. Famous Photos
36. Better Than the Original
37. Finish the Lyric
38. Unsolved Mysteries
39. Give Me the Diagnosis, Doc
40. Rhyme Time
41. True Crime
42. Do-It-Yourself
43. Extraordinary Coincidences
44. Famous Families
45. Translate This
46. Formidable Females
47. Magic Tricks
48. Trailblazers
49. Revolutionaries
50. Historical Misconceptions
51. Brands
52. Bands
53. Broadway
54. Albums
55. Performance Art
56. Museum Madness
57. When I Was Your Age….
58. Resume Red Flags
59. House of Mouse
60. Hardware and Software
61. The Stock Market
62. Wine Not
63. Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow
64. Not-so Instant Replay (Sports History)
65. Only in the Movies
66. Sitcom Tropes
67. Traditions Around the World
68. Insects
69. CEO’s
70. Famous Firsts
71. World Records
72. Fun with Phone Numbers
73. Nursery Rhymes
74. Fast Food
75. Well That Was a Mistake…
76. Black and White
77. Roadside Attractions
78. One-Hit-Wonders
79. Unusual Animals

There are many other topics to use to source questions. You can even tailor the categories to fit players’ interests and expertise or ask participants for suggestions. If playing in a work setting, then you can also use subjects specific to your industry or company.

Sample Zoom Jeopardy questions

Coming up with questions is the most time consuming part of setting up an online Jeopardy game. Here are some starter questions to speed up the setup process.

Q1. On Good Friday in 1930, the BBC reported, “There is no news.”  They played what instead?

A. Piano Music

Q2. Which US State is closest to Africa?

A. Maine

Q3. When this web service launched in the mid-1990s, it offered medical transcription services as well as web-building tools.

A. Angelfire

Q4. In 1940, this actress was the first African American to win an Oscar.

A. Hattie McDaniel

Q5. This is the boiling point of water at the top of Mt. Everest

A. 162°F

Q6. This was the first item sold on eBay.

A. Broken laser pointer

Q7. The raven that inspired Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem was this author’s pet.

A. Charles Dickens

Q8. This figure was the third woman to become pharaoh, and the first to achieve the full power of the position.

A. Hatshepsut

Q9. This highway located in Brazil is the widest road in the world.

A. Monumental Axis

Q10. The fingerprints of this animal are nearly identical to those of humans.

A. Koala Bear

Q11. During this year, Pluto was downgraded to the status of “dwarf planet.”

A. 2006

Q12. This horror movie heroine was the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.

A. Janet Leigh

Q13. This state had the honor of being the first US State quarter design released.

A. Delaware

Q14. Mary Anne Evans is the real name of this influential English author.

A. George Eliot

Q15. In the 1800’s, ketchup was sold as a cure for this.

A. Upset stomach/indigestion.

Q16. This war, which lasted 38 minutes, is generally considered to be the shortest war in history.

A. Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896

Q17. A labor is the name for a group of this type of animal.

A. Moles

Q18. Loxodonta is the scientific name for this animal.

A. African elephant

Q19. Sb is the abbreviation for this periodic table element.

A. Antimony

Q20. IPA is an acronym for this.

A. India Pale Ale

Q21. This famous Olympian earned the nickname “The Buckeye Bullet” in college.

A. Jesse Owens

Q22. The Beatles caused controversy when John Lennon claimed in a 1966 interview, “we’re bigger than…” this figure.

A. Jesus

Q23. This buccaneer who operated in the South China Sea during the Qing dynasty is often called the most successful pirate in history.

A. Ching Shih

Q24. This famous female artist once dreamed of becoming a doctor, and picked up painting in earnest after being severely injured in a bus accident.

A. Frida Kahlo

Q25. This Greek mathematician is often referred to as the “father of Geometry.”

A. Euclid

For similar quiz games and questions, check out our guide to online trivia.

Final Thoughts

There are many options for playing Jeopardy online, and the best way to play depends on the group, time, and available resources. If you are unsure of which method is most suitable for your friends, then you can try out several approaches and stick with the game format that works best. Since you can swap out the categories, you can play the game as a recurring virtual game night or team building event. The game show evokes a sense of nostalgia for many people and provides an outlet for friendly competition for individuals and teams.

Next, check out this list of virtual game night ideas, and this collection of online family games.