Final Jeopardy: U.S.A. (7-16-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (7/16/2025) in the category “U.S.A.” was:
Its creator imagined it as a place for young & old, offering “nostalgia of the past with exciting glimpses into the future”
9x champ Scott Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, NJ, has now won $233,501. In Game 10, he takes on: Ivanna Lopez, a librarian orig. from Tampa, FL; and Dave Richelsoph, a program manager from Washington, D.C.
Round 1 Categories: Military Bases – Picture the Grammy-winning Band – The Tenth – Planes, No Trains but Some Automobiles – Name That Bible Book – Cockney Rhyming Slang
Scott found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Military Bases” under the $800 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was tied for the lead with Ivanna at $4,000, Dave had $2,600 in last place. Scott bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Nevada’s naval air station Fallon is now home to the elite program known as this; it trains pilots with a need for speed show
Scott finished in the lead with $7,800. Ivanna was second with $6,600 and Dave was last with $3,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Egyptian History – One Word on the Theater Marquee – Scientists – 3 Consonants in a Row – Public Television – American Families
Scott found the first Daily Double in “Scientists” under the $1,600 clue on the 9th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $13,400, $3,600 more than Ivanna in second place. Scott bet $8,000 and he was RIGHT.
In 1742 he described his new temperature scale to the Swedish Academy of Sciences show
Dave got the last Daily Double in “American Families” under the $2,000 clue on the 19th pick of the round. He was in last place with $3,800, $19,200 less than Scott’s lead. Dave bet $3,600 and he was RIGHT.
This family name is on a school of medicine at the University of Chicago & on the most prestigious of architecture awards show
Scott finished in the lead with a runaway $28,600. Ivanna was second with $13,800 and Dave was last with $8,600. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS DISNEYLAND?
Per Lapham’s Quarterly, the quote comes from a 1953 prospectus for Disneyland, calling it a place where “the older generation can recapture the nostalgia of days gone by, and the younger generation can savor the challenge of the future.” It shares details on the various attractions including Main Street, Frontier Country, True-Life Adventureland and The World of Tomorrow. The prospectus was used by Walt Disney’s brother, Roy, to obtain a $5 million dollar loan from ABC in exchange for a 35% interest in the future theme park.
The last paragraph of the prospectus begins with this entire sentence: “Disneyland will be the essence of America as we know it…the nostalgia of the past, with exciting glimpses into the future.” Today’s clue only quoted the last clause.
Dave got it right. He bet $5,201 and finished with $13,801.
Ivanna went with Epcot. That cost her $3,800 and left her with $10,000.
Scott also got it right. He didn’t bet anything so he won the game with the $28,600 he already had. Scott’s 10-day total is $262,101.
A triple stumper from each round:
NAME THAT BIBLE BOOK ($1000) “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”
ONE WORD ON THE THEATER MARQUEE ($1600) On Labor Day, a young drifter arrives in a small Kansas town & disrupts the lives of the local ladies in this 1953 play
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “FAMOUS PAINTINGS”
A German guidebook to a 1937 World’s Fair dismissed it as a “hodgepodge of body parts that any four-year-old could have painted” show
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Ivanna’s score of $13,800 would have given her a chance to win on another day.
2/3 on DD, and missed FJ. I said “Fahrenheit” instead of “Celsius”, and, for the “no brainer” Final, I said Disney World.
EPCOT – “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”. Opened 1982.
That blank by Ivanna on SETI, I concur, that was an unforced error. Even so, she would have still been $200 behind half.
When Dave finally started answering, then the game became a barn burner. Strong play throughout.
Oh Ivanna, you were right there until you blanked on that easy SETI clue near the end. Ultimately, it made no difference though. Like Pete last night, she stayed in competition without the benefit of a DD. $10K on Scott’s two DD scores enabled him to make it a lock game. Surprised he didn’t go all in on the first one. I can sometimes guess someone’s DD wager right on the nose.
I rarely get to say that I found all 3 DDs and FJ easy. My wife and her sibs are native Angelenos, and visited Disneyland beginning in that opening year. We visited in 1995 when they were giving away a car a day, but we flew home without winning one.
Another couple of seconds and I’d have known that 1953 play. Saw the movie many decades ago. William Holden. Not too many stumpers tonight; good players and relatively easy boards. I did get the earthquake clue.
Wow, it was still another runaway for Scott. In my case, I performed above average in the game, and with a no brainer for FJ.
Regarding the quote, another site found it on the Tomorrowland page of the Walt Disney Family Museum, as a direct quote from Walt Disney.
Steve, near as I can figure out, the Family Museum quote mashes up 2 different quotes attributed to Walt Disney. The first part of this one, “Physically, Disneyland would be a small world in itself – it would encompass the essence of the things that were good and true in American life.”
and the last part of this one, “Disneyland will be the essence of America as we know it…the nostalgia of the past, with exciting glimpses into the future.”
It seems to me that the clue writers knew there were different versions floating around and that’s why the clue says “Its creator imagined” as opposed to “Its creator said”
Scott is now the 18th player to win 10 games. He is also #17 in the all-time winnings. After Isaac failed to win his 10th game exactly one year ago on July 16, 2024, Scott was able to do it on this date on July 16, 2025.
EPCOT would have been my guess too…