Final Jeopardy: Old Books (8-12-26)

The Final Jeopardy question (8/12/2026) in the category “Old Books” was:

This 1653 work includes information on the care & use of proper equipment including lines, floats & rods

Quarterfinal 3 of the 2026 Tournament of Champions features: 4x champ, Bryce Wargin, a product surveillance coordinator from Kansas City, MO; 2x champ, Cameron Berry, a data analyst and college administrator from Brighton, MA; and 5x champ, Ben Ganger, a data analyst from Goshen, IN.

Round 1 Categories: 19th Century America – Major League Soccer – Now See Here! – Fictional Females – Old Hard Cash – “Ful” Start

Ben found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “19th Century America” under the $800 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $1,000, $200 more than Bryce in second place. Ben bet $1,000 and guessed quartz. That was WRONG.

Deposits of this mineral were discovered around 1815 in Ticonderoga, New York, leading to a whole new industry show

WHAT ARE GRAPHITE?

Bryce and Cameron were tied in the lead with $2,800. Ben was second with $800. All clues were shown.

Continue to the original recap with the rest of the game, more information about Final Jeopardy! and 2 additional triple stumpers.

These are the stumpers and the Sneak Peek clues that are on page 2 of the original recap:

19th CENTURY AMERICA ($600) The first edition of her “Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” was published in 1896; your kitchen may have the 100th anniversary edition

NOW SEE HERE! ($800) This breed loves to perform tricks & learns new ones quickly

($1000) This impressively bearded scientist gave his name to a cathode-ray tube that led in the direction of wonderful television

“FUL” START ($600) In 2005, after 180+ years in Lower Manhattan, this fish market relocated to a glistening new Bronx location

$1000) Latin for “to strike with lightning” gives us this verb meaning “to censure”

LET’S GO TO THE SCIENCE MUSEUM ($400) This 2-word innovation was proposed by Lyman Spitzer in 1946 as an extraterrestrial observatory; we’ll see infrared images from the Spitzer one

ISLAND COUNTRIES ($1200) The southern-most of Japan’s 4 major islands, it’s home to the historic port city of Nagasaki

($2000) Following years of dispute, in 2025 the U.K. agreed to turn over the Chagos Archipelago to this island country

PLAYING SOME CLASSICAL PIANO ($2000) A 1965 record by pianist Vladimir Horowitz popularized the many, many sonatas of this contemporary of Vivaldi

HOW DARE YOU ($2000) Once a word for a freed slave, then a freethinker, it now refers to a rake, one who could do with a bit more restraint

The Daily Box Scores are released at 8 pm Eastern

SNEAK PEEK CATEGORY: FICTIONAL FEMALES
($200) Hamlet spurned her, Laertes’ sister
($400) “Before marriage” this Flaubert female “thought herself in love”
($600) In “Breaking Dawn”, Bella gives her hybrid daughter this hybrid first name, after her mother & mother-in-law
($800) Jean Valjean adopts this young girl after her rich dad abandoned her & her mom died
($1000) Her last name in “Vanity Fair” is no accident–she outwits other, including the also aptly named Mr. Wagg

ANSWERS: show