Final Jeopardy: Old Books (1-21-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/21/2026) 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
Bryce and Cameron were tied in the lead with $2,800. Ben was second with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Let’s Go to the Science Museum – Island Countries – Playing Some Classical Piano – Documentaries – First of All – How Dare You
Cameron found the first Daily Double in “First of All” under the $1,200 clue on the 11th pick of the round.
He was in the lead with $7,600 now, $5,200 more than Bryce in second place. A reversal (see below) brought Ben’s score up to %???. Cameron bet $4,400 and took a shot at it with Victorinox. That was WRONG.
In 1868 this company named for 2 men made the first Swiss wristwatch, for a countess; men preferred to keep white-rabbiting show
Ben got the last Daily Double in “How Dare You” under the $1,600 clue on the 15th pick of the round. In second place with $4,800 now, he had $400 less than Cameron’s lead. He bet $4,800 and guessed invalid. That was WRONG.
Though no one knows the origin of this 3-syllable word for “fool”, one theory involves a familiar Latin phrase meaning “not so sound mind” show
Cameron finished in the lead with $8,800. Bryce was in second place with $5,200. Ben was last with $2,000. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “THE COMPLEAT ANGLER”?
English author Izaak Walton published “The Compleat Angler” in 1653, popularizing fishing as a leisurely pursuit as opposed to work or a sport. The book became so popular, it has been reprinted more times than you can shake a fishing pole at, as this video explains.
Did you know? Although “compleat” was originally ye olde spelling of “complete”, it took on a different definition thanks to Izaak Walton.
Ben tried “The Art of Fishing”. He bet nothing so his score remained $2,000.
Bruce went with a simpler “On Fishing”. He lost $4,999 and finished with $201.
Cameron thought “The Ideal Fisherman” might work. He lost his $1,601 bet but won the game with the remaining $7,199. Cameron has now gone from 1 win in regular play to 1 win in Champions Wildcard to a quarterfinal win in the ToC. Now, that really is wild!
Reversal: PLAYING SOME CLASSICAL PIANO ($1200) This Canadian set a new standard for Bach piano playing with 2 versions of the “Goldberg Variations”, in the 1950s & ’80s – Ken was looking for a Glenn Gould response so he rejected “Gold” from Ben and Cameron got it. The judges found out that Glenn’s last name was originally Gold, so they gave Ben a thumbs up and $2,400.
A triple stumper from each round:
OLD HARD CASH ($1000) A valuable sestertius coin from 64 A.D. bears images of Emperor Nero & this Roman seaport completed during his reign
FIRST OF ALL ($2000) He was living in Bruges in the 1470s when he produced the first book printed in English
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “1980s MOVIE CHARACTERS”
Oliver Stone, screenwriter of this 1983 movie, named its main character to honor the Super Bowl-winning QB from 1982 show
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I had a pretty rough time tonight until Final, which I knew in half a heartbeat as soon as I saw floats and rods. I could swear they’ve used that book before–maybe one of the archivists can verify. Missed all the DDs but knew the cookbook author and of course the NYC fish market.
Howard, the book and the author have both been frequent flyers in the past. Walton was the FJ answer in the 7-17-19 game.
I have known about this book since I was a teenager, before I ever saw an episode of Jeopardy. I can’t remember who brought it up, but probably my mom or grandpa. They were big on trick spellings.
I think a lot of stuff that people in our generation think of as common knowledge is really passé.
Wow, I feared that Ben was going to dig himself deep into the red, but he then made a comeback. Anyways, I went with ‘The Farmers’ Almanac’ for FJ. Yes, I was aware that ‘The Farmers’ Almanac’ didn’t come out until much later (like some 150 years+). Yeah, ‘The Compleat Angler’ was so popular that none of the contestants came up with it, and neither did I. Quite obviously, the FJ was a tough one.
Wow these questions tonight were really hard. I did terrible the second round.
Like the 1/08/25 episode, I should have stuck with my initial thought. In that 1, I was gonna go with Sam Cameron, but I found a picture of Ferdinand Percentie on stage with Drew Goins and Enzo Cunanan, and I changed from Sam to Ferdinand. Turns out the picture was from a rehearsal game, and Sam won. Today, I was gonna root for Cameron Berry, but seeing as how I was hoping that an automatic Semi-Finalist would win this year’s Champions Wildcard, unlike last year, and it didn’t work out, I changed to Ben Ganger, because he had 4 runaways in a row, and Ben, I’m sorry to say this, but darn those Daily Doubles. Maybe, the 3rd time I change my rooting interest will be the charm.
The wagering clues were not nice to anybody today resulted our second epic fail on the wagering clues this season.