Jeopardy! — the "total point affair"

Alex Trebek was fond of saying that a player in a distant third entering the second day of a tournament final often came back to win. In 2015, Keith Williams at The Final Wager looked at the history, and found… not so much.

Below is an update of Keith's work. With the addition of games to J! Archive over the last several years, it appears that every multiple-game, aggregate-score match is now captured — 149 in all as of May 22, 2024. The first table gives the aggregate results, and the second lists the individual matches. Each of those individual listings links to the final game of the match in the Archive.

Winner's position entering final day
1st
2nd
3rd
Tournament of Champions
21
4
4
Teen Tournament
17
12
3
College Championship
22
6
3
Teachers / Professors
8
3
0
Second Chance
6
2
1
Champions Wildcard
5
1
0
Senior Tournament
8
2
0
Others
16
5
0
Totals
103
35
11

Winner's position entering final day 1st 2nd 3rd
Tournament of Champions
 1985 1986 1989 2001 2004 2006 1987 1988 1999
1990 1991 1992 2009 2017
1993 1994 1995
1996 1998 2000
2003 2007 2010
2011 2013 2014
2015 2019 2021
Teen Tournament
 1987 1989 1990 1988 1994 1996 2006 Jul 2007 2013
1991 1992 1993 Feb 1997 Mar 1999 Nov 1999
1995 Nov 1997 2001 2002 2003 2004
2005 Feb 2008 Nov 2008 Feb 2007 2011 2014
2009 2012 2016
2018 2019
College Championship
 1989 1990 1991 1998 Feb 2000 2003 1992 1995 2013
1993 1994 1996 2008 2016 2017
1997 1999 Nov 2000
2001 2002 2004
2005 2007 2009
Feb 2010 Nov 2010 2012
2014 2018 2020
2022 (NCC)
Teachers / Professors Tournament
 Nov 2012 2013 2015 2011 Feb 2012 2020
2016 2017 2018
2019 2021 Prof
Second Chance
 2022 W2 2023 S37 W2 2023 S37 W3 2022 W1 2023-24
S39 W2		 2023 S37 W1
2023-24
S39 W1		 2023-24
S39 W3		 2023-24
S39 W4
Champions Wildcard
 2023 S37/38 1
(Spades)		 2023 S37/38 2
(Diamonds)		 2023 S37/38 3
(Clubs)		 2023 S37/38 4
(Hearts)
2024 S39 1 2024 S39 2
Senior Tournament
 1987 1988 1989 1990 1993
1991 1992 1994
Jul 1995 Dec 1995
Others
 Int'l 2001 MDM UToC SF1 10th Ann Int'l 1997 UToC SF21
UToC F2 MDCI IBM HSR 2024 Masters
BotD ASG 1 ASG 2
ASG WC ASG F GOAT 1
GOAT 2 GOAT 3 GOAT 4
2023 Masters

1 Brad Rutter won the second semifinal of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions from a tie with Chris Miller for second after the first game.
2 The final of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a three-game total-point affair; Rutter won, and led after both the first and second games.

Tournaments with a single-game final:

Tournaments with a "first to three wins" series final:

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