Historical Echoes: I’ll Take “Happy Birthday, Fed!” for $400, Alex

Amy Farber

The Federal Reserve System is getting ready to celebrate
its 100^th birthday. The quiz show Jeopardy! recently paid tribute to this milestone by having as
one of its “Teen Tournament Jeopardy!”
categories “Happy 100th Birthday, Federal Reserve!” Barrett Block,
a high-school senior, won
the game. You can play the same game the
teen contestants played (scroll down to the “Double Jeopardy!” round) on a fan-created site called J! Archive.
On the site, which by the way isn’t affiliated with Jeopardy!, you can travel back through the past thirty years and
test your knowledge on Jeopardy!
questions on specific topics like finance, economics, money, and the Federal
Reserve.

    
The American quiz show Jeopardy!
began in 1962. It became syndicated with Alex Trebek as host in 1984. The official website gives background
information on what’s happening with the game now. It’s also possible to view
the archives of all games aired since 1984 on J!
Archive as well as search the archives by keyword (search box at top of
screen). As you play a game, mouse over the monetary value posted at the top of
each box and you’ll see the answer to the question and the name of the contestant
who got it right.

    
In the not-too-distant past (2010), there was a Jeopardy! game with the category “Chairmen of the
Federal Reserve,” which you can also play. In this game, no $1,000 question
is posted for the Fed category. The contestants must have reached the end of
the round before this. Wonder what the question
was . . . .

    
Going back in time, here are some examples from the deep,
dark past:

Game
from 1984 with “Money” category in the
Jeopardy! round

Game
from 1990 with “Economics” category in the Jeopardy!
round

Game
from 1992 with “Money and Finance” category in the Double Jeopardy! round

Game
from 1992 with “Business and Finance” category in the Double Jeopardy! round

Disclaimer
The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author.

Amy Farber is a research librarian in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group.