November 10, 2004
Jeopardy College Tournament Game Won by "1337" Student ++
Tonight was round 1 of the Jeopardy College Tournament. One of the contestants, Kermin, a comp-sci/engineering student from Carnegie Mellon University, had a commanding lead (well over $10K) going into Final Jeopardy.
His final wager had Alex Trebek scratching his head, but Kermin was clearly sending a message to fellow computer nerds. His wager:
$1337
In leetspeak, 1337 translates to "leet" or "elite."
Due to his correct response in Final Jeopardy, Kermin ended up with $31,542, which makes it likely he'll wind up in the final rounds of the tournament. It was a clever gesture, perhaps one that only could have been outdone if he had wagered $1132, which would have left him a final score of $31,337.
Somewhat relatedly, "Video Games" was a category earlier in the game, (Everquest, Grand Theft Auto, and Unreal Tournament were all correct responses) and "Blogs" was a category a few weeks ago.
Thanks to my friend Chenzie for getting me the screenshot.
Update (11/19/04): According to a comment below, Kermin won the game tonight by wagering $1041. 1041, when converted from decimal to hexadecimal equals "411." 411 is a synonym for "information." Thanks for catching it, Max. I believe this pushes him into next week's finals.
Update (11/22/04): In tonight's game, Round 1 of the Finals, Kermin explained his 1337 wager to Alex and the rest of the audience. He went on to win the game, putting him in a great spot for Round 2 of the Finals on Tuesday. I think he has to lose by $10,000 in order to lose the championship.
Update (11/23/04): Kermin won the finals, by a lot.
categories:
TV, Technology
posted by adm at November 10, 2004 08:18 PM
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Comments
does anyone know what the question was though?
Posted by: liquidice5 at November 11, 2004 06:00 AM
The clue was, essentially, "This is featured on 5 flags, but cannot be seen in the northern hemisphere." The correct response can be seen on Kermin's screen above.
Posted by: ADM at November 11, 2004 06:22 AM
I loved watching Kermin dominate double jeopardy. He was like a little Ken jr. without all that Joseph Smith nonsense.
Posted by: bradsears at November 11, 2004 09:54 AM
hell yeah, CMU keeping the hacker spirit alive.
now to go geek out in the clusters.
Posted by: jonathan brodsky at November 11, 2004 11:59 AM
That's amazing. Go CMU -- and go College Bowl, the academic competition club where I first met Mr. Fleming. Represent!
Posted by: Jason at November 11, 2004 06:53 PM
To win tonight (11/19), Kermin wagered $1041, which happens to be "411" in hexadecimal. 411=information!
Posted by: max711 at November 19, 2004 08:07 PM
5VV337! Brilliant. Just Brilliant. The 1041 was the cherry on top.
Posted by: Dabitch at November 25, 2004 10:13 PM
$1337 actually translates to "sleet", so maybe he should really change his major to meteorology.
even the link to the wikipedia article confirms this!
This is just embarassing for CMU. An MIT student would have left off the $, so any true hax0rs wouldn't have seen such an...amateur...slip up.
go tech!
Posted by: radmike at December 1, 2004 11:56 PM
Update was wrong - 1041 when converted from decimal to hexidecimal (not from hexidecimal to decimal) equals 411
Posted by: endergt at August 15, 2005 09:41 PM
@radmike:
He put the dollar sign because he was betting money. Not because he was trying to say "sleet". Stupid.
Posted by: Josh at September 24, 2005 09:24 AM
I saw this on tv. He was over $30k already, so he could have wagerd so he'd end up with 31337. That would have been pimp, since he would be risking it on the fact that he got the question right!
Posted by: bobjones77 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://thousandrobots.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 17, 2005 07:35 PM
LMAO! Nice post. 1337 speak still ownz yah!
Posted by: David at August 21, 2006 04:01 AM
This guiy is smart? How do the rest of us become geeks?
Posted by: Smitty at August 21, 2006 10:48 AM
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» 5VV337 from D School
Tracked on November 11, 2004 07:33 AM