University student
appears on Jeopardy!
She participated in the
trivia game show’s
college tournament
By Victor Runyan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Almost everyone has played
along at home with Jeopardy!
and said “I could do that.”
Veronica Lee, a University
junior double majoring in com
puter and information science
and fine arts, took this dream
one step further. Jeopardy! of
ficials said Lee is the first Uni
versity of Oregon student they
remember to play in the college
tournament.
Viewers will see Lee on Jeop
ardy! in its upcoming college
tournament. Lee’s first appear
ance will air on May 6. Students
will have to watch the show to
see how she did because she is
contractually prevented from
talking about the results. She
did admit that she didn’t win
the tournament overall but is
pleased with her performance.
“I know so much useless in
formation that it seems like Jeop
ardy! is the only place I can ap
ply that knowledge," Lee said.
She said she was attracted to
the college tournament be
cause it seemed more fun and
offered better prizes and a bet
ter chance to play in more than
one game. The competition for
the college tournament is stiffer
than for the standard show be
cause there are only 15 spots
per year in the tournament and
about 400 spots for the stan
dard show, said Elaine Sutton,
Jeopardy! promotions director.
Lee made it from one of the
thousands who apply and hun
dreds who test to one of the 15
tournament contestants. Her
appearance on the show is con
sidered a success by at least one
Jeopardy! staff member.
“She’s pretty, smart and she
played with energy,” said Su
san Thurber, senior contestant
coordinator.
Thurber said Lee played the
game well and was everything
she likes in a contestant —
someone
whom peo
ple want to
cheer for.
She said
Jeopardy!
has been so
lucky find
ing good
contestants
for the tournament that the
show often encourages some of
the ones who don’t make it
onto the show to try out for
standard Jeopardy!
“We find so many great kids
— more than we can use,” she
said.
Unlike many hopeful con
testants, Lee said she didn’t
cram before her tryout. She
feels that one of the most im
portant skills needed for Jeop
ardy! is being able to use the
buzzer well and recall informa
tion instantaneously.
“Everyone up there pretty
much knows all the answers to
the questions,” Lee said.
The prizes in the tournament
range from $2,500 for being one
of the 15 students selected to
appear to $25,000 and a con
vertible Volvo for the tourna
ment winner. Additionally, the
finalist’s schools get cash prizes
matching the student’s cash
prizes.
Club event offers mix of games
Gamex participants
played card, board and
role-playing games
By Victor Runyan
Oregon Daily Emerald
The fate of the world rests on the
roll of the dice. The result comes
up and armies advance across the
Risk board to conquest.
The second annual Gaming Ex
travaganza held Saturday, also
known as Gamex, showcased vari
ous games that members of the
University Gaming Club play.
This event is the only time during
the year when the group comes to
gether to play its favorite games.
Traditionally, students meet oth
er players through an e-mail list
and come together only once a
term for club business meetings.
“It forces a lot of people to get
out of the room and be social,”
said Dyn6e Putnam, event coordi
nator and a sophomore majoring
in Italian.
Gamex is intended to introduce
students to the club and encour
age those interested in games of all
type to join, Putnam said. The club
is very open to new games. It plays
an eclectic selection of games in
cluding several role playing, board
and card games. The club and its
yearly extravaganzas are free. Each
game is overseen by a volunteer
game master.
“You name the game; we like to
play it, as long as its legal,” Put
nam said. “We’re always open to
trying something new.”
At the extravaganza members
played games such as Advanced
Dungeons and Dragons, Toon, a car
toon-based role-playing game and
the group’s two most popular
games, Risk and Claydonia. About
15 students gathered in Walton
Complex to engage in various games
that began in the early evening and
ran well into the morning.
The interest in diverse games
introduced one of the club’s most
Scott Bamett/Emerald
Community member Matt Parrish and freshman biology and psychology double major
Sarah Parrish play Risk, one of several games offered at the second annual Gaming Ex
travaganza held Saturday night in the Walton complex.
popular games. In Claydonia,
players form characters out of
Play-Doh. The players decide on
how quick and powerful a crea
ture is based on its looks and its
creator selects a special ability for
it. During the game, based on dice
roles, the creatures get flattened by
shoes, hit by fists, bitten by players
and mutilated in various ways un
til only one survives. The winner
gains another special ability it car
ries into the next game. Putnam
said that because of the mess in
volved in the popular game, the
club is restricted to playing it in
the basements of residence halls.
Risk is another game with a loy
al following. The dub plays a vari
ation called Inter-Dimensional
Risk, which it decided against
playing at Gamex because it can
take more than seven hours to re
solve. The high level of challenge
is one of the features that draws
some of its members.
“I’ve decided not to try to win
now; I just find creative ways to
lose,” said Sarah Parrish, a fresh
man double majoring in psycholo
gy and biology.
She said the club is an excellent
place to improve game skills and
meet a wide variety of students.
She said it has helped her grades
because instead of watching tele
vision she interacts with students
who are often highly motivated
and encourage finishing home
work before playing.
The club is in its first year as an
official University club. It formed
last year when its current presi
dent, David Johnston, a senior
double majoring in computer sci
ence and fine arts, transferred to
the University from Lewis and
Clark College, which has a robust
gaming club. He found that the
University didn’t have a gaming
club and decided to form one. Al
though it started small, it has
grown to a mailing list of more
than 30 people.
For more information, see the
club’s Web page at
gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dput
nam/gaming
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