Joining the ranks of TV game shows turned Facebook games is america’s favorite trivia game, Jeopardy! Powered by GSN Digital, this incarnation of Jeopardy! takes players through three rounds of knowledge testing trivia by way of categories that have either been on the game show or very well could be. Unlike the TV show, however, once the decision is made to answer the question, players are presented with 4 possible answers, allowing for the development of educated guessing skills as well.

Working very much like the game show, the game starts out in the first Jeopardy round, where players are presented with 6 categories and 5 dollar amounts ranging from 200 – 1000. Start the round by choosing one category and one dollar amount, knowing each can only be used once. One of the categories will turn out to be the Daily Double for that round, in which players can risk up to their full amount or the maximum amount available on the board, whichever is higher. Double Jeopardy round is just like it sounds, the same only with double the money! Both of the initial Jeopardy! rounds offer “boosts” including Pass, in which players can opt out of a question once the question is revealed (akin to simply not buzzing in) and Double, which is a good option for when the answer is jumping out of the brain before the multiple choices are visible, allowing double the money to be wagered. These are not available in Daily Doubles or Final Jeopardy. Final Jeopardy is similar to a Daily Double in that the player is shown a category and can wager up to the full amount they have and then is asked the final answer.

I like the well roundedness of the trivia categories, the appropriate difficulty of the questions based on the dollar amount chosen, and the trueness they accomplished based on the show that I know I have been watching since I was pretty small. I also appreciate that they didn’t “cheap out” and skip a round. The rounds have a satisfying number of questions, and plenty of opportunity to catch up from mistakes. The only thing missing is Alex.

Play Jeopaedy! on Facebook now, and see how your trivia busting skills match up to your friends.

“Jeopardy! is considered a benchmark of ultimate knowledge. We’re thrilled that GSN Digital has created an interactive game for Facebook that makes learning fun,” said Harry Friedman, executive producer of Jeopardy!

What other game shows do you think would make a fun or interesting social game? I would like to see Name That Tune, or the Match Game. I wonder what they would do with those. Post your ideas below!

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When I saw that a friend of mine started playing Wheel of Fortune on Facebook, I nearly jumped off of my couch with excitement, because I have always loved watching that game on TV and fancied myself a pretty good couch Wheel of Fortune player. So, the thought of being able to compete in the game with my friends got me clicking pretty quickly. When I got to the game itself, I noticed it was in beta, which took down my expectations a little, but I was still super excited to play. The sound effects were pretty authentic, especially the little chime to start each puzzle, and even down to the wheel spinning, which, when coupled with the true to game graphics, really can get a fan in the mood to solve some puzzles.

Each game gets a “normal” puzzle round and a bonus round. This was a little too quick for my taste. Understandably, the point of social games is to give a quick escape from the everyday humdrum, and some have been quite successful with very short play time, but it would be nice in this case to have one extra round. That wouldn’t make the game drawn out and it would provide a redeeming factor for those sparse occasions when spin mishaps, lack of common letters, or just too many wrong guesses creates an unsolved first puzzle. The redeeming factor to having only one puzzle before the bonus round is the ability to play the bonus round regardless of whether or not the first puzzle is solved. This, in comparison to other TV game shows made Facebook games, is a most satisfying feature that ensures players aren’t left with a sort of unfinished business feeling and no score to compete with.

The puzzles themselves are, for the most part, quite solvable, but with enough challenge to make the game worthwhile. The varying lengths of the puzzles, though, are another platform for discussion about adding another puzzle into each game, simply to make the potential scores between games more even, because some puzzles are quite long and then some are two short words. However, the supply of puzzles seems to be pretty vast as I have yet to see a repeat.

The social aspect is encouraged by asking for help when the bonus round goes unsolved (because they don’t show the solution), conversely attempting friends’ unsolved bonus puzzles, and of course competing scores. The number of puzzles per day is limited, which encourages both return visits each day to get a fix and using currency (“wheel gold” or “wheel bucks”) to buy more. Other ways to use currency to play is to purchase more help in the form of “Reveal a Letter,” “Free Guess,” “Timeout” or “Double Bucks.” These can be helpful in playing a game where none of the usual letters are pupping up, or when landing on “Lose a Turn” or “Bankrupt,” but sometimes kind of feel like cheating.

A new feature that has been added is the ability to send personal puzzles as greetings to your friends. This increases the fun side of the social aspect as well as provides more opportunity to play the game when daily episodes run out. The game is definitely more fun when more of your friends play because there is simply more to do, but it is definitely fun to play whether at the free level (at which some Facebook games do get frustrating), and it still is a good game to try out for old fans, new fans, and future fans of Wheel alike.

Yeah, that’s a man falling on his rear end on the ABC television show Wipeout. (There’s an international version as well, and the whole lot resemble Japanese game shows enough that Tokyo Broadcasting filed a lawsuit! The more you know.) If you haven’t seen this, it’s really just a bunch of people making fools of themselves for money. Which is, to some extent, the plot of roughly 50% of American television at this point.

The video game version will allow for up to four competitors to participate as they all battle to become Wipeout champion. (Unfortunately, no prizes for that unless you set them yourself.) You even get to take advantage of such strategies as throwing things at your opponents. That’s one’s genius.

The titles will include the much-lauded commentary from hosts John Anderson, John Henson, and Jill Wagner.

It also looks like THQ is considering using the underutilized Wii Speak peripheral with these games. That’s a great idea, but just how well will it work? We’ll have to test it out by buying a vowel or making it a true Daily Double as soon as we can, which should be in the first quarter of this year.

Oh the hours I spent playing season 1 of 1 vs 100. Never was I chosen as part of the mob or as the One. At the end of three hours of playing, I had nothing to show for it and a guilty feeling that perhaps I should have been playing other games instead.

Now in season 2, you’ll be rewarded for spending your whole night online with Chris Cashman. Joystiq found a list of Achievements that can be earned while playing the game. We all know that Achievements makes the time worth it! The full list adds up to 200GS which is not bad.

* Group Hug — Your team of four simultaneously achieves a Streak of three consecutive correct answers. 10G
* Trivia Fanatic — Answer a total of 500 questions. 30G
* Golden Century — Answer a total of 100 questions correctly. 25G
* Hair Trigger — Get three consecutive questions right while receiving an Instant Answer Bonus for each. 15G
* Quick Draw — In a single round, receive six consecutive Instant Answer Bonuses. 25G
* Go Streaking! — In a single round, achieve a Streak of five consecutive correct answers. 15G
* Game Show Guru — In any single round, achieve a Streak of 12 consecutive correct answers. 25G
* Quarter Century — Answer a total of 25 questions correctly. 10G
* Speedy Delivery — In a single round, score a total of 1300 points through time bonuses. 20G
* Safe Keeping — Extended Play: In a single round, save up the maximum of three Skips. 10G
* Showboating Specialist — In a single 1 vs 100 Live round, max out your Avatar Action 10 times. 10G
* Low Rider — Answer instantly and incorrectly three times in a row. 5G

Now to see if I can get all of these in the first day.

I am way too excited by this news. The best online game show is coming back to Xbox Live. 1 vs 100 is back for Season 2 with Chris Cashman and the ability to win prizes.

The new season will premier on November 19 at 5pm PT. This season chances of making it in the Mob or as the One is completely based on your score. Scores are accumulated from the season, week and the round.

“Beginning on November 19, “1 vs 100 Extended Play” will feature brand new themed trivia every weeknight including “Finish the Lyrics” (are you a Karaoke champ? What’s the next line in this song?), “80s” (how well do you know the 80s?), and “Vampires” (you love Twilight and True Blood. How much do you really know about vampires?) ”

Yes a Vampire round! I’m in! Now they just need Robert Pattinson to be a guest.