Years ago my husband and I were in charge of planning a church activity. We wanted to find something that would let members of our ward (a ward is what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons call a local congregation) get to know each other better. And so Jeo”ward”y was born! I love puns! It is basically Jeopardy, but all the questions (or should I say answers) are based on members of the ward. It is the perfect “get to know you” game!

Since then I have figured out that there is a long way to prep for this and a super short way. The long way is great if you are planning a bigger activity and you want more control over what the questions will be and their point values. But the short way is perfect if you don’t have a lot of time and you are dealing with a smaller group, like a young women’s activity.

The Long Way

When we did it for the whole ward, we handed out a questionnaire to everybody a few weeks ahead of time that was designed to find out fun and odd facts about members of the ward. We asked questions like:

• What is something that hardly anybody knows about you?
• What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?
• Do you have a hidden talent?
• What are some of your talents?
• Do you have an un-talent? (something you are really bad at)
• What’s your favorite food?
• What’s your favorite dessert?
• What’s your favorite color?
• What’s your favorite time of year?
• What famous person have you meet? Give us the details.
• Share a story or event in your life others might no know.
• Where were you born?
• Where and how did you meet your spouse?
• What countries have you visited?
• What awards have you received?
• Anything else interesting about you that you would like to share?

Some of the questions were designed to collect stats. We found out which color was the most popular in the ward or the only state in the country that nobody in the ward had ever been to.

After we were done, we collected all the info and picked out the juiciest stuff. We then made up some categories and then did the answers and questions. We used a PowerPoint that we downloaded from online to set everything up. And then we used a projector to put it all up on a big screen in the cultural hall.

This was several years ago, so I don’t remember where we got the template we used, but you can find a good one right here.

See the Complete Rules for Jeowardy Below

The activity was a huge hit and people learned a lot about each other. And for a large activity the prep wasn’t too bad.

The Short Way

Recently our ward reorganized the Young Women’s Presidency and we wanted a chance to get to know the girls better. I decided that “Jeowardy” would be a perfect young women’s activity, but I didn’t have the time to do all the prep. So I came up with a faster and much easier way to do it.

This time I came up with the categories and printed them out on pieces of paper. I then printed out cards with the number values like they do on the game show. For example, the category “Hobbies and Amazing Things I Can Do” had cards that said $100, $200, $300, $400, and $500. I did them all in the same color so that we would know which category they belonged to.

On the night of the activity I then handed out all the cards to the girls and told them to write an answer and question that went with the categories they got. We did it in pencil so that the answers wouldn’t show through and I told them not to tell anybody what they were writing. As the girls finished I taped the cards up on the wall underneath their categories with blue painters tape. Within about twenty minutes the game board was ready to go! And to prep for it I only had to print out the cards!

See the Complete Rules for Jeowardy Below

For the team that won, I also made these cute little prizes with licorice whips.

I have everything you need ready for you to download here:

• Color-Coded Category Signs and Number Value Cards (PDF)
• Jeowardy Sign and Prize tags (PDF)

The Rules of “Jeowardy”

1. Divide into three teams.
2. Each member of every team will take a turn answering a question by coming to the front of the room and sitting on their team’s “contestant chair.” Nobody can go twice until everybody on their team has had a turn.
3. On the board there will be a series of categories with dollar amounts. Each team will alternate to choose the category and the amount. The team to go first will be picked using a random method like “pick a number.”
4. Once a category and an amount have been chosen, the host will read the clue. For example, “Likes to dance to Neil Diamond.” A contestant is not allowed to pick a card that she has written.
5. In front of the contestant chairs (about four feet away), place a stuffed animal on the floor. This is the “buzzer.” The first contestant to grab the stuffed animal gets to answer first. You can also use a buzzer if you have one. The answer must be given in the form of a question. For example, “Who is Sister Anders?” No exceptions!
6. If the person gets the right answer, they get the dollar amount assigned to the question for their team. If not, the team will lose that dollar amount and the remaining two teams can run up for a chance to answer.
7. Each team will send up a contestant and continue to compete until all of the questions have been answered.
8. At the end, each team will add up the dollar amounts that they have and determine how much they would like to wager on Final Jeowardy. The team will write this amount onto a piece of paper and hand it to the host.
9. The team will be able to listen to the question, confer as a team, and then write their answer (in the form of a question) on a piece of paper. You will have one minute after the question has been read to hand your answer to the host.
10. The host will re-read the question, all the answers, and declare a winner!