Deep into Paolo Pasco’s audition process for “Jeopardy!,” his mother revealed to him a bit of “mom lore.” Decades earlier, she, too, had auditioned for the quiz show.
Back then, all auditioning took place in person. In his 2006 book “Brainiac,” Ken Jennings recalls driving 12 hours from Salt Lake City to Sony’s Los Angeles studios just to take a preliminary test with a friend. Later, they repeated the drive for screen tests. (Jennings, now the show’s host, went on to win 74 straight games and $2,520,000, easily covering gas money.)
Much has changed. Pasco, a 2022 College graduate, is fairly sure he took his assessment in a mall food court, alongside three friends, on separate phones, who were also taking the test. “We might as well do it now,” he thought to himself.
Pasco later won seven straight games before dominating the show’s Tournament of Champions. In August, he’ll return with other members of the uber elite for “Jeopardy! Masters.”
Though his work as a crossword creator helped build his knowledge base, Pasco was struck by the expansive world of online quizzing he discovered as he prepared for the show: competitions like Quizzing in Progress, LearnedLeague, and Online Quiz League; communities that offer tips and organize practice games; and troves of flashcards that contain nearly every “Jeopardy!” question ever asked.
