Jeopardy Fails To Check Facts, References Tetris Joke In Clue
Oh, that Alex Trebek really got egg on his face this time! We often wonder how smart the host of America's most popular quiz show actually is. Would he wreck us if he stopped by on trivia night? Or is he only as intelligent as the cards in front of him? On a recent episode of Jeopardy, we found out that Mr. Trebek doesn't know a whole lot about Tetris. Because whoever put together his material for the evening — those cards he reads from — failed him in the worst way possible.
It all centers around a question that aired about "the 7 rotatable blocks" found in Tetris. The Jeopardy clue claimed that each of the Tetris blocks have names, which — if you've ever played the game — might sound totally ridiculous. Names for the blocks never appear in the game, nor had we ever heard of them being given official titles otherwise.
The names of the blocks themselves should have been dead giveaways, too. Ricky? Hero? Smashboy? Was someone getting this wrong, or has there been some hidden Tetris history out there we've been missing all this time?
As it turns out, whoever prepared that clue from Jeopardy wasn't reading from any official source connected to Tetris: they were actually citing a joke posted on Twitter back in February of this year; one that fabricated an entire manual for Tetris along with names for each of the individual blocks.
I found the original instruction booklet for #Tetris and... did anyone know that these pieces had names?? pic.twitter.com/SvtxvIcUz6
— vecc "trebek fooler" hitto (@vecchitto) February 24, 2019
Kudos, at least, to the contestant who was presented with this clearly flawed clue and somehow managed to land on Tetris as the correct answer anyway. The images of the blocks themselves might have been helpful.
Found the clip. This is just embarrassing. @kelslewin @frankcifaldi @GamingHistorian @scully1888 pic.twitter.com/svHTcTwWrT
— Chris Chapman (@retrohistories) October 8, 2019
The official Jeopardy Twitter account has yet to admit it flubbed the clue, though we certainly have our eyes peeled for such an update. In the meantime, should anyone attempt to quiz you about the names of the blocks in Tetris, kindly correct them on our behalf. The blocks don't have names.