SOUTH DAYTON - Jason Zollinger celebrated his 40th birthday Tuesday the way many wish they could: with a nationally-televised victory and a guaranteed minimum $50,000.
There were also cupcakes.
Following a shaky first round performance in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that placed him in the second-to-last wild card spot, Zollinger returned in strong form at the semifinals, winning over college champion Nick Yozamp and foreign service officer Liz Murphy. The victory propels Zollinger into the tournament finals to be televised Thursday and Friday.
Zollinger took the first question and built momentum through the "Jeopardy!" round, leading by $3,000 at the first commercial break and ending with $6,600. Murphy ended the round with $2,600 while Yozamp, who hit bad luck with the Daily Double, had $200.
The powerful opening, according to Zollinger, made a big difference between Tuesday's game and his first match, where he struggled against two quick-buzzing opponents and didn't get in first until the eleventh question.
"A big part of being comfortable with this game was the way I started," he said. "I had a quick start, I had some good hits early on and I just kind of went from there."
Murphy would rally in "Double Jeopardy!", however, quickly closing the gap during the opening of the round and taking advantage of both Daily Doubles to eventually take the lead. As the questions on the board dwindled, it was a back-and-forth battle between Murphy and Zollinger to see who would come out on top. Zollinger emerged with $16,200 - a scant $600 edge over Murphy with $15,600. Yozamp had $3,400.
All three contestants answered the "Final Jeopardy!" clue on Roman emperors correctly. With the top dollar amount, Zollinger had bet enough to be unreachable, finishing with $31,001. Murphy, who bet conservatively on the hope Zollinger would answer incorrectly, finished with $16,801. Yozamp wagered nothing and remained at $3,400, but had a smile on his face as he waved to the camera during the final round's "thinking music."
Zollinger said he had expected a big three-way battle with Murphy and Yozamp based on their earlier performances in the tournament - and was not shy in admitting their strengths.
"The way Liz dominated her quarterfinal, she's so smart," Zollinger said. "Seriously, she's way smarter than me. It's not even close." Zollinger added he was surprised Yozamp was not further in the running at the end, having earned the top wild card spot against stiff competition.
Host Alex Trebek highlighted the coincidence that Zollinger and Yozamp not only shared the same birth date, but that it happened to be the same day as the show's airing. Yozamp turned 21 Tuesday.
An amusing fact that tends to make the rounds is that only 23 people need to fill a room before there is more than half a chance two of them share the same birthday. In the green room of the Jeopardy! studio, Zollinger said the contestants took this tidbit into overdrive.
"You tell most people about that and it's just an interesting phenomenon," he said, "but in this crowd there was talk about probabilities and all this talk about number theories. It was just a great and far more in-depth discussion of what is essentially kind of a party trick."
The Tournament of Champions finals takes place over two games, with the final scores of each added together to determine the winner. Zollinger will play against video game tester Stefan Goodreau and the winner of Wednesday's semifinal match. The second runner-up will earn $50,000, the first-runner up will earn $100,000 and the ultimate champion will win $250,000.
