The Tournament of Champions starts Monday!

On Monday, Jeopardy! unveiled the list of competitors in the forthcoming Tournament of Champions. Of course, they play up the whole Julia vs. Arthur angle, but there are 13 other contestants, too.

Here’s how our aspiring Champions will be matched up in the quarterfinals. Podium position in the quarterfinals is determined by total winnings.

As I did with the Battle of the Decades, I’ll offer a preview of each day’s game. (I won’t be offering any predictions since I already know what happens.)

The nice thing with this tournament, however, is that I’ve already analyzed many of these players’ games! Click any name for a list; those in italics played in Season 29 and thus pre-date The Final Wager.

Sandie Baker
Joshua Brakhage
Arthur Chu
Julia Collins
Jim Coury
Jared Hall
Drew Horwood
Ben Ingram
Mark Japinga
Sarah McNitt
Andrew Moore
Terry O’Shea
John Pearson
Rani Peffer
Rebecca Rider

(As you might know, 5-timer Jerry Slowik was excluded from the tournament after some legal issues.)

If you want to play along at home, Teen Tournament alumnus (and Final Wager interviewee) Joe Taglic is hosting a pool. Pick who you think will advance to the semis, the finals, and to a $250,000 payday!

Here’s the link to the pool.

And for those of you looking for a tease, I’ll tell you this: in one game, a player took 15 minutes to calculate The Final Wager. (I would have taken longer.)

Get ready, people! Two weeks of great games await – watch, or these guys will take you out.