By SUZANNE BONNER
suzanne@du2.byu.edu
Students can now play college Jeopardy online with a chance to be on television Jeopardy. Since Monday, visitors of station.sony.com have been able to register to play college Jeopardy. Visitors enter which college or university they attend, and after 16 weeks, the school with the most points wins an audition for Jeopardy.
Online college Jeopardy began this semester launching a new motto.
''Play today, win today' has been our major strategic shift in the game,' said Eddy Polon, producer of college Jeopardy.
'The score is cumulative, so as many people you can get to play, the better,' said Caren Piela, publicist for Sony Online Entertainment.
Playing the game is free, and prizes are given away to individuals. The first player each day to break a score of 50,000 points wins a Sony walkman. Between midnight and 6 a.m., the player who holds the highest cumulative score wins a Sony discman. At the end of each week, a Sony music system is sent to the player with the greatest dollar total, Piela said.
Visitors will find the Jeopardy categories specific to college material. 'Nutty Professors,' 'College Dropouts' and 'Big East Basketball' are just a few of the categories likely to be found on the site.
'(College Jeopardy) is still challenging. This isn't a watered-down version of real Jeopardy,' Piela said.
One of the changes this site made was implementing a tracking program so players could track their school's success with other schools across the nation, Piela said.
'We talked to the college students to allow our audience to mold what would happen,' Piela said. 'Everyone told us rivalries would work well.'
Last semester, visitors were able to play college Jeopardy, but individuals, not the school themselves, were the winners. Over 100,000 people played the game, said Steven Yee, Vice-president of marketing for Sony Online Entertainment.
'(College Jeopardy) is one of the most successful college programs on the internet today, so we're very excited for its return this semester,' Yee said.
Sony encourages everyone to participate in playing college Jeopardy.
'This is a great way for the Cougars to put themselves on the map and prove what you guys already know -- that you guys are the best,' Yee said.