School News: Albuquerque Academy Math Teacher Wins Jeopardy!

Spring 2020

Jason Zuffranieri, an eighth and ninth grade math teacher at Albuquerque Academy (NM), has always loved trivia and math games. He’s been on two championship national trivia teams and has represented the United States at 10 World Sudoku Championships. And now, he’s expanding his winning résumé: He's No. 3 on Jeopardy!'s all-time highest regular season winnings list. He won his 15th straight game in September 2019 by correctly answering the final question, "Invented in 1974 as a model to teach 3-D problems, it became one of the bestselling toys of all time,” with “Rubik’s Cube”—fitting for someone who loves math games.

To prepare for the show, Zuffranieri studied the Jeopardy! archive on the website, focusing on his self-proclaimed weak areas, such as classic film, classical music, and opera. The studying paid off: Zuffranieri’s 19-show winning streak spanned two seasons in 2019, and he won $532,496.

When the first game of season 36 aired in September, his school hosted a viewing party. About 50 students, faculty, alumni, and parents were in attendance, and Zuffranieri answered questions about this experience on the show during the commercial breaks. When asked by a local CBS affiliate how he would spend the money, he said it was largely spoken for, as he recently purchased a home, but that he might splurge on an expensive rare album he’s always wanted.



From top: Jason Zuffranieri poses with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek; a local CBS affiliate delivers Zuffranieri’s prize money on campus the day after his final game/Photos courtesy of Albuquerque Academy
 
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