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JEOPARDY! stars Troy Meyer, Amy Schneider, Yogesh Raut and Mattea Roach all have one thing in common aside from winning big on stage.
They – and even at one point host Ken Jennings – are members of LearnedLeague, its founder told all on the “fight club” of trivia where getting invited is as tough as its questions.
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Seattle-based Shayne Bushfield created, writes, and is the sole full-time employee of LearnedLeague.
Unlike Jeopardy!, money is not on the board – but ridiculously hard questions, bragging rights, and a custom scarf, awarded to the annual champion since 2014, are.
Only three players have “won the scarf”, and Troy, who recently won $214K on the game show – has four of them.
It’s no wonder the player who defeated him blogged that his “eyes widened” when he saw Troy on set – he recognized his prowess from LearnedLeague.
Three-day champ Yogesh Raut who blasted Jeopardy! as “not important” in a now-infamous Facebook rant is one of its highest-ranked players too (though he hasn’t beaten Troy).
Some fans were disappointed as the two big-time quizzers only missed settling the score by six episodes.
Shayne – who operates the hilariously fitting alter ego Thorsten A. Integrity – exclusively sat down with The U.S. Sun in the serene courtyard of the Washington D.C. Hilton to dish on what’s become a quiet phenomenon and a feeder to Jeopardy! fame.
‘DON’T FORFEIT, DON’T CHEAT’
LearnedLeague’s website is wonderfully pared back, a simple white page with six text-based questions per match.
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It’s invitation-only, and players have to be referred by someone already in it.
Once you’re in, you play at your convenience (within a 24-hour window), and each competition lasts 25 days.
Each day, a user – the writer of this story is one as well – faces another stranger to see who can do better between them.
There are only two key rules and they’re splashed in huge text under each day’s questions: “Don’t forfeit, don’t cheat” – members are on the honor code with that one.
“I’ve definitely had to kick people out. One clue [of cheating] is a perfect score,” Shayne told The U.S. Sun about his creation.
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Founded in “late 1997” Shayne revealed: “I was working at this white shoe law firm in New York.”
“We had a lot of free time so I just started creating games for the group to do during the day.
“Eventually it got to trivia, something I’d always been into.”
“There were about 25 of us and I made it into a league where we’d play head-to-head.
“It wasn’t online, it wasn’t even on email – it was all on paper.
“I left that firm and then I went to business school at Columbia and I learned programming, the website was created in 2000” – which he called “primitive.”
“So from there it’s grown to where it is today” – there are 27,000 active members.
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Current members include Mattea, 24, who won 23 games and $560K on Jeopardy! last year.
According to a tweet from The Ringer, Mattea “learned about LearnedLeague mid-winning streak and [was] STILL ON THE WAITING LIST TO PLAY.”
40-time Amy Schneider plays at the top tier, known as “Rundle A,” – per Them, but they’re both better known for being on Jeopardy! first – which isn’t necessarily the case for Yogesh or Troy.
Host Ken, 48, was an active member (he played under JenningsK) but stepped down for obvious reasons.
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For those lost in the lingo, there are five divisions, or “Rundles” based one’s rank in the league.
And while the Jeopardy! stars mentioned above are largely in the A-league, it ranges down to E, where politician Mick Mulvaney played with more losses than wins.
The writer of this article can proudly say they are in the D-league, so not the lowest.
In each match, a user wins by choosing how much the questions will be valued from 1-3 points but not for them, but for their opponent.
In Jeopardy!-speak, this would mean choosing how much your rivals have to wager on Final Jeopardy, but they’d also get to choose for you.
The average for correct responses for first-time players is 47%.
In other words, it’s like bar trivia, but online, difficult, and a total secret.
FAVORITE QUESTION
Shayne dished: “I write all the questions – the main season is 150 questions – I write those.”
“My favorite questions are often less liked; one was about a waltz.
“The question was postmodern, it was written to the meter of a waltz”
It read: “Ballroom dance, German word, to revolve, fittingly.”
Which is in ¾ time, and he described it as a “meta” clue – “a lot of people hated it but I loved it.”
‘DIFFERENT THAN JEOPARDY!’
“I’m actually friends with Ken. I’m very deeply biased [about my host preference].”
“We both live in Seattle so we got to know each other locally and I can tell you he’s a great guy I like him a lot.”
“We do connect in the sense we have similar interests.
Shayne didn’t love being asked if he ever goes over to Ken’s house and joked: “that’s enough on Ken.”
“People don’t have exposure to it until you join. I hear people say it’s the ‘fight club’ of trivia – that never come from me but it is kind of that thing.
“You have to be referred, use your real name and I don’t advertise.”
“You can’t come to the site to join.
“Learned league and Jeopardy! are different in many ways. Jeopardy! is fun and entertaining but for the players, it’s not to have fun, its to win money. “
“You win money by winning games. So that takes work. This is the exact opposite.
“There’s no money. No entertainment factor. Entertainment comes from playing. Everyone gets the same questions despite there being different levels.”
This is a competition for fun, bring the brain that you have.”
Shayne has no interest in being on Jeopardy! himself as this is his full-time job – membership is $35 for those who can make it in.
If so, a Jeopardy! fan could potentially go from nabbing clues from their couch to facing Troy Meyer or Amy Schneider – well, also from their couch.
One Facebook user wrote as more stars are coming from LearnedLeague to Jeopardy!:
“It’s becoming clearer and clearer that more of the Jeopardy contestants are almost ‘professional’ trivia people. I don’t think this was always the case.”
Another tweeted: “Oh snap! I just realized Jeopardy! champ Troy Meyer is the legendary MeyerT, who has 4 LearnedLeague Championship scarves, as well as the 2nd highest career Win% and 6th-highest Correct Answer% in history.”
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