Paul Barone became Binghamton University’s Jeopardy champion on Saturday, comfortably winning the campus-wide competition to bring the title home to Newing College.
A contestant each from Dickinson Community, Hinman College and Mountainview College, in addition to Barone from Newing College, competed in the finals at Old Union Hall. Each community had previously held building and community preliminaries to select a champion.
After several rounds of Jeopardy, Barone took away the first-place prize of a Kindle Fire and $75 to the University Bookstore.
“I didn’t really expect to win, but I still was hopeful,” said Barone, a sophomore double-majoring in biology and Italian.
He won with a final score of 2,900 points. His fellow competitors lost with scores of -100 and 100.
The categories in the event included “I said ‘No,’” “Science,” “’Holy’ Category,” “Cooking” and “The Webs of Websites.”
Barone, a trivia game veteran, said he hopes to participate in more campus-wide trivia events.
“I would do it again, given the chance,” Barone said. “I knew I had nothing to lose.”
University Jeopardy was initially a Hinman College event, according to Brian Frodey, a coordinator for University Jeopardy, but other communities joined in after Frodey reached out to them. He said each community contributed to the event from their budget.
“I hoped people would have a lot of fun, learn a few things,” said Frodey, a sophomore majoring in biology. “I thought it would be great to make it a University-wide event.”
Colin Sullivan, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, represented Mountainview Community in the final round. Although Sullivan ultimately lost to Barone in the penultimate round, he maintained a positive attitude toward future campus-wide events.
“Communities should do more things together rather than plan things only within each community,” Sullivan said.