How I Made a Jeopardy-Style Review Game with AI (Free Prompt for Teachers)

18 hours ago

10 min read

Last week I had about fifteen minutes of class left. My Grade 9 Geography students had just finished their group presentations on India, they'd worked really well, and I thought: how about we do something fun for a bit?

So, on the spot, I asked AI to build a Jeopardy-style review game on their four topics. A few minutes later, I was projecting this:

When it came up on the screen, my students' reaction was: "Oh my God, you made this? That's so cool."

That's the feeling I want you to have after reading this post: "Wow, I can do something like this." Because you can. And you don't need to know how to code.

What the game does

It's a single web page that opens in any browser. No logins, no installs, no internet needed once you have the file.

A board with four categories and five questions each, from 100 (easy) to 500 (harder).
Teams take turns choosing: "Food 400!" "ISRO 100!"
The question appears in big text you can read from the back of the room.
You click Reveal Answer to show the suggested answer, then you decide who gets the points. Other teams can steal.
Scores, an optional timer, undo, and auto-save, so an accidental refresh doesn't lose the game.

One important detail: it's not traditional Jeopardy. Students don't have to answer in the form of a question. They see a normal question and answer it out loud, and the teacher stays in control.

Why it worked so well in class

My students had a lot of fun. Kids love games, anything digital on the screen, a bit of competition, and working together with their friends. It got competitive, but in a friendly way.

It was great for me too. Because students were answering on the spot, I could get a real pulse on what they knew about each topic. It worked like concept checking, a quick piece of formative assessment before their written test.

The next day I made one for my Grade 11 World History class on Ancient Greece, and they enjoyed it just as much.

I'm not a coder (and honestly, coding sounds boring to me)

I've always been comfortable with technology. On the adoption curve I'm not an innovator, but I'm one of the earlier-ish adopters. Early in my career I worked at an ed-tech company and built websites. During the pandemic I tried Harvard's free CS50 course and a bit of Scratch.

I didn't enjoy it. Coding itself sounds really boring to me. What I like is creating products: having an idea, building it, seeing if it works, and understanding how the pieces fit together.

That's why vibe coding clicked for me. You describe what you want in plain English, and the AI writes the code. A couple of years ago I used ChatGPT to build a choose-your-own-adventure Stone Age game, and it was clunky. Today's AI tools are on another level. Sometimes I honestly feel like a wizard, summoning incredible coding powers to make things for my students.

And the best part: you get exactly what you want. Quiz websites make you log in, fill everything in, and it takes so much time, and the ready-made games rarely fit your class. With AI, the game is built around your topic, your questions and your students.

My 5-step workflow

Know what you want. For the India game, I knew the topic, the four categories, what content I wanted to check, and that I wanted questions from simple to more difficult. That's the real reason it was so fast.
Get the questions drafted, then check them. I used AI (ChatGPT) to draft the 20 questions and suggested answers, then I checked and edited every one. You know your students and your content best.
Let AI write the prompt for you. I often tell ChatGPT: "This is what I want… give me a detailed prompt I can use to code it." ChatGPT is my little assistant; Claude does the heavy lifting. (This is sometimes called meta-prompting.)
Give the prompt to Claude and let it build the game.
Preview, tweak, test. Before getting the final file I asked, "Can I try it here first?", and Claude made a playable preview right in the chat. Then I asked it to add our school logo and suggest improvements, and finally to test everything again. That last test caught a real problem (the longest answers ran off the bottom of the screen), which it fixed.

The first version usually has a few small issues. Play it, test it, improve it, and it gets much better.

The free prompts

Use these in Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. Fill in the parts in [square brackets].

Prompt 1: Quick start (the AI writes the questions)

Best for trying it out. You give it your topic; it drafts the questions, waits for you to check them, then builds the game.

You are an experienced history teacher and a careful web developer. Help me make a Jeopardy-style review game for my class.

MY CLASS
- Topic / unit: [e.g. Ancient Greece]
- Grade or age: [e.g. Grade 9, ages 14–15]
- Key ideas my students should know: [paste your unit's key terms, or write "you choose"]
- Number of teams: [e.g. 3]
- Anything else: [e.g. many students are learning English / include a map question / avoid X]

STEP 1 — QUESTIONS FIRST (do not build the game yet)
Write 4 categories with 5 questions each, worth 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 points.
- Higher values are harder: 100 = recall a fact, 500 = explain, compare or apply an idea.
- Mix question types: quick questions, multiple choice (3 options), "true or false —  and explain", and "imagine you are…" questions that put students inside the period.
- For each question give: the answer, other acceptable answers, and a 1–2 sentence student-friendly explanation the host can read aloud.
- Be historically accurate. Say "in the myths" or "according to legend" when something is a story, not evidence. Avoid common misconceptions, stereotypes and anything that would
  upset students. Use language my students can read on a projector.
Show everything in one table so I can check it. Wait for me to say "build it".

STEP 2 — BUILD THE GAME (after I say "build it")
Make a single, self-contained HTML file that runs in any browser, with no login, no installs and no internet needed. Design it to be shown on a classroom projector:
- A board with the category names across the top and big point values underneath.
- Team score cards; click a team name to rename it; +100 / −100 buttons to fix scores.
- Clicking a value opens the question in large text, with the question type shown.
- A "Reveal answer" button shows the answer, other acceptable answers and the explanation, then buttons to give the points to a team, or "No points / skip".
- "Close without using" puts the question back on the board.
- Used squares are greyed out and show which team won them.
- A "How to play" section, a "New game" button (asks before resetting), and a results screen with the winner when every question is played.
- Save progress in the browser so refreshing the page doesn't lose the game.
- Colours and fonts that match the topic, with strong contrast and text big enough to read from the back of the room.
- Put all the questions in one clearly labelled section at the top of the code so I can  edit them later.

Prompt 2: My full classroom prompt (bring your own questions)

This is a template of the exact prompt I used for my India game. It's longer, but it's what gives the polished, classroom-ready result. Draft your questions first (with AI's help if you like), check them, then paste them in.

# Review Game: [GAME NAME, e.g. India Review Challenge]

## 1. Project overview
I teach [SUBJECT] to [GRADE/AGE] students. We have just studied [UNIT/TOPIC], and before[the test / the end of the unit] I want a fun, interactive review game inspired by Jeopardy.
Build a complete, polished, classroom-ready HTML game that is easy for me to run while projecting it onto a classroom screen.

IMPORTANT: this is NOT traditional Jeopardy. Students choose a category and a point value, see a normal question and answer it out loud. I decide whether the answer is correct and award the points myself. The main purpose is to review and check understanding.

## 2. Final deliverable
One standalone HTML file named [FILENAME].html:
- Everything in ONE file (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). No external libraries, fonts or images.
- Works completely offline and opens directly in Chrome, Edge or Safari.
- No server, installation, account or internet connection required.
Build the complete, working game, not a sample or a prototype.

## 3. Setup screen
Title: [GAME NAME]. Subtitle: [e.g. Grade 9 Geography — Review Game].
- Choose 2, 3 or 4 teams (default 3) and type each team's name.
- A large "Start Game" button and a short "how to play" explanation.
- If an unfinished game is saved, offer "Resume" or "Start new game" (ask before overwriting).

## 4. Game board
Four columns (my categories: [CAT 1], [CAT 2], [CAT 3], [CAT 4]) and five rows (100–500).
- Large, readable point values; all 20 tiles clickable.
- Used questions are greyed out and can't be played again by accident.
- Team scores always visible; show which team is choosing; show how many questions remain.
- Buttons for fullscreen, settings and score adjustments.
- Must fit a classroom projector at 1920 × 1080.

## 5. Question screen
Show the category, point value, the question in large text, an optional countdown timer,
a "Reveal Answer" button and a "Back to Board" button.
- The answer stays hidden until I click Reveal.
- For explanation questions, show the key ideas students should mention, as bullet points.
- Never judge spoken answers automatically. I decide.
- After revealing: buttons to award the points to one team, or "No points".
- A question only counts as finished once I've scored it. Leaving it unscored keeps it playable.
- Let me undo a scoring decision.

## 6. Turns and stealing
Teams take turns choosing. If a team answers incorrectly, another team may try to steal.
Show which team is choosing; let me change it manually. No penalties for wrong answers.

## 7. Optional timer
Default 30 seconds; start, pause and reset; can be switched off or changed in settings.
When time runs out, show it gently. Never auto-reveal the answer or take points away.

## 8. Score management
Clear scoreboard; add, subtract or correct points manually; undo the last scoring action.
Make sure a question can never award points twice.

## 9. Questions and suggested answers
Use these EXACT 20 questions. Do not replace, rewrite or add questions. Answers may be shown
as short bullet points, but keep their meaning.

### [CATEGORY 1]
100 — Q: [question] / A: [suggested answer]
200 — Q: [question] / A: [suggested answer]
300 — Q: [question] / A: [suggested answer]
400 — Q: [question] / A: [suggested answer]
500 — Q: [question] / A: [suggested answer]
### [CATEGORY 2]
... (same pattern for categories 2, 3 and 4)

## 10. Answer display
Show answers in a teacher-friendly way, with a small note:
"Teacher decides whether to award points. Accept other accurate answers."

## 11. Auto-save
Save teams, names, scores, finished questions, whose turn it is and settings in the browser, so a refresh or accidental close doesn't lose the game. Resetting needs confirmation.

## 12. Results screen
When all 20 questions are done: all teams, final scores, ranking (including ties), the winner(s) and a short congratulations message. Options to go back to the board or start a new game. No "Final Jeopardy" round.

## 13. Visual design
Inspired by a classic quiz show, but clean and modern: dark navy background, gold point values, large white question text, clear category headings. No clutter, no distracting animations or sounds, no external images. Readability from the back of the classroom comes first. Big, easy-to-click buttons; clear difference between available, selected and used tiles.

## 14. Keyboard
Esc returns to the board; Space starts or pauses the timer; a fullscreen toggle.
No keyboard shortcut may award points or reset the game.

## 15. Testing
Before giving me the file, test it: it opens offline; 2, 3 and 4 teams work; every tile opens the right question; answers stay hidden until revealed; scoring, stealing, "No points", undo and manual score changes all work; used tiles lock; the timer works; a refresh keeps the game; resetting asks first; rankings handle ties; everything fits and is readable at 1920 × 1080; there are no errors or broken buttons.

## 16. Final instructions
Build the actual game and give me the complete HTML file. Don't leave out or change any of my questions. Keep me, the teacher, in control at all times.

Handy follow-up messages once your game is built:

"Before making the file, can I try a preview here first?"
"Add our school logo (attached) to the setup screen and the board."
"Any other suggestions to make this better for my class?"
"Test everything again and fix any problems you find."
"Make a printable answer key for me as the host."

Tips before you start

Have a "strong-ish foundation." You don't need a perfect idea, because your ideas will change once you see the product. But know roughly what you want: topic, categories, difficulty.
Stay flexible. If something isn't working, or you want to change it, just ask.
Always check the content. These AIs do a decent job, but you're the teacher. Read every question and answer before your students see them.
Say it's not traditional Jeopardy, or you might get the "answer in the form of a question" rules.
Ask for a preview, suggestions and a final test. Those three follow-ups made my game noticeably better.

Where else could you use this?

Honestly, any subject and any age, from elementary school to AP classes, and at any moment in a unit:

At the start of a unit: a temperature check, or an informal diagnostic of what students already know.
Before a test: a fun, structured review.
At the end of a lesson: a quick check for understanding.

While writing this post I realised what I'm making next: an AP Microeconomics board for Unit 2, Supply and Demand, with each subunit (2.1, 2.2, 2.3…) as a category, and simple to harder questions in each. I think my students will really enjoy it.

Over to you

I really hope this is valuable. I want to be adding value and helping other teachers, and I'd love to know if anyone actually uses it.

You don't have to do anything. But if you try it, I'd love your feedback: send me a message and tell me what topic you made a game for.

Good luck, and have fun with it!