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WILKES-BARRE — Inside Elmer Sudds on Wednesday, patrons watched city native Abigail Myers’ heartbreaking “Jeopardy!” defeat.
Myers, who had an early lead and went into Final Jeopardy ahead by $1,800, got the last question correct, but lost by not betting enough to defeat Nora Rowaily, of Cincinnati.
“Kudos to her,” Lance Babcock said as he and his wife, Sandy, watched Myers lose by $2,600.
Myers ended her three-day run with a total of $41,200. The E.L. Meyers graduate beat two-day champion Eric Vernon on Monday and walked away with $29,000. Tuesday’s win netted Myers $10,200 , and for her second-place finish Wednesday, she received an extra $2,000.
Those at the bar, including Susan Socash, were under the assumption that Amy Falconetti would be the dark horse in the competition. Falconetti came from a first-round deficit of negative $200 and moved into second place entering Final Jeopardy. Falconetti then wagered it all on the final answer — ‘The animal on this NBA team’s primary logo peaked about 75 million years ago’ — but guessed the incorrect team.
Both Rowaily and Myers had the correct question — ‘Who are the Toronto Raptors?’
“I usually want the third person to win, but not tonight,” said Socash, of Wyoming. Rowaily was the third person she was referring to.
Socash has tried out for the game show herself.
“Some nights I could win,” she said, touting her knowledge of literature and Spanish questions.
The game show has become a daily staple at the Northampton Street establishment. Bar owner John Yencha said the ritual came from a former bar patron, Klaus Lietz, who died last year. Lietz loved trivia, bartender Melanie Socash said.
The bartender said the show “flows from the news and Wheel (of Fortune).”
“Sometimes, we’ll have music on but have the captions on television,” Yencha said.
Myers said she used online quiz website Sporacle to help her on science-based questions, such as chemistry, which she wasn’t sure about.
“And they were timed, so that helped,” noted Myers, a King’s College graduate, of her training quizzes.
According to thejeopardyfan.com, a site which keeps show statistics, Myers ended up getting 71 questions correct, answered incorrectly on six questions, and was two-for-three in Final Jeopardy over her three-day run.
Myers, who now works as an education administrator in Brooklyn, N.Y., plans to donate a portion of her winnings to charity, pay off student loans and buy herself “something fun.”
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