The integrity of a new online game show may be in Jeopardy!

The popular game show Jeopardy! launched a college online tournament over Labor Day Weekend. In the game, any college student with access to the Internet can compete for over 1,500 prizes--including a 1998 Pontiac car, Sony Discmans and Gap certificates.

Unlike the television version, the online game--created by Columbia TriStar Interactive--is in a multiple-choice format. Players log-on and can choose a category--much like in the TV game--and can select one of four possible questions for the given answer.

Vandana L. Madhavan '98, who was the second place winner of the College Jeopardy! tournament on television two years ago, says she had not heard about the online version. But she says she was excited about the new tournament.

"People come up to me and say 'I've always wanted to be on Jeopardy!,'" she says. "So now it's cool that there is another way to experience the thrill of competing on Jeopardy!"

In order to compete for prizes in the tournament, each player must log-on three times in one week and get one of the top 10 scores--making them eligible for the semi-final round which will be held in November. The top three players from the semi-finals will compete for the highest score over the Internet. The winner of the tournament will receive the Pontiac.

Students nationwide are currently competing to qualify for the semi-final rounds. The game, located at http://www.station.sony.com/college-jeopardy/, has 25,000 students registered to date, says Lynda Keeler, spokesperson for Columbia TriStar Interactive.

Keeler says she expects between 50,000 and 75,000 participants in the tournament, which is supposed to run through November.

To register, students must provide their name, e-mail address, birthday, password to play, mailing address and college attended.

However, many students say that the security on the game is too loose and allows people to cheat.

Some Harvard students say that they have achieved a top score in the game by logging-on under a different name after playing the round once and getting all the answers.

One Harvard undergraduate, who requested anonymity, says that he has cheated numerous times on the Web site tournament in order to get a high score.

The student says he would log-in using a friend's name and play a round to familiarize himself with the categories. By logging-in a second time within the same week under a new name, he says he would usually get a game with some of the same categories that he had played before. Since the student already knew those answers, he says his score would skyrocket.

At one point, the student says his score reached more than $100,000. The average score for Harvard is only $12,829, according to Keeler.

"I'm no great computer hacker," the student says. "Anyone who thought about it for more than two minutes could do it."