Mark your calendar or set up your DVR: an IBM computer system will attempt to play Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter next Monday through Wednesday (February 14-16). Locally, it's on channel 28 at 7:30.

You remember Ken Jennings, who won 74 matches in a row, and won millions of dollars.  But Brad Rutter is actually the biggest winner ever on Jeopardy! ($3,255,102)

The computer, nicknamed Watson, is a "stand alone" machine, not hooked up to the internet or any people, and consists of 2,800 CPUs networked together. It must "read" the text of the question at the same time as the humans, and must respond in a synthesized voice in the form of a question. It also chooses the category and value, just as humans do, in its turn, in a synthesized voice, and make its own wagers in "double Jeopardy" and "final Jeopardy."

It is said that playing this game is especially hard for a computer because of the word-play that is frequently a part of the categories and questions -- puns, inside jokes, and so forth.