Nick Rolader is ready to roll in the dough. The dough being American currency, that is.

After more than seven years of Academic Bowl membership and countless triumphs at restaurant trivia nights, the University

student has scored a spot on “Jeopardy!”

“It’s at least a free trip to L.A.,” said Rolader of his soon-to-be game show experience.

The game show is covering his hotel accommodations and airfare, he said. However, “Jeopardy!” participants are guaranteed $1,000 for placing third and $2,000 for placing second, which could be used to cover their traveling expenses.

“It’s really just for the experience. I plan to donate the money to my fraternity,” said Rolader, who is the treasurer of the honor fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. He is a junior from Lilburn double majoring in history and sociology.

Since grade school, Rolader said he has watched game shows such as “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” with his grandparents. This hobby grew when he joined

the Academic Bowl team at Brookwood High School in ninth grade, he said.

“Ken Jennings went 74 ['Jeopardy!' shows in a row] and he writes Quiz Bowl questions for a company that I play on,” Rolader said.

“I played in front of him for the Academic Bowl National Championship my senior year. We placed eighth out of 128 schools.”

In high school, Rolader tried out for “Teen Jeopardy!” by completing a written test in Nashville, Tenn., but was unsuccessful. The set-back didn’t stop him from signing up for the game show’s 50-question, timed online test last February.

“I passed and got into the audition pool,” he said. “I was the only college-age person there.”

The Atlanta audition was set up like a real game show. Rolader and 19 other prospective contestants took a written test and battled at the buzzers in groups of three to play five or six questions. After the questions, each person was given a brief 30 seconds to say something about himself.

“They don’t tell you how they’re going to pick you,” Rolader said. “I didn’t think that I could stand out, but whatever I did must have worked.”

Rolader said he was one of the 400 chosen from a pool of about 12,000 prospective contestants. He will fly to Los Angeles Oct. 23 to film the show, which is scheduled to air Jan. 14.

“I’ve been watching ‘Jeopardy!’ pretty regularly lately and looking at the site with the old questions,” he said. “I’m good at history, literature and science and not so good at old pop culture and movies.”

“If I absolutely don’t know the ‘Final Jeopardy!’ answer and nobody can catch up with me, I’ll input an answer from ‘Saturday Night Live Celebrity Jeopardy!,’” he said.