How does the scoring in 'QI' work?

[LetZygonsbeZygons]

Is it so obvious I cant see it? it seems very confusing.

Alan davies always seems to be last, and sometimes someone with the most answers isn't 1st?

and when they say the right answer or the obv answer a klaxon sounds and the words flashed on the screen?

what??????????????

disclaimer-I realise its been going for years but Im a new convert!

anyone?

MC is one of those games which can seem terribly tricky if you just read the rules on paper, but after a quick round with a couple of experienced players you'll find it very intuitive.

piglet youre making me sound thick!! .

I so empathise with your uber-pedantic tendencies. I now just ignore any reference to points or scoring on these shows (except mastermind/University Challenge - kind of the point there!). I first came across this random points awarding thingy on "Whose Line Is It Anyway" - my poor befuddled brain couldn't cope with what seemed to be a posh person in-joke of random points!

sorry I forget some strange people don't listen to radio 4

In theory they're meant to gain points by giving an answer that's 'quite interesting' and losing points by giving an answer which is both predictable and wrong (which sets off the klaxon). Whether that actually happens or they just make up the scores, I don't know.

The scoring is blatantly unfair, which is part of the fun. You could probably win QI by not answering any questions and thus scoring 0, but it would be against the spirit of the thing. So answers that are obvious but wrong (and get the klaxon) usually get a score of something like minus 10 or minus 20. An answer that is both correct and interesting will get a high score. A woman on it once got something like +50 for recognising a particular mathematical equation.