Trama

A game show where contestants aim to score the fewest points possible by guessing the least popular answers given by people in polls on various subjects.

The object of the game is for contestants to give answers to the presented questions that are not only correct but as obscure as possible. The game is played by teams of two contestants, who are referred to as "couples" even though there is no connection between the two contestants on the team. The first two series began with five couples, but this was reduced to four in series 3.

Before the show begins, a pre-conducted online survey of 100 people gives them 100 seconds to come up with as many answers as they can to a series of general knowledge questions, which are set into categories before being asked to the couples during the game. After the question category is revealed, the contestants are given rules about what they are looking for in terms of the answers they give, and what kinds of answers can (and sometimes cannot) be accepted.

When a contestant gives a correct answer, the couple score one point for every person who gave that answer during the survey, while an incorrect answer scores the couple 100 points. Like golf, the lower the couple's score, the better their chance of staying in the game. The best case scenario for a couple is to find an answer that is correct but was not given by any of the people surveyed - such an answer is referred to as a "pointless answer", and gives the contestant's team a score of zero points. Not all of the questions asked will have a pointless answer, but all of the categories in the final do. At the end of each round, any pointless answers for the question are revealed, or the lowest scoring answers if the question had no pointless answers, and sometimes the three highest scoring answers are also revealed - the answers that are shown will depend on the format of the question - if it uses the Clues and Answers format, then all of the answers are revealed.

The game's format begins with two elimination rounds (or three rounds in series 1 and 2), where the contestants have to try to find the most obscure answer they can think of in order to achieve as low a score as possible. At the end of each round, the couple with the highest score is eliminated from the competition, though if it is their first appearance, they are eligible to return for the following game; if a couple is eliminated on their second appearance or they advance to the final round, then they are ineligible to return. If two teams are tied at the end of the round, then they go into a sudden-death lockdown that will sometimes require them to give another answer to the question, with the lower-scoring couple advancing and the higher-scoring couple being eliminated.

Each of the elimination rounds consists of a question whose category is revealed first, and consists of two passes. After the category is revealed, each couple has to decide who will answer the question in the first pass, which is played from the couple nearest the host to the couple farthest from him. The contestants in each couple cannot confer. After the contestants who go first have stepped up to their podium, the question and the rules for its answers are then revealed. At the end of the first pass, the contestants swap positions and the other contestant in each team then gives an answer in the second pass, which is played in reverse order. The positions of the couples changes from the first elimination round to the second elimination round; the couples draw lots before recording begins to determine their position in the first round, while their positions in the second round are based on their scores in the first round. Six different question formats have been used for the elimination round questions, though four of them remain in current use:

• Possible Answers - This was used in series 2-5. Each couple was given a board of potential answers that included at least one pointless answer and one incorrect answer whose link with the question was indirect and frequently humourous. The contestants then had to select one answer, hoping to find an obscure correct answer while avoiding the incorrect answer. At the end of each pass, the remaining answers' scores, which answers were pointless and which answer was incorrect were revealed. A different board would then be used for the second pass.

• Linked Categories - Only used, rarely, in series 5, two closely related categories were presented, one on each pass. The first contestant in each couple had free choice of what answer to give in relation to the first category, and the second contestant in each couple provided an answer to the second category.

• Open-Ended - This was the only format used for all elimination rounds in series 1, while it is only used once per game if at all in subsequent series. Both contestants in each couple have free choice of what answer to give to the question.

• Category List - A variant of the Open-Ended format first introduced in series 7 where a list of sub-categories under the main category is revealed. For example, contestants could be required to name a player of one of several sporting teams on the list, a movie starring one of several actors or directed by one of several specific directors. An answer given by a contestant would be correct if it fitted any of the sub-categories on the list, even if it is not in the sub-category that the contestant states.

• Clues and Answers - First introduced in series 3, the contestants received a list of clues that were related in some way to the question category, and had to choose a clue and provide the correct answer connected to it. As an example, if the category was a city, the clues could describe famous people who were born in that city, and the contestants had to name the person that the clue described. The style of this format had some similarities to the Possible Answers format, with both formats using a different list for each pass, but there was no guarantee that any answer in a list was pointless.

• Picture Board - First introduced in series 7, used occasionally and replacing the Open-Ended format when it is used, the contestants would be shown one or more pictures that contain many people or objects linked by the question category, such as the cast of a particular movie. Each contestant would have to identify a person or object in the picture(s), trying to find those that are more obscure than others.

The two teams that survive the elimination rounds compete against each other in a head-to-head round. In this round, the players in each couple can now confer, and the round's format has varied between series:

• Series 1 - The couple with the lowest total score across the elimination rounds could choose between two possible categories. After the question relating to the chosen category was asked, couples would each get a turn at choosing an answer, scoring a point for every person in the survey who gave that answer. If a couple accumulated a total score of over 100 points, the round would end at the completion of the current turn. If both teams exceeded 100 points on the same turn, then the couple with the lower score would advance to the final.

• Series 2-5 - The couples competed in a multiple question best-of contest. In series 2, it was the best-of-five, but it was reduced to a best-of-three from series 3 onward. The couple with the lowest total score across the elimination rounds would give the first answer to the first question, choosing from a minimum of four possible answers. After both couples selected an answer, the scores of the chosen answers were revealed. The couple who chose the lower scoring answer scored a point. The first couple to score three points in series 2, or two points from series 3 onward would advance to the final.

• Series 6 onward - The best-of-three multiple question format first used in series 3 was retained, but the questions were now designed around the Clues and Answers format used in the elimination round. Five possible answers were presented, and three types of questions could be used:

-- Picture or sound questions - The couples are either shown five pictures or played five music pieces or other sounds, marked from A to E, and may sometimes receive some letters as an additional clue, and then have to select and identify one of them.

-- Facts questions - The couples are given a list of clues related to notable facts linked by the category, and then have to select and identify an answer based on its clue.

-- Word puzzle questions - The answers that are connected to the question's category may be presented as anagrams, initials, words with alternate letters missing or part of a title or quote, which the couples have to use to try and find the most obscure answer they can come up with.

If three questions were needed to decide a winner, all three types were likely to be used.

The couple who advances to the final round wins a coveted Pointless trophy, and then tries to win the game's cash jackpot by finding a pointless answer among the three answers that they give. The jackpot would start its run at £1,000 and could increase in two possible ways - when a couple found a pointless answer in an elimination or head-to-head round, £250 was added to the jackpot, and if a couple failed to find a pointless answer in the final, £1,000 was added to the jackpot when it rolled over to the next game.

To win this jackpot, the couple first choose from a number of different categories (three in series 1-5, five from series 6 onward). In early series, they would then receive a question connected to their chosen category (for example, they may be required to name songs by a specific singer), while from the middle of series 9 onward, the couple would receive three sub-categories connected to their chosen category. In both cases, the couple would then have up to 60 seconds to discuss and collectively come up with three answers - since the middle of series 9, these answers could come from any or all of the sub-categories presented, though the couple had to state which sub-category each of their answers is from, and their answer would only be considered as correct if they picked the right sub-category. The couple then had to rank their answers from least likely to most likely to be pointless - the result of the answer they ranked least likely would be shown first, and the result of the answer they ranked most likely would be shown last. If any of the couple's answers were pointless, the couple would win the jackpot, and it would be reset to £1,000 on the next game, otherwise it would roll over to the next game with £1,000 added to it.