How the camel score formula works (the deep dive)
For the curious: the complete mechanics of the formula — the starter herd, the answer values, why they aren't evenly spaced, and why fixed math beats random scoring.
The score guide gives you the formula and a worked example. This is the director's commentary.
The pieces
20 starter camels. Everyone begins with a herd of 20, free of charge, no questions asked. Why 20 and not 0? Because a quiz that can score you at zero camels is a quiz that can ruin a birthday party. The starter herd guarantees every result is a respectable number — the joke is the title, never the total.
Seven answers, +2 to +12 each. Every question has four answers valued at 2, 5, 9, and 12. Your total is the starter herd plus the sum of your seven values: minimum 20 + 14 = 34, maximum 20 + 84 = 104.
Why the values aren't evenly spaced
Notice the gaps: 2→5 (+3), 5→9 (+4), 9→12 (+3). Evenly spaced values (say, 3/6/9/12) would make every answer step feel identical. The uneven spacing does two things: it makes the top answer feel like a real commitment (that last +3 costs confidence), and it spreads real humans across the bands instead of clumping everyone in the middle. It's a small design choice with a big effect on the score distribution.
Why every question weighs the same
Humor counts exactly as much as charm, kindness as much as adventure. No hidden multipliers, no "this question counts double" twists. Equal weighting keeps the formula explainable in one sentence — and one-sentence formulas are the ones people trust. If you can explain the scoring to a friend in ten seconds, the quiz has done its job.
Why fixed beats random
A randomized formula — same answers, different score each time — would be easier to build and arguably more "exciting." It's also dishonest: it presents chance as measurement. Fixed arithmetic means your score is a pure function of your answers, which enables everything good about the quiz: the per-answer breakdown, the one-answer retake experiment, fair comparisons, and the ability to argue with the math instead of the void.
Verify it yourself
You don't have to take our word for any of this. Take the quiz twice with identical answers and confirm the score doesn't move. Change one answer and confirm the total moves by exactly that answer's value. The formula is public, the arithmetic is simple, and the quiz is deterministic — check our work. We insist.