ELO

[Leumas78]

Hi all,
Could some knowledgeable player please explain the ELO scoring for me?
Thanks in advance.
Leumas78

[Jest Phulin]

Well, there's always this page from the BGA wiki ...

Basically, it is a method to rank players, based on a system widely used in the chess community. The average of all players is 1500*. Better players are higher, poorer players lower. At 1600, the person is considered a good player, at 1800 an expert, and at 2000 a master.

*Note -- on this site, the average is probably slightly higher than 1500, as people with low ratings tend to leave. I think. Someone more knowledgeable may wish to confirm or correct that.

If you win a game, you take points from those people you defeated. How many points is determined by what your rankings were before the game -- a person with a low rating beating a person with a high ranking will see more points transferred than a person with a high ranking beating a person with a low ranking.

This system was developed for the chess world, and has some quirks with this site. Chess is a 2-player game, whereas many games on this site have more players. In this case, it is evaluated as if several 2-player games were done at once. For example, Alice, Bob, Cindy, and Dave all play a game together. Conveniently, they come in 1st through 4th in the order listed. The ELO is calculated as the sum of:
Alice beats Bob + Alice beats Cindy + Alice beats Dave
Bob loses to Alice + Bob beats Cindy + Bob beats Dave
Cindy loses to Alice + Cindy loses to Bob + Cindy beats Dave
Dave loses to Alice + Dave loses to Bob + Dave loses to Cindy.

Does this answer what you were wanting? If not, we can try to explain it more.
Or, for real fun, check out the English Wikipedia page.

[Leumas78]

Hi jest phulin,
Thanks for the great explanation, it make sense now, and adds some insight into why some player set a minimum skill level to games they administrate.
Play soon,
Leumas78

[Jest Phulin]

... and adds some insight into why some player set a minimum skill level to games they administrate.

And maximum skill levels too... It is generally more fun to play with people around one's own skill level, which is why ratings are used on this site.

[gustos77]

In Puerto Rico, or other applicable game. Does ELO ranking changes take into consideration the actual scores or just finish position? How much weight is placed on either?

For example, Joe 46 pts, Bo 45 pts, Doe 20 pts - does that game have the same ELO ranking impact if the scores were Joe 80 pts, Bo 30 pts, Doe 29 pts, assuming I was Bo...

[Jest Phulin]

That, I do not know. Someone with a better understanding of this site will have to answer. Sorry.

As a *GUESS*, I'm saying it doesn't, as the system was developed for chess, a 2 player game with no score. But I have no information to support this.

[Een]

Jest Phulin's guess is correct. ELO is a win/loss based system: only the finish position is taken into account, not the width of the score gap between players.

Cheers,
Een