Board Game Arena

FrankJones wrote: ↑16 March 2026, 23:40 That's news to me.

Yeah, but come to think of it, I've only ever heard about non-restorable Elo from other users on this forum. And there is a message from BGA admin in this very thread, that says that Elo can be restored. So, maybe that's just a legend that is passed around here. Restoring Elo shouldn't be harder that restoring karma. Yes, it'll generate some excess Elo and mess with the numbers, but Elo calculation on BGA is pretty mangled anyway.

teallite wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 02:36

FrankJones wrote: ↑16 March 2026, 23:40 That's news to me.

Yeah, but come to think of it, I've only ever heard about non-restorable Elo from other users on this forum. And there is a message from BGA admin in this very thread, that says that Elo can be restored. So, maybe that's just a legend that is passed around here. Restoring Elo shouldn't be harder that restoring karma. Yes, it'll generate some excess Elo and mess with the numbers, but Elo calculation on BGA is pretty mangled anyway.

The post you're referring to said "If there is some issue on our end" (or something to that effect). My understanding was that referred to BGA website/server outages or BGA-wide issues, not individual game bugs.

FrankJones wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 07:23 The post you're referring to said "If there is some issue on our end" (or something to that effect). My understanding was that referred to BGA website/server outages or BGA-wide issues, not individual game bugs.

Maybe, but isn't a general consensus here that Elo can't be restored no matter what? So, either BalGAmor mixed up karma and Elo or there are cases when Elo is restored.

FrankJones wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 07:23 The post you're referring to said "If there is some issue on our end" (or something to that effect). My understanding was that referred to BGA website/server outages or BGA-wide issues, not individual game bugs.

teallite wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 10:20 Maybe, but isn't a general consensus here that Elo can't be restored no matter what? So, either BalGAmor mixed up karma and Elo or there are cases when Elo is restored.

In my case I had a game once that I won, but an error in coding after an update credited me as losing the game. After contacting support, they restored my ELO, note that's restored, I wasn't actually credited a win, just it was restored as if the game had never happened.

I would imagine it's that sort of bug that you can get ELO restored, rather than my card didn't work properly cost me the game.

I think the general notion of “getting Elo back” is a deeply flawed one.

You should look at the Elo number as an approximation of your skill level. Your actual skill level doesn’t change—well, not quickly. BGA’s estimation of it is the only thing that changed. There isn’t anything to get back. But if you keep playing, the system’s approximation of your actual skill will move back towards reality.

Its main use should be in match-making so you’re playing the sorts of skill levels you want to be, and anybody who isn’t a top-10 sort of player should not be fazed by a bug leading to a temporary reduction. You’ll get back to your true level soon enough.

teallite wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 10:20

FrankJones wrote: ↑17 March 2026, 07:23 The post you're referring to said "If there is some issue on our end" (or something to that effect). My understanding was that referred to BGA website/server outages or BGA-wide issues, not individual game bugs.

Maybe, but isn't a general consensus here that Elo can't be restored no matter what? So, either BalGAmor mixed up karma and Elo or there are cases when Elo is restored.

When there are site-wide issues, BGA posts large banner messages at the top of each screen alerting players:

"We are having major issues right now. Game forfeit penalties will be canceled. Bug reports are not necessary."

Now, there are potentially four penalties for forfeiting a game:
1) Karma loss
2) an extra 10 Elo loss beyond what would usually have been lost.
3) The actual standard Elo loss (based on the Elo differential between the players and the K-factor)
4) Not gaining the Elo that would have been won if the game is in an obviously winning position for the player who ended up forfeiting because of the site-wide issue.

I am not entirely clear exactly which penalties are reversed. Numbers 1 and 2, for sure. I am not sure about number 3,and I am certain they do not modify number 4.

And, these reversals of penalties only occur if an entire game ended prematurely through no fault of the player, not in situations in which a player says, "Hey, this one card did not work properly, so I had to do something else, and I lost the game because of it."

In the very rare case just mentioned in which the game was played to completion and the site incorrectly awarded the win, apparently that is also something they will adjust Elo for, which makes sense.

FrankJones wrote: ↑16 March 2026, 17:34

kaduzy wrote: ↑16 March 2026, 16:45

FrankJones wrote: ↑10 February 2026, 17:42

What was the bug? Can we see it in the game replay? Did you post a bug report?

Some weird bug where I tried to change a bird from automatic action to not-automatic in the middle of getting food. I was denied a chance to get food at all and had to waste my next turn getting it. In an action economy game like WS, every turn matters, so it killed my game in both cases.

You're right, that should not have happened.

There are two ways to report a bug.
1) From the game itself, there is a link to report a bug, and it would automatically post the game table number in the bug report, or
2) You can go to the bug report page for that game and post a new bug report and copy-paste the table number into the appropriate field.

I play Wingspan, so I'm curious to see this bug. Could you post the table number and turn number (for example, "round 4 turn 5""?

Sorry, too long ago.