Board Game Arena

Hi - What is the hit% stat?

It's the percentage you have won/lost.

It can sometimes be misleading in multiplayer games as it adds for each player you beat and subtracts for each player who beats you. Getting 1st acts like you just beat 3 players at once, getting 2nd you lost against one but beat 2 others still getting credit for a net win. The 4th place person also gets beaten down as they lost to 3 at once. Don't take it too seriously for games with multiple players. It is perfectly accurate for 2 player games though.

It is basically a way to say how (in a multiplayer game) someone does if they had played in a series of only 2-player games.

For example, take a group of players with equal skill, and they play each other. If they played 2-player games, they would each have a win percentage of 50%. In a 4-player game, they would have win percentages of 25% (which looks below average). However, in the 4-player game, they would also have a hit percentage of 50% -- average.

The implications are a little strange. If a player in a 4-player game wins 3 out of 4 matches, they will have a win % of 75%.... but a hit percent of 150%. This doesn't mean a guaranteed win if it was only 2 player matches; it just means well above average.

I think Jest is giving a good explanation. Taking that a step further, the idea behind it is that a simple percent win rate has no meaning when you are playing at different player counts.

If I am equally good at 2 different games (and all else being equal), if I play one of those 2 player only, and I play 4 & 5 player at the other one a lot, those 4 & 5 player ones are going to make my win rate at that game look worse and it can't really be compared. By making the adjustment, it's trying to put them on "equal footing" so they can be compared. It's going to treat 50% as a "fair share" of wins. (With equal opponents you should win half 2 player games, but only 1/4 of 4 player games. But the 1/4 wins is your "fair share" of wins.) 50% is really beating half of your opponents. So above 50% is winning more than your fair share.

It does get a little weird when it goes over 100% so that can't be taken too literally. It's best not to see it as a proportion or probability, but rather just use it as a comparison, either between different players on the same game, or the same player relative to their other games.