Board Game Arena

Why is it that if you win a arena match you get anywhere from +8 to +12 points (based on my wins). BUT if you lose a match straight -28 points. Shouldn’t the loss in points be equal or similar at least? For every 3 tough games I win I lose it all in 1 match where the dice just doesn’t want to roll in your favor. Make it make sense.

It all depends against whom you win or lose. If you play against high-ranked players, you'll win a lot (less often) and lose little (more often). If you play against low-ranked players, you'll win little (more often) and lose a lot (less often). It has nothing to do with Catan, it's the same for every game.

Limitless_90 wrote: ↑13 September 2025, 04:10 Why is it that if you win a arena match you get anywhere from +8 to +12 points (based on my wins). BUT if you lose a match straight -28 points. Shouldn’t the loss in points be equal or similar at least? For every 3 tough games I win I lose it all in 1 match where the dice just doesn’t want to roll in your favor. Make it make sense.

Further to Jellby's point, in that specific game where you lost 28 Arena points, you didn't just "lose." You lost to two people with lower EAS. In multi-player games, there aren't just three outcomes: win, lose, tie. If you come in 2nd in a three-player game, you have lost to 1st place, but won against 3rd place. So no, not all "losses" should have the same EAS adjustment because they aren't all equal (even ignoring how the relative ratings factor in, which is a huge component). All things being equal (and EAS almost never is), a loss by coming in 3rd of three is always going to cause a larger EAS adjustment than a loss by coming in second of three, even if in your mind they are both just "a loss."

In a four player game you could lose to 1st place, tie someone else for second, and win against the person in last place. In that scenario you'd have a win, a tie, and a loss all in one game, each of which is evaluated separately for each of the other opponents, then summed. This is stated clearly in the FAQ:

A player's ELO change is determined by comparing their finishing position against each of their opponents. For example, finishing second means a loss against the player in first place but a win against the player in third.

Based on these individual outcomes and considering the current ELO ratings of the compared players, a single ELO change is calculated for each comparison. Finally, all these individual ELO changes are summed to determine the player's total ELO adjustment for that game.

When you're talking about Arena, substitute EAS for ELO in the above.

But when you win, you definitely win against all opponents, so it makes sense to compare the points when you win with the points when you are last. Any difference there is due to the ranking (EAS) of the other players compared to yours.