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ELO points deduction in a tie

Posted: 26 December 2025, 09:59
by men-with-ven
Can someone please explain why this happens?

We finish the game, it`s a complete tie (equal number of points and equal number of placed cubes), the game even says there "Tie breaker: In case of a tie, the player who has placed the most Animal cubes wins. In the event of another tie, players share the victory", but one player still is awarded points and another player loses points. And I swear to god, every time that happens it`s me who loses points.

https://boardgamearena.com/12/harmonies?table=780037622
This is the last time this happened. but it isn`t the only one. I report this as bugs, but nothing seems to be done about it.

Re: ELO points deduction in a tie

Posted: 26 December 2025, 10:15
by Jellby
In a tie, the higher ranked player loses points and the lower ranked players wins points. No bug.

If the players tied, they have the same skill, so their elo scores should be the same.

Re: ELO points deduction in a tie

Posted: 26 December 2025, 10:20
by men-with-ven
Well then they should change the phrasing in the "tie" notice, because this is obviously not a shared victory if one player loses points.
Anyway, thanks for answering

Re: ELO points deduction in a tie

Posted: 26 December 2025, 11:49
by KuWizard
Please do not report ELO-related things as game bugs. Games developers are not in control of ELO, it's a BGA issue. If you think ELO doesn't work correctly (I doubt that tbh, it was implemented more than 10 years ago), please report a "BGA website" bug.
But yes, ties can decrease it indeed

Re: ELO points deduction in a tie

Posted: 26 December 2025, 14:37
by tbhp
It is literally a tie in your example though.

Since they tied, you would logically expect their ELO to be the same, which is why the higher ELO goes down. It would make no sense for your ELO to remain the same after you've tied many games against opponents supposed to be lower rank than you.