Monthly and yearly rankings (standard ranking)

The points received for each game is based upon the ranking position and the number of the players. These points are then entered into the Monthly Lists.

In case of a tie, the points are distributed among the respective ranking positions.

In each city, there is a Monthly List for each game group. To get on the list, you must have played at least 7 games. The following formula is used to determine the score (exception: Catan - The Card Game, see ELO Ranking):

The Monthly Lists for the Catan games are subdivided into

1. Basic Game
2. scenarios (without Cities & Knights) and
3. Cities & Knights (including scenarios with Cities & Knights).

The monthly winners receive 2 gold, and the players occupying places 2-5 receive 1 gold each. In addition, for each game group there is an Open List that extends across cities. The players on this list do not receive gold.

Players with equal scores share the same position in the ranking lists; the following positions are skipped.

Example:

Vincent and Siegfried have the same score. Both get place 1. Place 2 is skipped; the next player has place 3.

At the end of the year, an annual score is issued for each game group and each city. The annual score consists of the sum of the four best monthly scores (ranking position). Missing monthly scores – for example, if a player only has scores for 2 months – are substituted with place # 150. Only those players are considered who still have a Premium Account at the time of the annual score (exception: Basic Game).

There are three different places where you can access the ranking lists for the games:

1. In the Statistics Area of this website.
2. In your own house or in the Hostel, by clicking on the bookshelf and selecting the menu item “Your Last Games.”
3. In the Taverns via the posters next to the door.

Note: The aforementioned ranking applies since March 2008. Click here to read more about the old ranking that applied before.

ELO Lists for the Board Games

By the end of January 2009, a permanent ELO List that extends across cities was implemented, in addition to the normal monthly ranking. The current ranking (see above) will continue without changes. No gold is awarded for ELO Lists. The partitioning of the lists corresponds to the existing Monthly Lists. All lists can be accessed in the statistics area at www.playcatan.com under the topic “ELO Lists.”

Unlike in the normal ranking, the playing skills of the participating players are included in the calculation. If you win against a player with a lower ELO ranking, you earn fewer points than if you win against a player with a higher ELO score. Therefore, the ELO score represents, to some amount, the playing skills of the player. ELO was first developed for chess and is normally used only in 2-player games. For the ELO system to work for games with more than 2 players, such as the Catan Board Game, it has to be modified. Information on the classic ELO ranking can be found here.

Each player has an individual ELO value on each list. The starting value is 1,000. Free Account users do not get a ranking value. If a Free Account user participates in a game (important only for the Basic Game), he is not considered for the calculation.

After a game has concluded, the calculation of the ranking is made based on side-by-side comparisons between the players. This means that in a 4-player game (player A, player B, player C, and player D), the calculation is performed as if the players had competed against each other in pairs. For this purpose, the ELO formula is used to calculate the result for the combinations AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, and CD (always taking into account the perspective of both players). The sum of a player’s individual rankings is added to, or subtracted from, his/her previous ELO ranking.

If a player abandons a game and another player finishes the game in his/her place, both players are excluded from the calculation, because in this case it is not possible to calculate a correct ELO value for these players. The ELO values for the remaining players will be calculated as explained below. If only one initial player is left, no ELO calculation takes place for this game.

This is how the formula looks like:

• Victory = 1 (if player A wins)
• Victory = 0 (if player A loses)
• Victory = 0,5 (if players tie)

This implies that in a 2-player game, you can win or lose 8 points at most. In a 4-player game, this would be 24 points, because you are compared with two more players.

Example:

Player A vs. B (+2) and C (+6). A receives +8 points for his ELO ranking. Player B vs. A (-2) and C (+7). B receives +5 points because, although he has lost against A, he has won against the really strong player C. C fares comparatively badly; he loses 13 points off his ELO ranking.