<p>It really depends. There is a ton of scientific research on the topic of ranking all kinds of things. It would probably take a long time to get up to speed on that. But if I get you right, you instead just want something that's easy to implement and works good-enough. That's a lot easier then.</p>
<p>If the ranking task is synchronous, e.g. tournaments where everyone is present at the same time, I'd look into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss-system_tournament" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Swiss system</a> or similar. In Go in Europe, we use a variant called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMahon_system_tournament" rel="nofollow noreferrer">McMahon</a> that combines rating points with tournament performance that has been working exceptionally well for this purpose.</p>
<p>If the ranking is asynchronous, probably points-based, anything like ELO, Glicko, etc should work. It's not clear to me from the question which further requirements you have in this regard. If there are none, I would just go with the one that appeals to you most and/or is the easiest to implement.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-01T07:54:15.750Z
2021-07-01T07:54:15.750Z
mafu
<p>I wish to implement a rating system In order to match players with similar strength. My domain is several trick taking card games of either 2 players or 4 players, and the results are Win/Lose/Draw.<br />
My question is, what is the <strong>best practice for a rating system for trick taking card games?</strong>
Or what are the considerations that I need in order to decide which rating system is best fit for my needs?</p>
<p><strong>My needs are</strong>: Improving the experience of players by matching players with similar strength.  It does not need to be extremely accurate.</p>
<p>a quick search discovered three systems:</p>
<ol>
<li>ELO - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiki</a>, <a href="https://mattmazzola.medium.com/implementing-the-elo-rating-system-a085f178e065" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Explanation</a></li>
<li>Glicko - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glicko_rating_system" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiki</a></li>
<li>Glicko 2 - <a href="http://www.glicko.net/glicko.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Glickman site</a>, <a href="http://www.glicko.net/glicko/glicko2.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Paper by Glickman</a></li>
</ol>
<p>A nice comparison between <a href="https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Elo_vs_Glicko.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ELO and Glicko in this paper by Michalis Kaloumenos</a></p>
<hr />
<p>I Think BGA <a href="https://boardgamearena.com/page/ranking" rel="nofollow noreferrer">made a good job implementing ELO ranking</a>, so it is probably good enough for me as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-30T09:13:01.627Z
This sounds like a very broad question, more of an invitation to a discussion. Could you try to narrow it down? For example, clarify what exactly "your needs" are?
Hackworth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-30T10:20:46.197Z
@Hackworth, Added "my needs" section.  Please tell me if that makes a better question
Cohensius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-30T10:32:20.820Z
Is it better belongs to boardgames.meta ?  (discussion, support, and feature requests for this site)
Cohensius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-30T15:17:55.290Z
Still not sure what the actual question is, your edit basically seems to repeat what you already wrote. You also already found a comparison of rating systems, what question does it not answer?
Hackworth
<computers><rank>
Best practice for implementing a rating system
Cohensius
# Best practice for implementing a rating system

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-30)

I wish to implement a rating system In order to match players with similar strength. My domain is several trick taking card games of either 2 players or 4 players, and the results are Win/Lose/Draw.  
My question is, what is the **best practice for a rating system for trick taking card games?**
Or what are the considerations that I need in order to decide which rating system is best fit for my needs?

**My needs are**: Improving the experience of players by matching players with similar strength. It does not need to be extremely accurate.

a quick search discovered three systems:

1. ELO - [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system), [Explanation](https://mattmazzola.medium.com/implementing-the-elo-rating-system-a085f178e065)
2. Glicko - [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glicko_rating_system)
3. Glicko 2 - [Glickman site](http://www.glicko.net/glicko.html), [Paper by Glickman](http://www.glicko.net/glicko/glicko2.pdf)

A nice comparison between [ELO and Glicko in this paper by Michalis Kaloumenos](https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Elo_vs_Glicko.pdf)

---

I Think BGA [made a good job implementing ELO ranking](https://boardgamearena.com/page/ranking), so it is probably good enough for me as well.

**Tags:** computers, rank

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This sounds like a very broad question, more of an invitation to a discussion. Could you try to narrow it down? For example, clarify what exactly "your needs" are?  
> **username_0**: @username_1, Added "my needs" section.  Please tell me if that makes a better question  
> **username_0**: Is it better belongs to boardgames.meta ?  (discussion, support, and feature requests for this site)  
> **username_1**: Still not sure what the actual question is, your edit basically seems to repeat what you already wrote. You also already found a comparison of rating systems, what question does it not answer?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-01. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

It really depends. There is a ton of scientific research on the topic of ranking all kinds of things. It would probably take a long time to get up to speed on that. But if I get you right, you instead just want something that's easy to implement and works good-enough. That's a lot easier then.

If the ranking task is synchronous, e.g. tournaments where everyone is present at the same time, I'd look into the [Swiss system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss-system_tournament) or similar. In Go in Europe, we use a variant called [McMahon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMahon_system_tournament) that combines rating points with tournament performance that has been working exceptionally well for this purpose.

If the ranking is asynchronous, probably points-based, anything like ELO, Glicko, etc should work. It's not clear to me from the question which further requirements you have in this regard. If there are none, I would just go with the one that appeals to you most and/or is the easiest to implement.


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