HOW GAMES ARE RATED:

The rating system adapted in all the games are based on the so-called Elo system that's also used by the US Chess Federation. For the meantime, I will just give a basic rundown.

Player rankings (based on ratings) provide a quick skill assessment of a particular player. New players start with a rating of 1200. As you play more games, your rating will either increase (or decrease), depending on your skill (or in the case of bingo, depending on your card's winnability factor). Other factors that will affect how your ratings change include the number of people playing at the same time (and their ratings as well), your score etc.

In general, if you beat a player with a higher ranking, your rating will go up. If you lose to a player with a lower ranking, your rating goes down.

For WordHunt, your score largely determines your rating change. However even if you don't win the game, your rating will NOT necessarily decrease. If your final score is in the upper range at the end of the game, then your rating may still increase. Those finishing in the lower score range will decrease in rating. The increase/decrease in rating is player-specific (based on factors discussed above), and is not a fixed value. Your rating is directly proportional to your skill, compared to other players. Your rating will be unaffected if you did not submit any word.

For Bingo, we can not really measure "skill" per se, because bingo is a game of chance. For ratings purposes, your cards are given "scores". If somebody declares a Bingo in 50 calls, your cards are measured against this number. Cards that only need 1 more call to win will score higher, compared to a card that still needs 10 calls to win. These scores are summed up, and it follows the same rules as WordHunt from hereon. Note that even if you do NOT win the current game, your rating will not necessarily decrease, it is also measured against the card scores of the other players. In very rare instances, even if you win the current game, if your 5 other cards are lousy, your score may not be enough to increase your rating. This is rare, since winning cards are given higher scores, but still possible.

At the end of each game, you will see your score compared to the "best" score for that game (just make sure you are inside ANY chat room). For bingo, you may have a score higher than the best score if you won the current game, since winning cards are given bonus scores. There has to be more than 1 player at each game for your ratings to be calculated.

All these may sound confusing at first, but if you are familiar with the Chess ratings, then the system is basically similar. I will post the complete rating rules for each game later on, including easier-to-understand examples.