Thursday, April 16, 2009

New PCS Rankings: Quad is Back!

With his 4-minute mastery of the Leading Off Puzzle coupled with Jose's off-day, Quad finds himself back at the top of the PCS Rankings for the first time since August 5, 2008! Jose hovers a mere 15 points behind, while the rest of the top 5 (Fanerman, J Steve, and MSTI) remains intact.

Here are the full rankings:

UNDER RECONSTRUCTION

And here's a refresher on how the PCS Points and Rankings are tabulated:

  • They pick up where last year's season-end rankings left off.
  • They're based on the results of a rolling 7-puzzle span, which at this time goes back to this puzzle. Thus, the results from this puzzle will no longer count after the next puzzle.
  • Each puzzle carries a full PCS Point value of 100 points. In rare cases, this full point value may be adjusted for particularly easy, difficult, or important puzzles.
  • The first correct solution submitted garners the full PCS Point value. The 2nd correct solution gets somewhat fewer points, the 3rd gets even fewer points. At some point (sometimes at the 3rd correct answer, sometimes at the 6th, depending on number of correct answers), all subsequent correct answers get the same amount of points.
  • There is a small point award for effort/participation, even if you don't get the correct solution.
  • Rankings will be updated and posted after each new puzzle.
  • When necessary at at SoSG's sole discretion, subjective adjustments to point totals or ranking methodology may be made.

10 comments:

MR.F said...

Whoa, the rankings continue from last year.

QuadSevens said...

I spent all morning building my own PCS spreadsheet with last year's scores. Going to keep an eye on when I'm losing points off the backend.

berkowit28 said...

So we don't get to start over with a new season? Lifetime stats rule? You know that gives last year's winner an unneeded leg up on this season, not to mention any prizes offered?

In real life, it's the other way around, if anything, where losing teams get higher draft picks.

Since you're so good at numbers, why not have a new table for each season, and keep lifetime stats on a linked "SoSG Puzzles Reference" page (maybe you can get baseball-reference to sponsor it, like you do their Dodgers page...).

New table for the new season!

berkowit28 said...

Hmmm. I just noticed I'm listed twice - once in the top 10 and again as an "also ran".

Neeebs (The Original) said...

The natives are rebelling.

Steve Sax said...

...especially those who haven't yet won prizes.

Well, you know what they say: no glove, no love.

Eric Karros said...

I corrected the double-listing mistake Berko. Sorry and thanks (and don't worry I double-checked I didn't shortchange you on points).

And regarding starting fresh or carrying over points from last season: First, I mentioned six months ago how it would work (read first bullet point under "Future"). And keep this in mind: Whether I continue from last season or start fresh becomes irrelevant after 7 puzzles.

However, I think I will reconsider because optically, continuing from last season may discourage newbies if they see themselves so far behind. And I definitely want all newbies to feel welcome and to understand they're on an even playing field. If I do so, I hope veterans who see their ranking drop will understand my reasoning and also understand that it's largely irrelevant mathematically.

Good discussion folks. More to come...

QuadSevens said...

This makes my PCS scoresheet much easier to manage. =)

berkowit28 said...

I'm glad to see the puzzles back - I love them, when I can do them, that is. I totally forgot about them being on off days, had no idea when they would restart. (I don't think this can have been true for Quad?) I was actually up at 7:00 or so Monday, but didn't get to SoSG until 8:30 (it might have been much later, so I'm glad I got there then).

Just for once, I found it really easy. I think I figured it out in about 30 seconds (like Quad) and took about 3 minutes to write it up nicely for EK. I am sure I missed my one and only chance to win this year. Although, most of the time, if I don't get it early, I don't get it at all. Sometimes a late clue (when EK or Sax is getting desperate that only one or two will figure it out and they almost give away the answer) helps.

I try to remind myself to get there early, but even when I remember the night before, I usually forget when I wake up in the morning. Ah well.

QuadSevens said...

Berkowit...always nice to get a puzzle solved rather quickly isn't it? The Sons did mention that the puzzles would be starting up this week. That's the only reason I knew to be wide awake on puzzle day.