Thursday, April 16, 2009

New PCS Rankings, Take 2

After much thought, discussion, and focus group testing, we've decided to restructure the PCS Rankings. All contestants now start from zero for Season II.

As before, Quad is in the top spot, with his archrival Loney Fan right behind him. Here are the full rankings:

Current
Rank
Previous
Player (Wins)
PCS Tour
Points
1
-
quadsevens
100
2
-
loney fan
90
3
-
m.s.t.i.
80
4
-
andrew
70
5
-
berkowit28
60
T6
-
fanerman
50
T6
-
natalie
50
T6
-
brandon
50
T6
-
j steve
50
T6
-
ubragg
50
T6
-
mr. customer
50

Others receiving votes: dusto magnifico 10, karina 10, neeebs 10, damon 10, gil gamesh 10, dangarion 10, jose 10, wicks 10

Here again is how points and rankings are tabulated:

  • A new puzzle will be posted at 7am PT on each Dodger off-day.
  • You will have until midnight that night to solve it.
  • "PCS" Points will be awarded for every reader who solves the puzzle, attempts to solve it, or participates in the discussion, as follows:
    • 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 commenting/participation, even if you don't get the correct solution.
  • Point totals start from zero at the beginning of the season. Over the season, every participant's PCS Point totals are tracked.
  • Point totals are based on the results of a rolling 7-puzzle span. Thus, the results from Puzzle #1 will no longer count when we get to Puzzle #8.
  • 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.
  • "PCS" stands for "Puzzle Championship Series."

Now that we're starting from scratch, there's full transparency in scoring, at least for this puzzle (not all puzzles are scored identically). And this season we've installed an automated PCS Point tabulating system. But it's still in Beta testing so I can't guarantee there won't be mistakes - although it did catch some minor non-impacting mistakes from last season. If you think we've made a scoring mistake, let us know.

Thanks all for playing, especially puzzle newcomers natalie, andrew, ubragg, brandon, and wicks!

Next puzzle, April 20 at 7am PT.

4 comments:

DanGarion said...

Ah I like that you decide to reset. Even though I suck and will never actually win one of these since I don't have the time to think it out, I can at least get some participation points!

berkowit28 said...

Ooh, I see I've now got a 10-point edge over other "late-comers" for 6 puzzles. Amazing I got even that coming to SoSG so late as 8:30 am! ;-) (If you denote a slightly rueful tone, allow me to repeat what I just wrote at the original post as this revised post must have been going up. Apologies if you read it already.):

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.

Neeebs (The Original) said...

A proletariat revolution at SOSG, or a benevolent dictatorship?

karina said...

Neeebs, i don't know about you, but i look at these puzzles and i know i'll be forever a "lovable loser".