Our rankings are based on the Ratings that we assign to players based upon the outcome of their games. Because rankings are based on your rating, and ratings are partially based on your opponents rating when you win, draw or lose each game, one player who won lost as many as another might have an entirely different rating depending on the rating of that players opponents.

Ratings come in four flavors: unrated, provisional ratings, friendly ratings and tournament ratings.

A player passes from unrated to a provisional rating after having completed four games. Then the provisional rating becomes an friendly rating after 20 games have been finished, with the exception of FIBS rated games (games that offer an element of chance), then it is 400. Your tournament rating begins when you start competing in tournament games. It is the highest and most elite of the rating scales.

We give preference to the players with tournament ratings when we calculate the rankings. This can be seen more easily in the newer games on the site, where fewer people have established ratings. When you look at the rankings, you may notice that the player listed as the best player comes in lower than first place when you examine the ranking details of that game. That is because the players who are ranked higher have not yet completed 20 games, and still have a provisional rating. If you played lower rated players, vs your opponent playing higher rated players, your rating will consequently also be lower even if you won more games.

Like ratings, our rankings can vary after each completed game. Players who don't want to compare placement never have to look at the rankings, but they are there for two reasons: first, to give you an idea of other players who are at a similar skill level; and second, to give you an idea of which players might be able to offer some guidance in picking up some of the skills of a particular game.

GoldToken's 'recent' ratings list those who have completed at least one game of that time within 30 days. For the main list there is no time limit -- anyone who has a rating gets listed.

Why don't I see my name on the combined best players list?

Players must have completed either 4 friendly or 20 tournament games to appear on any Top Player list. It's also helpful to know that this list also only updates once per day. So, if you complete your fourth friendly or twentieth tournament game, it can take up to 24 hours to be posted on the list.