Software of the Month Club 1998 December/Ultimate Collection of Shareware - Software of the Month Club (December 1998) (Volume 256).ISO/mac/Games/WCC/World Championship Checkers/WCC Silver/WCC Silver.rsrc/TEXT_162_Rate My Play Unavailable.txt

Text File | 1998-04-09 | 1KB | 7 lines

Rate My Play   (not available from this position)

This feature can be used to estimate the strength of your checker playing ability.  It can be evoked from the starting position of the game only (before you move, or before you begin any 2-move, 3-move, or 11 man ballot games, or after the computer has made its first move.)  Once you enter this mode, you will not be able to take back a move, change the side you wish to play, ask for hints, edit the board, or see any of the computer's analysis.  You will be able to offer the program a draw, or resign at any time.

Ratings are estimated according to the American Checker Federation's system.  The lowest rating assigned to a player is 400.  Don Lafferty and Ron King, the world's top players, are rated in the 2700's.

The system is designed so that a Gaussian Distribution (or "Bell Curve") will represent the entire sample of all rated players.  That means, it is more and more difficult to earn additional rating points.  Higher rated players can lose points quicker, and will gain them slower than lower rated players.  This results in fewer people achieving higher ratings, the same number having extremely low ratings, and a greater number of people hovering within the first "standard deviation" of all ratings.