Elo Rating System: From Chess to Scrabble
Arpad Elo developed his rating system for set groups of competitive players in a given game. Within such a restricted setting, Elo ratings are considered both fair and reliable. In a chess club, for instance, after completing a game, a player can take out a pocket calculator and work out the change to their Elo rating to within a single point.
As helpful as the system is, the larger the sample size and the more inconsistent the player base, the more Elo ratings shift and the less they mean in the overall metagame. The North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA), which has more than 2,000 members and a comparatively high degree of player turnover, has greater Elo randomness than would a 100-member chess club, all of whom play religiously.
Calculating Your Elo Rating
The basic formula for calculating Elo rating is as follows:
Elo Rating = (Total of Opponent's Ratings + 400 x (Wins - Losses)) / Games Played
Working out your own Elo rating is relatively straightforward. Let's use these hypothetical figures to calculate an example score:
Total of opponent's ratings: 20,000
Wins: 15
Losses: 5
Games played: 20
Given these hypothetical figures, the Elo rating calculation would be:
Elo Performance Rating = (20,000 + 400 x (15 - 5))/20
Elo Performance Rating = 1,200
What's a Good Scrabble Elo Rating?
This is important: Elo is relative. The temptation to view it as the be-all and end-all of Scrabble dominance is enormous. Look at that formula! And it's used in chess! It was invented by a physicist! Surely, an Elo rating is the pure and mathematical incarnation of how good someone is at Scrabble.
Well, yeah, that's exactly what it is. And, like any mathematical incarnation of anything, it's only as good as the data you feed it. Shockingly, only the most dedicated people go to the trouble of inflicting a complex sorting algorithm on a board game. Isn't Scrabble supposed to be fun?
Highest Scrabble Elo Rating in North America
As of September 28, 2021, the current highest Elo-ranked Scrabble player in North America is Will Anderson of Croton, NY. His Elo rating is a formidable 2128. Do you know how many people he had to beat to achieve that number? 94.
That's how many Elo-rated NASPA members there are in New York. There are only 2,000 Elo-rated NASPA members in the whole organization. Of those, 18 active players have a Scrabble Elo rating of over 2000.
Will Anderson helpfully illustrates the most important thing to know about Scrabble Elo ratings. They're not a one-time determination from on high of how good you are at Scrabble. They're an ongoing measurement of how your skills improve or decline, determined both by the caliber of play and the skill of the people you play against.
Improve Your Scrabble Elo Rating
So, how can you improve your Scrabble Elo rating? In short, git gud.
Rack up more wins against ranked opponents, increase your points per turn (PPT) and otherwise improve your Scrabble skills, and you will benefit your Elo rating. Better yet, start a Scrabble club of like-minded players, get everybody focused on Elo, and play regularly. The more often you play against rated players, the steadier your Scrabble Elo rating becomes and the less likely it is to be thrown off by a single shellacking, given or received.
If you find that kind of play to your liking and you're looking to level up, join a ranked Scrabble club. Expect to get stomped the first few times. Don't worry. Your Elo can take it. Everybody was a newbie once.
Is Elo a Scrabble Word?
As you read and learned about the Elo rating system, a question might have popped into your head and stayed there: Is Elo a Scrabble word? Well, if you haven’t tried looking for the word in our Scrabble dictionary already, we have some bad news for you. Unfortunately, Elo is not a valid word in Scrabble. The closest word you can spell with the same letters is OLE.
Elo Ratings and Scrabble Scores
Ultimately, the utility of Elo rating in Scrabble depends on what you want out of the game. If your goal is to play casually, or even competitively but in a small group or on relatively rare occasions, Elo won't tell you much. If you have a larger, more dedicated group, however, and if you're interested in getting into club- or state-level competitive play, learning Elo will be to your benefit.
For more fundamentals of Scrabble scoring, take a look at WordFinder's analysis of average Scrabble score per word, turn and game. Happy playing!
Matt Salter has been a professional writer for over 10 years. He is a gaming and technology expert, and world-class word nerd.
