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National Pool Conference

NPC Rating

A fair, transparent skill index built only from results the NPC collects. Same rules for every player. No third-party black box. No handicaps.

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Scale
800–2200
Center 1500
Provisional until
12
Head-to-head matches
Handicaps
None
Straight competition only

What NPC Rating is

NPC Rating is the National Pool Conference’s own measure of how strong a player has performed in NPC competition — qualifiers, logged match results, and finalized tournament brackets.

Higher numbers mean stronger results against the field, especially when beating other high-rated players. You’ll see it on player profiles and the leaderboard.

Not Fargo — and not a handicap

  • Not Fargo. The scale (~800–2200) may look familiar, but the formula, data, and meaning are NPC’s alone. Numbers are not interchangeable with Fargo.
  • Fargo is optional reference only. If a Fargo number appears on a profile, it is external context — it is not used to calculate NPC Rating.
  • No handicapping in NPC. Rating never adjusts race-to, starts players with games, or softens matchups. Competition is straight-up.

How it works

NPC Rating combines a few clear signals from data we record:

1. Head-to-head matches (primary)
When matches are scored in an NPC bracket and the event is finalized, each result updates both players using an Elo-style model:
  • Everyone starts near 1500
  • Beating a higher-rated opponent raises you more
  • Losing to a lower-rated opponent costs you more
  • Byes do not change rating
2. Match & game records (when H2H is thin)
Early on — or when only summary W-L is entered for a qualifier — we also use match and game win rates (with statistical smoothing so a 2–0 record doesn’t instantly look like a world-beater). As more head-to-head data exists, that carries more weight.
3. Finishes (small nudge)
Strong tournament finishes (1st, 2nd, deep runs) add a small bonus so event outcomes matter — but they never dominate match results.
4. Specials (tiny flavor)
Break-and-runs, snaps, 3-foul wins, and skunks can add a very small bonus (hard-capped). They reward flair without letting anyone grind specials to inflate the number.

Technical detail for staff and developers lives in the project docs (docs/NPC-RATING.md). The public promise is the same: transparent, NPC-only, no handicaps.

Provisional ratings

Until a player has 12 head-to-head matches in the system, their rating is marked provisional (you may see “prov.” or a small “p” on the leaderboard).

Provisional means the number can still move faster as more real results come in. After 12 H2H matches, updates become more stable.

Fairness principles

  1. Same rules for everyone — published for players and TDs to read.
  2. Opponent quality matters — strength of schedule is baked into head-to-head updates.
  3. Volume before confidence — provisional until enough matches.
  4. NPC data only — no paywalled third-party rating drives the score.
  5. Winning matches carries the rating — specials and finishes only nudge.
  6. No handicaps — rating is for ranking and insight, never for giving or taking games.

When ratings update

  • When a tournament bracket is finalized and results are written into the system
  • When staff run a full recompute after bulk result entry
  • Summary qualifier stats (match/game W-L) support the rating when head-to-head history is still building

The more accurately TDs log matches, games, and specials, the better the picture for every player.

Questions?

NPC Rating is designed to be simple to read and hard to game. If something on your profile looks off, make sure recent events have been finalized with match results — then check back after recompute.

Leaderboard by ratingCompare two playersHow NPC works