Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Competitive Cribbage - Summer 2022

It is time for the Cribbage Pro Summer 2022 Season of Competitive Matchmaking! If you are here primarily for what is new/changed, then scroll down to the final "News for The New Season" section below. The Spring 2022 season has fully wrapped up, and as usual it was entertaining to watch the rise and fall of different players throughout the season again. I still find myself cheering for different players on and off throughout the season. I admit I also often wish I could personally participate, but  we have a rule that employees/contractors are prohibited from this and Contest play (and from the leaderboards entirely, in case you were wondering).

The Top 50 had quite a few new faces yet again this season. It is great to see all the new challengers working so hard to make their way to the top! Everyone loves an underdog, I suppose. Things just seem to be getting more and more competitive, so thank you to all for participating and bringing your friends! Thank you also to everyone who participated in this great game of cribbage, even if you didn't quite make the Top 50. I hope you enjoyed the journey.

In 1st place for Spring 2022, we have "Mrpadre" for the first time! It is nice to see Mrpadre back this season, as they were in the top 10 last season as well! 2nd place is "ernie313", and ernie313 has been in the Top 50 many times in the past as well, finishing last season at 33rd. In 3rd we have "Dhrun", who was in 2nd last season and also becoming a regular around these parts. Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "WhyADuck" who has placed in the Top 50 before, but wasn't there last season and is 4th this season, and "Br1Guy" who we have definitely seen before, moving up just a bit from 13th to 9th! "scoot1234" came up from 28th last season to finish 19th this season, while "jjonell" came from 42nd to finish 36th.

Everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), has been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). If you are awarded Gold, and are not sure what it is good for (or how to access the Contests system), read through the links above or email us any time if you have questions. On iOS you will need the "Cribbage Pro Contests" version of the app, and on Android you need to install the game using the Amazon Appstore. As it looks like many are not using the Cribbage Pro Gold they win (which makes it kind of a useless prize for them), this part of the prize may change for the Summer 2022 winners (please email us your suggestions). The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

  • 4 Gold for Top 50
  • 7 Gold for Top 25
  • 10 Gold for Top 10
  • 20 Gold for 3rd Place
  • 30 Gold for 2nd Place
  • 50 Gold for 1st Place

The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play.

Remember: Complete 10 matches per week! See the FAQ for details.

Here was the final Top 50 for Spring 2022:


1Mrpadre26koala29
2ernie31327nvsru911
3Dhrun28Domerzag
4WhyADuck29gotupeggd
5Gssj2130wfdove
6nob4one31aela
7iPeg32cyrusg
8scout333sagdog16
9Br1Guy34Dempegs
10shudbgolf35Legonaut
11wightness36jjonell
12PALONSO37bbaer1
13236Postie38farleysma
14VGKnights39pscohen
15Cutch1340Paludeja
16hillchem41vhray
17nhguy42IAMFAST
18hunterIT43Buikemad
19scoot123444SH00TER
20cribfan4445james500
21lbolt5846dph
22UberPooch47jehcjehc
23BigD4Life48brewski42
24jwr1349dkatz1877
25TC250yank29


News for The New Season

Some of you have been asking, and patiently waiting, for some bigger changes. However, there will not be big changes for this season.

During the Spring 2022 season, while you were all playing (and we were watching all the ups and downs and crunching the numbers), we spent a lot of time working on several different ways to bring ideas around a single game match to the competitive system. The idea was to lighten the games required, and the time needed to participate, as not everyone is able to do so with a 3 game match. Ultimately, it just didn't work out as hoped, and so we couldn't release it.

We worked through several different ways to try to provide for a single game match, but in testing and analysis, it just could never provide good results. What I mean by that is our system simply could not accurately isolate the skill from the luck with just a single game, even if the total number of games played went up significantly (which it is also unclear if that would be the case). Playing more games against other players just doesn't compensate. This means, among other criteria, that it couldn't accurately predict the winner (meaning the skill calculated isn't good enough), or then subsequently calculate the skill rank adjustments to be made reliably as a result, when tested against real world game data. Either the skill ranking system we use (even with various tweaks/changes to it), or the game of cribbage itself, just doesn't allow for it to happen. I personally try to hold a high standard for everything we do, and if anything can't be shown to meet or exceed that standard, no matter if we have spent a lot of effort on it, we will not release it.

As we have tested lots of different skill ranking systems before selecting the one used today, I honestly don't think that is the problem, but likely this is just the nature of cribbage that there can often be a non-trivial amount of luck in a single game. Frankly, the "Best of 3" isn't perfect (and I think there are things we can still do to help more there), but given the limitations (like the amount of time people can play), it ends up being a good compromise. So, because of all that time working on these things that didn't result in changes this season, we decided to not make any other core changes. There just wasn't enough time. There are some minor things, but mostly just around making the system more reliable, and bug fixes. So, we have decided to put this task aside for now, and to move on to other improvements that many are also asking for.

As a reminder, if you have played a few seasons here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

47 comments:

  1. Just querying something if I may. Just played my second qualification game and I was 1-0 up with a strong position to win 2-0, when my opponent resigned. However, it is still showing I have only completed one game. Your help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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    1. No problem, this question comes up quite often. You still receive a win when your opponent disconnects/quits, and it still counts in every way except as a match towards the placement counter. For the loser who quit, it counts as a full loss and as a placement match with a penalty as well. This is done to prevent a potential way to try and cheat the system when playing your placement matches.

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  2. Thanks for the quick response. Most helpful and great to know you have this covered. It might have been an innocent connection issue as it appeared my opponent had a good rating, guess that happens to us all though. Thanks again.

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  3. Your game doesn't resemble real cribbage in the slightest. Miracle hand after miracle hand that almost never happen in cribbage. Your algorithm is seriously f'd up.

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    1. Hi, we definitely don't claim to try to match "real life", if for no other reason than everyone has their own experiences in so many ways. What we do claim, and back up with data and analysis along with an offer to let anyone view the code itself, is that the system is fair and honest in every respect and using a true random shuffle at all times. There is no "algorithm" determining what cards anyone gets, or anything like that at all. If you would like a more detailed discussion, email us any time.

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  4. Is it just me or is it taking a lot longer to find matches. I rarely find a match within 5-10 seconds and the disparity in CR is pretty big a lot of the time.

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    1. This will depend on when you are playing of course, but now that we have had a week to look at results I can confirm that there are at least a few less players so far this season, although not a lot less. That means less people playing less games, so that is likely at least a part of what you are seeing. Time to invite more friends to join in!

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  5. Disappointed to hear there wouldn't be a best of 1 game match this season since it was discussed for the past few seasons as happening (even as a separate league to run up against the best of 3 game match). While I'm playing this season I'm not sure I'll finish and I've got friends who dropped out b/c the best of 3 game matches takes too long.

    Kind of surprised there were no enhancements to the game based on suggestions from players in the past. I thought we'd see the ability for a player to end a game when the outcome was known without having to time out or disconnect. It's no fun watching a player purposely time out instead of finishing a game when they're 50 points behind and you're within a few points of winning.

    One feature I'd like to see is if I get a notification for going past the 10-second timer then my opponent should get a corresponding notification. This way it's easy to track how many warnings are left in the match. Receiving 5+ messages during a match when a player has gone beyond the time limit doesn't make sense. Just let me know when they've received a warning, e.g. "Opponent Time Delay 1 of 4".

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    1. Since this was covered somewhat in the blog post itself, I won't go through it a lot here again, but instead let me get more specific. The game work that is done is almost exclusively always just me, a single individual doing all of the work. When something consumes a lot of my time, it leaves very little room for other work. I was also not happy to not be able to provide what I have said I would try to do before. That is also why I pushed so hard, and used so much of my time to try to make it happen. In the end, if I can't be happy with the work result, I just will not release it - and so it didn't happen. By placing this at least "on hold" for now, I can focus again on other things like you mentioned, and the day to day work that is required just to keep the wheels spinning (which lately has been quite a lot of my time as well). Thanks for your patience and understanding, as well as your continued support of the game!

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  6. In the notes of the winter set it was stated that the criteria for matches was tweaked to allow more easy matches. Was the criteria re tweaked back the other way? It seems to take a lot longer to get a match

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    1. Matchmaking was not changed for this season.

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    2. It's definitely taking a lot longer to find matches, especially those against a comparable CR opponent

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  7. I find the 10 match counter helpful. Thank you. Also. I have found all my games to be within 1000 cr. Sour grapes

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  8. After using the app for a couple of years I have just entered the competition part of the game. I am interested in reading the FAQ, but the link above seems to lead to a completely empty web page. Is there something wrong with the FAQ page?

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    1. It is the standard FAQ page, and definitely not blank. Visit the main game website at cribbagepro.net and select the FAQ at the top of the page.

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    2. It was blank on my phone (Chrome browser), but when I open it on a bigger device (still in Chrome) it is not blank, but still doesn't open. There seems to be a problem with the cookie handling interface. It is impossible to get past this point and access the FAQ information. I am located in Sweden, if that somehow influences the web page behaviour.

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    3. Please email us at support@FullerSystems.com so we can assist you directly. Cookies do not play a role on the functionality of our website, and I would like to see why you are having such trouble.

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  9. Any chance of finding out how many players enter each season's tournament please.

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    1. We don't publish specific user numbers publicly.

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    2. Isn't that simple to calculate by combinig the leaderboard and percentile rank? I assumed so and ended up withabout 1480 users.

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    3. It is significantly more than 1480 users.

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    4. OK. In that case I don't understand these numbers.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. I've had multiple matches now where my opponent quits as soon as he joins, it says I won and click to leave the match, but I get penalized for it. Anyone else have this happen

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    1. Hi, this sounds like you may be having a connection problem, but it could be something else. If this happens again, please send us the game log from your device immediately after it happens. To do that, go to the main game menu screen, select the help icon in the corner, select "About" and then "Send Log". In the game log email, include a brief description of the problem and the time it happened.

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  12. Hello, just wanted to thank you for adding the match counter this season. Life gets busy as you know and so that's been a nice addition when that occurs and I can't remember how many matches I've gotten in. Much appreciated

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    1. Just play against dkatz. With his speed it takes about 5 minutes to get through all 10 matches :D

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    2. I do what i can :). Always a pleasure Uber

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  13. I would like to suggest for all the people that are bad losers and I am left hanging while they hope that I will disconnect rather than lose. A penalty of not just 5 minutes but if they do it 3 times in 24 hours that they are banned for 24 hours. I understand that occasionally circumstances occur, connection dropping, I've also had to answer a caller at the door. I hate losing but I am a fair player and will carry onto the bitter end. These idiots should be penalised. If you were playing with an opponent face to face this could never happen.

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    1. Yeah, I never understand why someone chooses to stall out when they're losing. I do think it would be nice to have an option to resign from a game instead of having to finish it out.

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    2. Agreed, an option to resign would be a good enhancement

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    3. I'm sure maintaining and adding unseen enhancements is time consuming, but appreciated on my end. Like many there have been times I've had to forfeit due to unforeseen circumstances. Since I cannot message the opposing player (like in classic play) it comes across negatively. It would be nice to forfeit in a more sportsmanlike manner.

      Second, I understand that a person's connection can be slow at times. Another suggestion would be to add an "unsportsmanlike button or review" at the end of the game similar to the "classic rating" system. In classic I won't play someone with bad reviews. I cant do that here, however, the transparency would also be seen by everyone (like classic reviews) and so we are prepared for the potential behavior and just the possible the negative rating would motivate some players.

      Additionally, if a player got a certain number of "flags" then you could be notified to review that player. That could mean loss of points and/or a warning to that player.

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    4. I don’t agree with allowing players to resign. I completed a game in 5 deals recently, and had many other interesting games that may never have happened if my opponent resigned. Stats can be skewed if players resign. I would rather have players receive increasing penalties for quitting. First offense in 24 hours, 10 minutes off, second offense, an hour, third, the rest of the day, for example.

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    5. I believe those that are going to resign are already resigning and a button to do so will not be something they utilize. A rating, even the same as the classic game option, would be a nice addition. I do like the idea of being able to somehow notify an opponent I have to forfeit. These are rare occasions for most of us I think, but they do happen. Being able to resign gracefully would be nice. Speed and stats are important yes, but sportsmanship is too.

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    6. I think it's the deliberately slow play that's the bigger issue. Oddly enough I find it's those that have good opponent ratings from classic play (the stars). I think if that feature was added here it would solve that issue for a great number of players.

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    7. I don’t know what the best solution is, but I would just like to express my frustration with people who back out of games when they appear to be losing. Seems I never get many points for “winning” these games.

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. I really like the CM format, however the scoring system is a little frustrating. I won 3 or 4 games in row and maybe earned 10 points, but I just lost a really tight set where the cards were not in my favor and lost 11 points! I understand that there are a number of factors to consider when developing a point system and that some CribbagePro players take this game way too seriously, but the way it's set up now, there is an incentive to limit the number of games you should play depending on where you are in the standings. Other than this, I'm pretty happy with things though.

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    1. Yes, the way the CR works can be a little confusing. Remember that it isn't a simple points system, and to help with incentives to play we have a weekly minimum. It's not perfect, but in all of the various things we have tried this seems the best so far.

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  16. Is there a possibility of adding the same rating as classic after a game ends. I get lots of players who quit and have 4 or 4.5 stars as a rating. This would effect them in classic play. In classic it would negativity impact them or cause them to think twice about quitting here. Thanks for the product! Overall, great!

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    1. Hi, I understand the frustration. Know that players are definitely penalized for quitting in a competitive match. We don't do the player to player ratings here because those are intended to help people choose who they want to play, and with matchmaking, you don't have that choice as the system chooses for you.

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    2. I understand. Out of curiosity do they lose more points or is it a normal loss?

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    3. Most often, they will lose more points as well.

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  17. Hello, my first season..it's a good option on here. Thanks. My question is in regards to the number of games I'll need to complete next week since its a short week to the end of the season. I know this was probably covered somewhere, but I can't find it.

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    1. No problem. The minimum is waived on short weeks at the end of the season.

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Keep all comments clean, appropriate, and only post if it moves the conversation forward. All others will not be published. All comments are moderated/reviewed before you will see it publicly. If you have a support request or a comment not related to this blog topic, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com instead.