How Rankings Work

The ELO Rating System

x-vs-x uses the ELO rating system to rank items. ELO was originally designed for chess in the 1960s by Arpad Elo and has since been adopted across competitive gaming, sports, and anywhere head-to-head comparisons are made.

The core idea is simple: every item has a rating number. When two items face off and you cast your vote, the winner's rating goes up and the loser's goes down. The amount of change depends on the relative strength of the two items.

Why Upsets Matter More

If a low-rated item beats a high-rated one, the rating change is large — it's an upset, so the system adjusts more. If the favourite wins as expected, the change is small. This means the system naturally converges toward accurate rankings over time.

For example, if an item rated 1200 beats one rated 800, the winner gains very little (it was expected). But if the 800-rated item wins, both ratings shift significantly.

Starting Rating

Every item starts at a rating of 1000. As votes come in, ratings spread out — the best items climb well above 1000 and weaker ones drop below. An item with no matchups stays at 1000 until it receives its first vote.

Category Ratings

Each item is rated independently in every category it belongs to. A movie might be ranked #5 in Movies but #42 overall. This is because the competition is different in each pool.

When you vote on a matchup, ratings update in every category that both items share, plus the overall pool.

Voting Modes

• Wild — matchups from the core categories (Movies, TV Shows, Musicians, Video Games, Food, Countries, Sports, Animals). This is the default mode.
• Category — filter matchups to a single category. Only items in that category appear.
• Chaos — no filter at all. Any item can face any other item, including items introduced through dailies and gauntlets.

What the Numbers Mean

Rating

The ELO score. Higher is better. Starts at 1000. The best items typically reach 1100-1300+.

Win Rate

Percentage of matchups won. A 60% win rate is strong; 70%+ is dominant.

Matchups

Total number of head-to-head votes received. More matchups means a more reliable rating.

Rank

Position in the leaderboard, determined by rating. Rank #1 is the highest-rated item.

Accuracy Over Time

Rankings become more accurate as more votes come in. An item with 5 matchups has a rough estimate; one with 500 matchups has a very reliable rating. This is why newer items may appear higher or lower than expected — they haven't had enough matchups to settle into their true position yet.