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The ELO rating explained
The ELO rating is a scoring system invented for chess: after each duel, the winner takes points from the loser, and takes more the less they were expected to win. VAINKEURZ uses it to rank characters, films or songs from the community's votes.
Updated on October 17, 2026
Where does the ELO rating come from?
Arpad Elo, an American physics professor and chess player, designed the system in the 1960s for the US federation, and the international federation adopted it in 1970. Since then, you find it everywhere opponents face off one on one: competitive video games, table tennis, football, and so duel-based rankings too.
How is the ELO score calculated?
Four sentences are enough, no formula needed.
- Every contender starts with the same score.
- Before a duel, the gap between the two scores gives a probability of winning: the higher a contender sits, the more they are expected to win.
- After the duel, the winner gains points and the loser loses the same amount.
- That amount depends on the surprise: an expected win barely moves the scores, an unexpected win moves them a lot.
That fourth point is what makes the ranking fair. A contender cannot climb by only beating weak opponents, and a favourite who loses once does not collapse.
Why is an ELO ranking more reliable than a classic vote?
In a poll, a vote is a vote: the first option on the list starts with an advantage and the options at the bottom are never compared with each other. In an ELO ranking, every item is compared directly with others, several times, and its position comes from its results against opponents of every level. The order they are shown in no longer matters. And the ranking corrects itself: if tastes change, the scores follow.
How does VAINKEURZ use ELO?
On every TopList, every contender has an ELO score. Every duel played by any player updates the two scores involved. The TopList's world ranking is simply the contenders sorted by ELO score, each with their number of duels and their win rate. It is recalculated continuously and published once 30 games have been played, so that it rests on enough duels.
Right now, 13,575,422 duels have been voted across 5,996 TopList. Abnormal games (too fast, always the same answer) are discarded before the calculation. How our rankings are made · Glossary
What does an ELO score of 1,300 or 900 mean?
The score has no absolute meaning: it only makes sense in comparison. On VAINKEURZ, the gap matters more than the value. Two contenders 20 points apart are neck and neck; a 200-point gap means the first wins roughly three duels out of four against the second. That is why every world ranking shows the gap between ranks, not just the order.
Frequently asked questions
Can an ELO score go down?
Yes, with every duel lost. That is what lets the ranking move when opinions change.
Does a new contender start at a disadvantage?
No: it starts at the base score and finds its place within a few dozen duels.
Does my vote count as much as everyone else's?
Yes. No player carries extra weight.
Why 30 games before publishing a ranking?
Below that, a handful of players is enough to flip the order. Above it, the ranking becomes stable.