On February 22, in this news post, announced a new high score system in which game scores would reset on the first of each month.

I've been waiting until today to offer this feedback: today is the first "reset" day after the system has been in place for a few months. The significant (and fixable) problem with the new system is that it does not adequately take into account the fact that not all games have the same objective.

For some games (e.g. Cybill Sledding), the objective is to stay alive for as long as possible, and your score increases as you stay alive, so that a high score on an individual game is a significant accomplishment. If you look at the range of high scores that have already been achieved today in Cybill Sledding, you can immediately see that the high score table for this game measures genuine differences in skill level and gives players a wide range of scores to aim for.

But take a different game, such as Caliph's Tomb. This is a game in which a combination of skill and luck is required. The maximum score for an individual round of the game is 28, and even an unskillful player can achieve that score in a single round if she or he gets a lucky deal. The "challenge" in the game is to be able to win several rounds -- to win more often than one loses over time, or to win several hands consecutively. When you look at the high score table for Caliph's Tomb, you see that all 30 slots are filled with the exact same score. This table isn't measuring any difference among players, and whether a player is , or , or not even on the list at all has to do with ... something arcane about SQL, I presume, but nothing intrinsic to the game. This table should not be measuring individual rounds, but a cumulative score in order to reflect any useful information about the game or to serve as a challenge to other players.

I believe that one source of the problem is that the people behind the recode are not themselves familiar with the games; understandable, since I'm sure their programming duties keep them busy. In fact, in the original February 22 thread, Scarsdale admitted that he was "not too familiar with Thimblerig".

With that in mind, I'm suggesting that before any additional games are converted to the new system that a dialog be created between the coders and the knowledgeable people who play that game regularly so that the high score table measures an objective that's appropriate to that game, whether that objective is the score on an individual game or a cumulative achievement.

I'm pretty sure only submitted scores count towards the table. So yeah, it makes sense that all the scores would be the same for Caliph's Tomb because how many people submit their score if it's not perfect? You get way less sP doing it that way. (ETA: I tested it, I sent a score with one card left and I got 8100 sP. A perfect game is 20k)

I don't know, I don't really track my high scores so it doesn't really make a difference to me how it's tracked. Though this thread did remind me to try Spectrail so there's that.

Congratulations on hitting it out of the park on Spectrail -- that's more than I can get in a game!

True, but some "games" (such as Random) track long-term totals and not individual games, and Caliph's Tomb makes more sense to track in that way.

Thanks xD I literally just got lucky (got that prism thing, that really helped). Now I just need it to hold up for 3 days for my achievement :P

Yeah what you're saying makes sense, I just don't totally follow it so idk I don't really have an opinion

Wait... I don't understand how Caliph's Tomb's high scores work... (I made a thread and no one answered ;n; ) You have to just... win games in a row?

That's literally stupid.

I think, at least for this game, if possible, it would make sense to have it be high score = winning a game with the most cards left in your hand (because that shit is hard) = your score is that amount of cards left (which is what I always thought it was but 28 didn't make any sense at all)

I play this game all the time, and fuck I pride myself on having 17+ cards left over and winning. Like, that is an actual worthwhile high score. Not "28" (WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN????!?)

[edit] Also, is there still a daily sP reward for being in the top 10 of high score table?

Also how does the Thimblerig high scores work? And Thimblerig Consecutive?? Because the regular table has scores higher than the consecutive and that doesn't even make sense...

HALP ME. EXPLAIN PLEASE.

I'm really curious how long it takes for the different tables to be updated. I've been playing a few of these games the last few days and scored above the bottommost score on the table several times, but I never seem to make it into the table. I just scored 14,000+ on Ziara Raceway (completing the game on hard mode), but I'm not in the top scores.

A couple days ago I scored pretty high in Cybill Sledding and even after checking hours later I wasn't on the table. By the next day my score was well-below what others had gotten by the time I checked so it ultimately didn't matter, but I'm still wondering

Before "the change", they worked in this way: the Thimblerig table maintained a total of the number of games you had ever won, while the Thimblerig Consecutive table showed the maximum number of games you had won in a row.

So, for example, if you won four games, then lost a game, then won six more games, the first table would show a score of 10, but the second table would show a score of 6.

I literally (and I mean literally) just played Ziara Raceway, sent my score, and checked the table right after. I'm already on there.

Are you sure you are sending your scores?

EDIT: Looks like yours is up there too. :3 I'm guessing they update at a specific time.

That can't be how they still work now. The tables cleared five days ago. So that means that is someone won every single game they played (playing 10 days a day) the highest score would be 50. It's 11k+. So how does it work ;n;

I just checked, and I'm in first on the table now (an hour after my score was sent). Whoo! I was just a bit impatient, I guess.

But yeah, I'm still curious about why there's lag (~1 hour it seems) for some users but not for others. Either way, I'm glad it works even if there isn't a reward or anything.

Well, for my Spectrail score, it updated almost instantly. For Street Team, it took a while. So I just think they're set to update at a certain time (instead of constantly having to update every single time someone gets on the table)

So I think it was an hourish wait, but I just happened to play and submit at the end of the hour, which is why I was like "Wow it went through instantly". Because I played again and got a higher score and that one hasn't gone through yet.

I think you are probably right!

Maybe there should just be a little note that says scores can take a little while to appear on the board on the high score page? That way users aren't freaking out (or becoming mildly concerned...) when they check the page and don't see their score for a while afterward?

That's a good idea. Because I almost made a Problem&Bugs thread about it... but luckily I just screenshotted my score and waited it out... and if it didn't show up, I was gonna file a ticket like "Excuse me... what is this"

Side note: I'm about to be underneath you on the High Score Table ;P

Yeah, I thought about filing a ticket but I figured I would just wait it out and see if it updated. And there aren't any real prizes or incentive for having a top score, so it's not a big deal either way.

Hahaha, congrats on the high score! I'm sure I'll be knocked off the top soon enough... I know I can beat it, but it's more about luck than skill for me. :P