How your rating works

We're trying this rating out behind the scenes before switching over, so what you see on the night may still use the older one for a few more weeks.

Your TSS rating is one number that follows you from session to session. We use it to put you on courts with people at your level, so games are close and fun. It's based on the way Badminton England rates doubles players. Only you can see your rating, unless you choose to join the leaderboard.

Where you start

From the level you pick: Beginner 450, Standard 500, Intermediate 540, Strong 580. If you picked the wrong level, the organiser can set a better starting point. Nobody goes below 400.

What moves it

Before each game we work out how likely your pair is to win, from your rating, your partner's and your opponents'. Your own rating counts for more than your partner's (60 / 40). Then:

• Win when you weren't expected to: your rating goes up a lot.
• Win when you were expected to: it goes up a little. Against a pair rated 75+ below you, not at all.
• Lose to a much stronger pair: it barely moves.
• A timed game that ends level: counts as half a win.

How much each game counts

• Our games are one game to 21, so each counts as half a match, like Badminton England's single-end matches.
• A game won by 2 points or fewer counts half again: it was nearly a coin toss.
• The grand final counts like any game. Just-for-fun rounds don't count at all.

New players move faster

For your first 20 games your rating moves quickly, so it finds your level fast. After that it settles: by 45 games each result moves it half as much. Until you've played 5 games you show as New. Away for more than 120 days? It moves quickly again for your next 5 games while you get back into it. It never drops just because you've been away.

Fair to everyone

Results against people with lots of games behind them count fully; against brand-new players, less, because their rating is still a guess. If a score is corrected, every rating is worked out again from the start, so nothing is lost. If someone played in your place, that game doesn't count for you.

Questions? Ask an organiser on the night, or email theshuttlesocial@gmail.com.