DreamQuest's Online Play and Tournament Center
for Championship Hearts, Spades, and Euchre
What are rated games?
To help players identify other players online of a similar skill level, *registered* players of all Championship Pro card games (including Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Five Hundred, Cribbage, Gin, and others as they come out) can play RATED GAMES. Ratings are only calculated while you are playing online and you must be playing in a rated game, signified by an 'R' with a circle around it on the table listings. You can host a rated game by selecting this from your player profile under 'Online Game Type'. If the host specifies a rated game in their hosting profile, then the winners and losers ratings will go up or down. For more information, see
playing a rated game.
After playing a few games online, you will notice your Multiplayer Rating in your player profile changing (hopefully increasing!). This number is determined using a standard formula developed by the U.S. Chess Federation and many other online sites and is calculated by your win/loss ratio against the ratings of the players you have played against online.
When you enter our lobby to play online, you will notice some players' names are in different colors. This signifies their ratings. The darker the color, the higher their rating (and the more experienced the player). This can help you choose which players to play against.
You start at 1400 with a special class rating of 'Newbie'. Being a 'Newbie' allows you some benefits! For your first ten online games, the results are *doubled* allowing you establish a rating more quickly. You can also improve your rating by playing with the expert game 'bots online (until your rating reaches 1700). Each computer player has it's own rating that you can see when you click on their face while playing. Be careful though, the 'bots can raise or lower your rating depending on who is doing the winning!
Ratings Chart
Ratings points for two player games are calculated in the following manner:
- The loser's rating is subtracted from the winner's rating.
- Scores are adjusted in accordance with the ratings' chart, as shown below.
Rating points for standard partner play are calculated in the following manner:
(Standard Spades, Standard Euchre, and Partnership Hearts)
- The average rating of the winning team is calculated.
- The average rating of the losing team is calculated.
- The losing team's average is subtracted from that of the winning team.
- Scores are adjusted in accordance with the ratings' chart, as shown below.
Ratings points for standard Hearts or cutthroat Spades or Euchre play are calculated in the following manner:
- The average rating of the three losing players is calculated by totaling their ratings and dividing by three.
- This number is subtracted from the winner's rating.
- Scores are adjusted in accordance with the ratings' chart below, with the following modifications:
- 1st place player gains 3 times the points listed.
- 2nd place player gains the number of points listed.
- 3rd place player loses the number of points listed.
- 4th place player loses 3 times the points listed.
Ratings points for "Winner Takes All" (if selected by the host and signified with a W symbol) cutthroat play are calculated in the following manner:
- The average rating of the three losing players is calculated by totaling their ratings and dividing by three.
- This number is subtracted from the winner's rating.
- Scores are adjusted in accordance with the ratings' chart below, with the following modifications:
- 1st place player gains 3 times the points listed.
- All other players lose the number of points listed
The following is approximately how many points you can win or lose in a game:
Winners' rating minus
losers' rating: |
Winners' rating
adjusted by: |
Losers' ratings
adjusted by: |
| 300+ points |
+4 points |
-4 points |
| 200 points |
+8 points |
-8 points |
| 100 points |
+12 points |
-12 points |
| 0 points |
+16 points |
-16 points |
| -100 points |
+20 points |
-20 points |
| -200 points |
+24 points |
-24 points |
| -300 points |
+28 points |
-28 points |
- Download the Software - The first thing you need to do is download the game. When you go online, it will automatically offer to update your game to the latest version. To maximize compatibility and minimize problems, we require all players to be using the most current non-Beta version. Anyone can play using the 100% Free, Classic, or Pro versions of our card games and there are no fees for playing in our tournaments.
- Register - You must be a registered Pro player to host or join rated games. Rated players will show up in different colors. Generally, the darker the color the higher rated they are. Click on the player to see their exact rating.
- Start the game - Startup the game using the 'Play Online' icon on your desktop and enter our RecRoom lobby (the default). If you are going to be hosting, select 'Rated' as your game type so others can see your game with the 'R' marker in the lobby. You can also host a rated limit game which only allows player of similar or higher rating to join your game.
- New rating is calculated - After the game is finished, the game will automatically compute your new rating and give you a brief explanation of the change. Remember, you get more points for beating a higher rated player!
