Exponential Decay

Points fall off by a fixed ratio per place, so the gap between first and second dwarfs the gap between fifth and sixth. The steepness is tunable.

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Points by finishing position, so every place is worth something. The formula and explanation below describe Exponential Decay.

How it works About 1 min read

Exponential Decay assigns points that decrease exponentially by placement. The gap between 1st and 2nd is much larger than between 5th and 6th, creating a steep reward curve.

How it works: Points = decayBase^(placement-1). With the default decay base of 0.85: 1st gets 1.0, 2nd gets 0.85, 3rd gets 0.72, 4th gets 0.61, and so on. The curve is configurable.

When to use it: When you want a mathematically elegant system that strongly rewards top finishes. The configurable decay base lets you tune how steep the drop-off is.

Watch out for: The numbers aren't as intuitive as simple placement points. Players may struggle to mentally track their standing without seeing the actual point values.

Will it fit your results?

Works well with

Games whose results this method reads cleanly

Catan Terraforming Mars 7 Wonders

Also in Placement Points

Points by finishing position, so every place is worth something.

Placement Points (Simple)Free-for-all game nights with a fairly steady group size — the easiest system to explain.Placement Points (Normalized)Groups whose numbers swing between four and eight from week to week.F1-Style PointsLarge fields of eight or more, where you want winning to be worth a lot and the podium fight to matter.Olympic Medal PointsGroups that only respect the podium and want the table to say so.Match-Weighted PointsStructured events with pools, semis and a final.