Any thoughts on establishing a ratings database for bughouse play?
…scot…
How? Assuming teams fluctuate, and rules, except at national scholastics, are non-standardized, this seems very difficult to codify.
Alex Relyea
You should probably establish such a database yourself. Invite organizers of bughouse to submit their results to you for rating. Do it at no charge, so that you’ll have a shot at actually getting a few organizers to send you their results.
Would you rate two-person teams, or individuals? If one person has, over time, partnered with multiple teammates, would both teams have ratings? For example, could the team of Alpha and Baker have one rating, and Alpha and Charlie another?
Or would Alpha, Baker, and Charlie each have individual ratings? After their first event, before Charlie has entered the picture, would Alpha and Baker automatically have the same rating, or would you initialize each player’s rating from that player’s regular (or quick or blitz) rating?
Do something, then we can all jump on the bandwagon with suggestions as to how you should have done it! 
Bill Smythe
There was a discussion of this years ago, including whether ratings should be by teams or for individuals, and whether it makes a difference how the pairs are matched up. If Jones and Brown are a team and Smith and Green are a team, how do you deal with who plays whom? (Jones vs Smith or Jones vs Green.)
I’m not sure it’s worth US Chess’s time and effort. Would people actually be willing to pay ratings fees to maintain a bughouse ratings system?
I’m sure it’s not.
This is where private enterprise jumps in. Somebody who likes the idea should try setting it up. Who knows, maybe the idea will eventually become popular enough that US Chess might want to partner with them.
How is that handled now, for pairing purposes, in side events at SuperNationals and such? Does the team listed on the left (where “white” normally is) get to choose which of their players plays which of the other team’s players, or what?
Bill Smythe
Here are the rules for 2018 bughouse events at spring nationals:http://www.uschess.org/tournaments/2018/hs/2018BugRules.pdf
Hmm, each team decides which of its players plays white and which plays black.
What if one team waits to hear what the other team has decided, before making its own decision? Perhaps the color choosing has to be done in secret so neither team will have this advantage.
Bill Smythe
geesh, bill, i was simply asking a question. reasonably sure they have a rating system for tennis doubles. personally, i would rate individuals. but really haven’t given it much thought. just seems rather popular with the younger crowd and anything to keep them interested in all-things chess seems like it would be a worthwhile endeavour.
cheers, …scot…
It wouldn’t surprise me if some club or tournament organizer, probably on the east coast somewhere, has already established a rating database for bughouse.
In fact, didn’t somebody invent 6- and 8-player versions? With the 6-player version, all the pieces seem to get glommed up on the middle board. In the 8-player version, table 1 can pass to either table 2 or table 4. Some clubs, in the table-1-to-table-4 pass, even allowed interceptions.
Actually, the best way to play with 6 players is to use white, black, and green pieces. Decades ago I even painted some pieces green so we could do this. White played black on table 1, black played green on table 2, and green played white on table 3.
Bill Smythe
According to ATP’s website, doubles rankings are computed by adding up the points earned in designated eligible tournaments. Most tennis tournaments, unlike chess tournaments, are knockout pairings. More important tournaments award more points, so the winner of a Grand Prix tennis tournament gets 2000 points, the runner up gets 1200 points, etc. Lesser tournaments may award as few as 18 points to the winner.
This is similar to the US Chess Grand Prix points system, with the total points based on the prize fund and the points distribution based on final standings. So rather than detailed pairings, all that might be needed is final point standings for each team.
There would have to be some way of deciding how many points a bughouse tournament is worth, since there’s usually no prize fund. Some combination of the number of entrants and their strength might work.
If one always played with the same doubles partner, I would think both partners would have the same ranking. But I don’t see a lot of ties on the ATP listings for doubles rankings, so I’m assuming players switch doubles partners.
Something in these recent posts jogged my memory. Sometime around 1970, a publication entitled NEDBCAJ appeared (New England Double Bughouse Chess Association Journal). That’s where some of these ideas were espoused. They probably had a rating system, as well.
Bill Smythe
Bughouse is both not chess and Not Chess (common and proper).
No.