AREA Rating System
Letter Qualifiers

With the shift of the base AREA rating from 1500 to 5000, AREA has dropped the inclusion of the qualifiers from its reports. These qualifiers were useful in getting a sense of how many rated games, opponents, PBM/PBEM games, and tournaments one's opponents had been in -- and, in a sense, a verification of the significance of that rating (i.e., is this a player who has won seven games vs. one opponent or is this someone who's been in 37 games, 4 tournaments, and has a lot of experience). Plus it was a lot of fun to see those letters increase, win or lose! Of course, one can still look up that information -- it's just not available at a glance.

As a result, I (John Pack) have decided to calculate the qualifiers and post them at the start of each ladder round (and at the start of each of the other tournament brackets).

Here's what they mean:

Qualifier
Frequency
Opponents
Remote Play
Tournament
Activity
Year
A
1-5
1
1
1
4

2014 and before
B
6-10
2-3
2
2
5

2015
C
11-15
4-5
3
3
6

2016
D
16-20
6-7
4
4
7

2017
E
21-25
8-10
5-6
5-6
8

2018
F
26-30
11-13
7-8
7-8
9

2019
G
31-40
14-16
9-10
9-10
0

2020
H
41-50
17-20
11-12
11-12
1

2021
I
51-60
21-25
13-15
13-15
2

2022
J
61-70
26-29
16-18
16-18
3

2023
K
71-80
30-34
19-21
19-21

L
81-90
35-39
22-24
22-24

M
91-105
40-44
25-28
25-28

N
106-120
45-50
29-32
29-32

O
121-135
51-55
33-36
33-36

P
136-150
56-60
37-40
37-40

Q
151-165
61-66
41-45
41-45

R
166-180
67-73
46-50
46-50

S
181-200
74-80
51-55
51-55

T
201-220
81-87
56-60
56-60

U
221-240
88-95
61-66
61-66

V
241-260
96-103
67-73
67-73

W
261-280
104-111
74-80
74-80

X
281-300
112-120
81-86
81-86

Y
301-350
121-128
87-93
87-93

Z
351+
129+
94+
94+

Qualifier is the letter code appearing after a player's rating. In order, those qualifiers are as follows:
Frequency is the total number of games played in a given title.
Opponents is the total number of individual opponents played in a given title.
Remote Play is the number of games played by mail, e-mail, or any media other than directly face to face.
Tournaments is the number of AREA-sanctioned tournaments participated in.
Activity is the year a game of this title was last reported by this player.

Victory in the Pacific® is a registered trademark of The Avalon Hill Game Company.