Tricks Party USATM maintains nationwide rankings for all competitors who participate in certified Tricks Party events in the United States. The rankings are calculated as described below, and the calculations are the same for all three competitor categories: individual, pair, and team.
At events that run a single round of competition, competitors earn 1 point for themselves plus 1 point for each person they beat. For example, in a field of 10 competitors, first place gets 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, and so on. Last place gets 1 point.
At events that run either two or three rounds of competition, competitors earn double points. For example, in a field of 10 competitors, first place gets 20 points, second place 18 points, third place 16 points, and so on. Last place gets 2 points.
At three-round competitions, for each competitor the lowest of the three combined scores earned in Rounds 1, 2, and 3 will be dropped and the top two scores will be added together to arrive at a final score for the event.
At all multiple-round events, the four imposed tricks will not necessarily be the same for each round (since they are selected on the basis of current wind conditions), but they will always be selected from the same set of eight tricks published in advance of the event.
Final rankings each year are based on the three best events for each competitor. That is, only the three events for which a competitor has received the most Tricks Party USA points are taken into consideration.
In the event of a tie between two competitors at the end of the season, the following tiebreakers are used, in the order listed:
- Head to head. For all events in which the two competitors competed against each other, the total number of Tricks Party USA points awarded to each competitor are compared.
- Total points. The total number of Tricks Party USA points for all events in which each competitor competed are compared.
- Average flight score. The actual flight scores (combined Imposed Tricks and Ballet) from every event in which each competitor competed are averaged, and this number is compared for the two competitors.
Tricks Party USA rankings are maintained according to the calendar year; that is, the Tricks Party season runs from January to December. The season to which an event is assigned is based on its start date. For example, an event that begins on December 31 and ends on January 2 is included in the season ending December 31, not the season beginning January 1.
All competitors ranked within Tricks Party USA (whether from the U.S. or not) are eligible for any honors or awards based on their ranking, with the exception of invitations to international competitions. In the case of international competitions, only the top U.S. competitors are eligible for invitations to represent the United States.
For invitations to international Tricks Party competitions, each U.S. competitor's eligibility will be based on his/her final TP-USA ranking for the previous season (i.e., the competitor's top three TP-USA events of that season). If two or more seasons have been completed since the previous such international event, eligibility will be based on each competitor's top five TP-USA events over the preceding two seasons. The number of invitations issued for any such event is at the sole discretion of that event's organizing body.
