New Entries in the CoasterBuzz Top 100

Jeff:

Not sure what you're asking. There are plenty of non-experienced riders who rated it. They're not counted in that number.

You cleared up part of my confusion. The number in the last column is the number of experienced riders, not just riders. It makes sense, but I just didn't read it that way initially. It also explains why rides all debut with the same number.

But......doesn't that mean we have at least 856 experienced riders (based on MF)? If we have so many, why does it only take 41 to break in to the list?

Brian Noble:

Throw in the novelty of the tilt mechanism, and it is easy to see how folks give it the benefit of the doubt.

I think part of its high rating is because of the amount of small details the park did. Even the air gates in the station are themed. It's a great example of how a little bit of quality not-hard-upkeep theming goes a long way. They easily could have just plopped it down and said..."enjoy"....(which honestly is what I thought they would do), but they chose wisely.

https://coasterbuzz.com/con...buzz100faq

1-5 stars doesn't allow for a lot of nuance. I found Siren's Curse to be smooth, fun, and very re-rideable. In my book, that makes it 5 stars. Is it as good as Steel Vengeance in my opinion? No, but I'm not going to knock it down to 4 stars just because the poll interprets them as equals.

Not criticizing the logic of the poll, just giving some color as to why Siren's Curse showed up in the list.

1-5 is very deliberate, based on an article I read years (decades?) ago. The short version is that an inventory of various surveys and results shows that the majority of distribution in a 10-point scale falls on 1, 4, 5, 9 and 10. In other words, the nuance isn't meaningfully represented when someone is presented with more options. If you match the numbers with the key that's linked on the track record, you can see that the idea is to not overthink it:

• Among the worst roller coasters you've been on
• Below average
• Average
• Above average
• Among the best roller coasters you've been on

I can pretty easily drop every ride I've been on in one of those categories, and I suspect that most people can.

There’s probably some weird disconnect about using the lower end of the scale, despite the explicit definition. I bet on any given track record the number of 4 and 5 star rides is more than double the number of 1 and 2 star rides. Which means that we’re all really using a 3 point system.

Speak for yourself - out of 163 ratings I've got 54 1s and 2s (if I counted correctly). I don't think it's a perfect bell curve but I'm definitely using the full scale.

(Some of them seem harsh - is Hersheypark Comet really a 2? - but I'm not inclined to fix them. That was my feeling at the time.)

We had a good discussion on this topic a few years ago (page 38-40 of this thread) about how some of us, myself included, tend to give ranks with a bit of rose-colored glasses.

For example, I have over 14% of my track record as a Rank 5, but only around 3% rated at Rank 1.

While as a data-nerd, I find the Hawker win/loss calculation method fascinating, I think that Jeff's poll has found a nice balance between being meaningful without over-thinking it a ton.

Later,
EV

It's definitely not a bell curve, nor should it be. I don't have that many rides in the "sucks" category either. Those that are there are either kiddie rides or no longer exist. I tend to think that coasters are like the old pizza/sex adage.

I've always said that my worst day at a park or ride on a coaster is better than my best day at work, so something has to be really really bad for me to not enjoy it.

Jeff

https://coasterbuzz.com/con...buzz100faq

Believe me, I've read that page 20 times by now. I'll stop asking questions.

My 1's:

• Superflight, Playland Park (Zamperla Volare torture device)
• Joker, SFGAdv (Zac Spin torture device)
• Black Diamond, Knoebels (probably unfair, but a disappointment)
• Corkscrew, Geauga Lake (hmm - I gave BGT Python a 2)
• Disaster Transport, CP (I gave it several chances)
• Grizzley, CGA (possibly unfair, but I could have taken a nap)
• Son of Beast ('nuf said)
• Super Menage, La Ronde (I don't even remember this one)
• Trailblazer, Hersheypark (basically a kiddie coaster)

I use the whole scale, but reserve the 1s for the most boring rides that IMHO simply don't need to exist. I laughed a bit seeing CGA Grizzly in your 1s; that's also one of mine. 2s have at least something interesting that makes them worth getting on, everything else is at least 3* average to me. I don't really factor roughness/pain in the rating, some rides are just a product of their time.

If I rode a kiddie ride as a kid, it gets that rating as I remember enjoying it or not (Gemini Jr, Beastie). If it's a newer kiddie ride, I rate based on how good a ride it is for kids (KI's Soapbox Racers is very well done and gets 4*)

I have three 1s. Two are the Chance Toboggans I've ridden. The third is Rip Ride Rockit.

Out of 214, only 6 are ranked with a 1. Three kiddie coasters and three woodies.

Little Leaper @ Lakemont
Dragon Coaster @ Dorney
Great Chase @ SFA

Cyclone @ Williams Grove
Son of Beast
Judge Roy Scream

And yeah, those are in order from less bad to bad in my spreadsheet. Oddly though, in that spreadsheet I have Rolling Thunder second to last between SoB and Judge Roy Scream (whereas in my CBuzz track record it's ranked a 2), which backs up my earlier statement that my rankings are dumb.

Of the approx. 400 coasters I've ranked, I think I have less than ten 1's. Compare that to over forty 5's.

Out of my 232 coasters, 29 of them are one star. Maybe I hate roller coasters.

I'd give Son of Beast and Skyrush zero stars if I could.

Somehow I gave Skyrush 2 stars. That may have been an error. In comparison, I gave Superdooperlooper 5 stars.

I have both of those as five stars. Skyrush because I love it. And SDL because it's a fun and historic ride that I also have great childhood memories from. If I rode SDL today for the very first time I'd probably give it a 4, which made me look at all the rides I have as a 5 not because they are some of the best coasters ever, but because they are part of some of the best coaster riding memories for me. Some of those include Big Dipper at Geauga Lake, Adventure Express at Kings Island, Rock n Roller Coaster at Disney and OG Colossus at Magic Mountain

My numbers:

Total: a meager 112

7 unrated (all the kiddie coasters)

• 5s: 17
• 4s: 31
• 3s: 36
• 2s: 17
• 1s: 4

That actually feels like a good distribution to me. Most of the coasters on my list I would be happy to ride again. Very few I would never ride again. Parks invest tens of millions of dollars on these attractions, so the coaster population should skew more towards the "doesn't suck" side.