BoardGameGeek.com (BGG) is a website dedicated to providing the most extensive database possible of physical board games, as well as resources and forums for those who love to play board games. Games can be researched, discussed, bought, sold, traded, and rated by and among the members of the BGG community. There is no other place in the internet that compares to what BGG is and has accomplished when it comes to board games and board game players. However, you can't take advantage of what this site has to offer unless you become a registered user.

To register, you'll need to choose a user name and password, as well as provide an email address (to activate the account, and in case you ever forget your user name or password) and your first and last name. That's it. Providing your location is optional but not required. Choose a user name wisely since that's how other BGG members will get to know you. Once you've activated your account, you can start posting messages on the forums, list the games you own, play, recommend, are looking for, have for sale, and most importantly (in the context of this article anyway), you can rate board games.

(The instructions that follow are taken directly from the "Guide to BoardGameGeek" section of the BGG website):

Every registered user can rate any game in the BGG database. To do this, find the game and go to that game's Main Page; this is most easily done using the Search option near the top of every page. (Or you can find Octego at www.boardgamegeek.com/game/33803.) Near the bottom of the page is a "Your Collection" Section. It is here that you can rate a game.

Every game can be given a rating from 1 to 10. These ratings are entirely subjective but the suggested guidelines are:

10 - Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change.
9 - Excellent game. Always want to play it.
8 - Very good game. I like to play. Probably I'll suggest it and will never turn down a game.
7 - Good game, usually willing to play.
6 - Ok game, some fun or challenge at least, will play sporadically if in the right mood.
5 - Average game, slightly boring, take it or leave it.
4 - Not so good, it doesn't get me but could be talked into it on occasion.
3 - Likely won't play this again although could be convinced. Bad.
2 - Extremely annoying game, won't play this ever again.
1 - Defies description of a game. You won't catch me dead playing this. Clearly broken.

In the box next to Rating: you can type in any number between 1 and 10, including decimals, as your personal User Rating of a game.

A further rating you can give to a game is the Game Play Weight. This is another personal opinion expressing how difficult the game is to play - either because it has long and/or complex rules, requires deep thought to play well or some other factor. The choices for Game Play Weight Are:

- Light
- Medium Light
- Medium
- Medium Heavy
- Heavy

The Game Play Weight is selected from a Drop Down List.

Once you have made your choices they are saved by clicking on the "Submit" button further down the page.

All recorded Game Play Weights are then averaged to produce a single Game Play Weight that is shown in the "Statistics" section for each game as Avg. Game Weight.

All recorded User Ratings are averaged to produce a single Average Rating shown in a game's "Statistics" section.

The User Ratings are also used to determine the Rank of a game in the BGG database. Only games that have at least 30 User Ratings are eligible for Ranking, and to the User Ratings are added a number of "dummy" ratings, which are then used to produce a new average Rating. This is the rating that shows up in BGG searches and the number can, and does, vary from the Average Rating. In effect the "dummy" ratings move a game's average towards the norm of all games on the database - making games with few votes but very high ratings lower ranked than games with many more ratings but a lower Average Rating. (If you want to know more about this process, search on "Bayesian" within BGG.)

And that's how to rate Octego, or any other game on BoardGameGeek.com!