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CoasterForce's Favourite Roller Coasters - 2020 Edition

Hyde

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
EqFckI0W8AAan3C.jpeg​

Thank you again to all for ranking your top 10 roller coasters! While this has been an insane year from roller coaster perspective, we thought it would still be fun to stack up our top coasters regardless.

Per usual, our crack team of analysts, spreadsheet artists, field researchers, algorithmic mathematicians, academic calculators, and quantitative number crunchers (aka @Hixee, @Pokemaniac, and @Hyde) have been hard at work analyzing all respective rankings for comparison.

One of the most visited threads in the General Discussions section of the forums is the "Top 10-ish" thread, where people rank their ten (or more) most favourite coasters. We have combed through the thread and collected all the Top 10 lists posted over the past year, from November 1, 2019 to October 31, 2020. This data has been analysed to find CoasterForce's most popular coasters of the 2020 season.

The Top 25
RankRoller CoasterAverage RankingAverage Ranking/FrequencyNumber of #1 RankingsNumber of Rides
1Steel Vengeance1.900.101220
2Taron3.140.15821
3Lightning Rod3.000.21214
4Skyrush4.000.24517
5Helix4.240.25217
6Zadra2.500.25110
7Voyage5.280.29218
8Shambhala4.500.32114
9Untamed3.220.3639
10Fury 3255.380.41013
11Maverick6.870.46015
12Storm Chaser6.250.52012
12El Toro6.250.52012
14Nemesis5.910.54011
15X25.220.5829
16Goliath (SFGAm)3.830.6416
17Taiga3.200.6405
18Wicked Cyclone2.750.6904
18Hyperion5.500.6928
20Outlaw Run5.630.7008
21Wildfire5.750.7208
22Expedition GeForce5.140.7317
23Mako6.140.8807
24Balder4.400.8815
25Phoenix6.430.9217

As usual, we have a few graphs to further breakdown CF's top roller coasters, which you can view in the full spreadsheet link at the end of the post. For starters, here is a map of average roller coaster ranking vs. number of rides. The higher a roller coaster is charted on towards the upper left, the higher it is in the ranking. I have also added a trend line to add further clarity:
dxhX6XI.png


As was the case last year, charting out the roller coaster average rankings by number of rides shows a high correlation with their ranking. Steel Vengeance still takes a definitive runaway victory, each way we slice the chart!

Screen Shot 2020-12-25 at 9.38.45 PM.jpg

As it was last year, you may notice a number of roller coaster that have different average rankings vs. average rankings/rides. If we ranked roller coasters based on average rank alone, it's a rather different result. Overall, we still prefer to consider over number of rides, to help ensure the rankings are reflective of the entire community vs. a few select members. This shows further skewing this year especially, as everyone's travels were greatly disrupted, limiting access and travel to new roller coasters.

Comparing year-over-year: While Steel Vengeance remained #1 from 2018, we saw a number of key roller coasters move up and down in the rankings. Of biggest note compared to last year:
  • Zadra has shot up in the rankings; we expected this as it led by average ranking alone last year.
  • Lightning Rod gained 1 spot in the rankings - maybe it doesn't need that RMC retrack afterall?
  • Shambhala was another surprise riser in the rankings, moving up 9 spots from last year.
  • Wildfire lost a lot of love, seeing one of the biggest slides in the rankings from 10 to 21.

Roller Coaster201820192020Change From Previous YearAverage Ranking
Steel Vengeance11101.0
Taron32202.3
Lightning Rod243-13.0
Skyrush464-24.7
Helix73525.0
Zadra-166-1011.0
Voyage85726.7
Shambhala14178-913.0
Untamed-8918.5
Fury 32511910110.0
Maverick4111108.7
El Toro1071259.7
Storm Chaser152012-815.7
Nemesis131214213.0
X281815-313.7
Goliath (SFGA)324316-2730.3
Taiga-1317415.0
Hyperion581918-131.7
Wicked Cyclone172918-1121.3
Outlaw Run122720-719.7
Wildfire2110211117.3
Expedition GeForce181422818.0
Mako293123-827.7
Balder585124-2744.3
Phoenix283025-527.7

Again, this is heavily reliant on sample size, and how folks responded with their top 10 rankings. If you feel like a roller coaster got cheated and didn't participate this year; make it a point to drop your top 10 into the thread so we can count it towards next year's count!

We also updated the alternate rankings as we did last year, showing variations to how roller coaster rankings can be measured, such as logging results (to consider strong outliers) and removing top and bottom-most votes for each respective roller coaster (also as a control for outlier votes).

You can peruse all the data and tables here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lOb0_4PdFbbAAW6Rakv_Kvpcdy9kAbG_S79Bcd3mkDw/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you again for joining in the CF Top 10 Rankings - here's to more roller coasters to come in 2021!
 
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Hyde said:
...
As was the case last year, charting out the roller coaster average rankings by number of rides shows a high correlation with their ranking. Steel Vengeance still takes a definitive runaway victory, each way we slice the chart!​
1ASzWnk.png


As it was last year, you may notice a number of roller coaster that have different average rankings vs. average rankings/rides. If we ranked roller coasters based on average rank alone, it's a rather different result. Overall, we still prefer to consider over number of rides, to help ensure the rankings are reflective of the entire community vs. a few select members. This shows further skewing this year especially, as everyone's travels were greatly disrupted, limiting access and travel to new roller coasters.
Click to expand...
Strange that Lightning Rod didn't even make this chart. :confused:
 
ECG said:
Strange that Lightning Rod didn't even make this chart. :confused:
Click to expand...
Gratefully just a title sampling error - notice there are a few more bars than names listed; essentially Google Sheets is just auto-spacing every-few names. I expanded the chart a smidge to have Lightning Rod included. (I'll add it back to the original post too)

Screen Shot 2020-12-25 at 9.38.45 PM.jpg

Bentleya said:
Great work team!

It will be interesting to see what happens next year with the 2 new Belgium coasters and F.L.Y. being officially open.
Click to expand...
It's my hunch that F.L.Y. should go up in the rankings - Zadra scored pretty low last year, but saw a big jump once more folks were able to ride.
 
F.L.Y. did make it to a couple of Top 10 lists this year, but not higher than 7 or 8 if I recall correctly. I'm not sure if it will make as much of a splash as one might think - it may be top 10 material, but not top 5 for many people. It may be stuck playing second fiddle to Taron in the rankings if more people prefer the latter, and everyone who rides F.L.Y. will almost certainly ride Taron as well.

Looking it over, I think Steel Vengeance will continue to dominate the rankings for quite some time. It has the advantage of being located in a very well-visited park, automatically giving it a chance to be ranked by most of our American members and quite a few European ones too, and it's good enough to be given a very high ranking in most Top 10 lists. While there may be future coasters out there capable of beating it in terms of quality, it has a really strong attendance too, securing it favourable positions in the rankings. It's as if Zadra had been located in Europa Park.

Just fora bit of perspective, we could very easily calculate what it would take to beat out Steel Vengeance today. It has a score of (average ranking)/(number of riders) of 0.10. To match that score, a coaster would have to be ranked #1 unanimously by 10 people. Or 20 people would have to declare it their #2 coaster, or certain combinations in between. It's somewhat uncommon for a coaster to even have 10 mentions in these lists, and only one coaster is ranked as #1 by more than 10 people as it is ... yep, it's Steel Vengeance.

Of course, Steel Vengeance may still be toppled eventually, as more people find other coasters to put as their #1. Its score has been slowly declining since 2018, after all (when it had the insane score of 0.06). The second best coaster in the rankings tends to be rated at 0.14 or so, so it's not a big gap that has to close. But beating the insane 2018 score of Steel Vengeance, that will take a while. Something like a really great coaster in a really well-visited park.

Of the new coasters out there, I think I have the biggest faith in Velocicoaster to get a high ranking. It looks great, and IoA gets a lot of attendance. If Disney manages to pull off some crazy effects bonanza with the TRON coaster in Magic Kingdom, it may fly up the rankings too, but otherwise I think it will stay out of the overall Top 10. Pantheon and Iron Gwazi look crazy as well, but I'm not sure if enough of our members will make it to their parks for them to place highly in the rankings. After all, its greatness can only push a coaster down to a score of 1 - to go lower than that, it needs to be well-attended too.

Hmm ... if you're bored one day, @Hyde, would it be an idea to look into alternate ways of weighing rankings and ridership? What happens if one of the two factors is halved, doubled, squared, or ... rooted(?), or something like that?
 
Shall we do the scores then? How many of CF's Top 25 have you ridden? Anybody got all 25?
I've been on 18/25, which isn't bad I guess but it's annoying that 3 of the Top 10 still elude me: Lightning Rod, Skyrush and Fury 325. I need those coasters in my life!
I'm also missing Mako, Wicked Cyclone, Phoenix and Taiga, but I'm not as eager to get on those ones.
Sadly the only one of those I'm even planning on getting on in 2021 is Mako, all the others will have to wait. ?
 
Awesome stuff to look at - thanks for doing this!

I'd be very surprised if Fly ranks well on this listing. Just from a theoretical perspective, flying coasters are generally not many people's cup of tea on here, and it will be ridden by a large majority of people. It's certainly feels hard to imagine a situation where it would get a (average ranking)/(number of riders) score below 1. I could see it maybe halving (2.5 to around the 1.25 mark), but I don't see it bursting into the Top 25.

It would have been very interesting to see how Taiga would have done this year in an alternate world where the Finland Live was able to take place. Not hard to imagine it having a Zadra-like jump too had to happened. Until it gets a ridership jump, I imagine it will wallow in the 15-20th region..the injustice! :(

Looking forward to seeing how things are shaken up next year, given the number of fab looking rides on the horizon..

Howie said:
Shall we do the scores then? How many of CF's Top 25 have you ridden? Anybody got all 25?
Click to expand...
I rather pitiful 7/25 for me. My lack of leaving Europe the obvious issue.

The original plan would have seen me get Shambhala and GeForce this year, but obviously not meant to be. It's not out the realm of possibility that I'll be able to tick off all the European ones next year though. The American ones will have to wait a bit longer.
 
19/25 from me, but would have been 23 if it wasn't for the 'rona, so... Womp.
 
22/25

Storm Chaser,Goliath and Taiga missing - should have got Storm Chaser this year but...
Probably most eager to go see Taiga though out of them.
 
Darn! Realised that I last submitted a top 10 to that thread a month or so before this snapshot was taken. Next year!

Anyway, I have 19/25 credits. Would have hopefully have been 21 if this year had gone to plan. Still, 19 isn't too bad.

Missing Lightning Rod, Fury 325, X2, Taiga, Outlaw Run and Wildfire. An interesting snapshot of the forum's favourites, thanks for sorting this out!
 
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19/25 which is not too shabby. Taiga, Zadra, Nemesis, Expedition GeForce and Hyperion still allude me, and it may be a while until I can get back to Europe. Goliath at Six Flags Great America seems much more attainable in the short term. I could possibly even get it in 2021, depending on how things look by the summer.
 
17/25. Sad to see a lack of Asia in there once again, though it was entirely inevitable with travel restrictions this year.
Big SteVe, Voyage, Maverick, Strom Chaser, Goliath, Outlaw Run, Mako & Phoenix still to go and as others are claiming I could have had all of them bar Knoebels this year (6 in one trip!), hopefully next year will do just that.
 
A measly 14/25 for me. While I suspect I'll be able to pick up the last US cred I don't have on the list (Mako) this year if things go well, it will likely be awhile before I'm able to pick up any of the coasters outside the US. Happy to have been able to pick up Shambhala though on the one European trip I've had.
 
Interesting list. I guess not enough people have been to Japan..

The most notable omission from my perspective is Phantom's Revenge. With the speed, 2 drops, airtime, and lack of a restraint I find it hard to believe there are 25 coasters in the world that are better.

Lastly, I'm really looking forward to getting to Europe to ride Taron and Helix because on paper I don't see what's so special. Yes of course they look fun, but not top 5 worthy. Especially Taron... except for the 2nd launch the layout looks pretty uninspired. Helix's layout looks a lot more interesting and if it had a first drop like Maverick I could see it being a top 10ish ride. But I've never been on them so that's why I'm so intrigued as to why so many people rank them so high.
 
I've ridden 7/25 (all of which are in my personal Top 10) but that number would have been at least 13 were it not for the bloody virus! Fingers crossed I can get some of those next year.

Thanks for compiling the list, always interesting reading. I reckon @Pokemaniac is spot on - Velocicoaster looks like the best bet for toppling SteVe long-term, with Iron Gwazi also a contender.
 
I’ve done 17/25 of these, and would have been 21 if trips to Energylandia, Magic Mountain and PortAventura hadn’t been cancelled this year.

I am very intrigued to ride Shambhala, hopefully in 2021, and see if it really is better than Fury 325!
 
16/25 here, and of the nine I haven't been on, five are in the top ten (SteVe, Skyrush, Zadra, Shambhala, Untamed). Which sucks a bit.
 
21/25 - Mako, Taiga, X2, Untamed.
I'll get Untamed this year, no chance of the states ones for a while I don't think.
 
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