Rank Ride: Guaranteed Points and Fun

By: Ethan Brown

A PBR-focused fantasy league is returning for the first time in six years.

Rank Ride Fantasy, which is free to play, gives fans of the most intense sport on dirt the chance to raise the stakes and win cash prizes while competing with friends and other fans across the country.

Every week before the Unleash The Beast, when the draw is released, fans can play “the game before the game.” Climb the ranks of superfan status to be one of the week’s Top 10 players and win cash prizes starting at $100 or simply bag bragging rights amongst family and friends. More than $25,000 is up for grabs in regular-season prizes, and the year-end champion wins $10,000 and a gold buckle.

Rank Ride was founded by former rider and entrepreneur Bonner Bolton, so fans will know they are getting an experience “made by cowboys for cowboys.”

Rank Ride is a fantasy game for the sport of bull riding unlike any game before. Every time a rider leaves the chutes, he will earn guaranteed points for players who selected him no matter the result, buckoff or ride.

The score for the riders is calculated by starting with the base score of how the rider did in the overall aggregate for the weekend.

If a rider bucks off, however, an algorithm unique to Rank Ride assigns points based on buckoff times. For instance, a buckoff at seven seconds will earn more points than a buckoff at two seconds but less than a qualified ride.

Rank Ride also splits riders and bulls into three tiers based on world standings and averages.

First-tier riders and bulls (the top tier) will receive a lower bonus for a good weekend than a tier-two or tier-three contest, emphasizing the importance of understanding the sport and matchups.

If a bull has multiple outs during a multi-round weekend, Rank Ride will drop the lower score. Bulls’ scores will have a bonus if the rider scores an 87+ out or the bull is marked 44+. The bull will be deducted two points if his score is below 42, the league average.

Each player gets to pick six riders to their team for the weekend: two from each tier, which is based on the current world standings. Players also pick three bulls – one from each tier based on the number of season outs.

The competition opens on Wednesday prior to each Unleash The Beast event when the draw comes out, and it closes when the event starts.

I played the game, and I loved it.

I like that the Rank Ride game similarly uses the team-building system of the old PBR game, which I played years ago, while expanding on the idea.

For example, in the fantasy results from this past weekend’s event, my team finished in the middle of the pack. However, only one of the riders on my team got a qualified ride; because of the new game’s scoring system, I still got points compared to the old game where those would have been zeroes and I would have been near the bottom of the standings.

The game is a fresh take on the classic I grew up with, and I would recommend it for all ages.

While the cash prizes are only given to players 18 or older, it’s still a fun and simple way for young fans to connect with PBR in a new way, develop new favorite riders and bulls, and learn about the stats behind the sport.

Fans who are interested in playing should go to RankRideFantasy.com.

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