Top 50 Bars in Philadelphia Methodology

This is the fourth year I’ve run the Foobooz Top 50 Bars list, taking over after Philadelphia Weekly ran a similar list in 2008. A list on which I contributed.

The mechanics of the ranking is modeled after that Philadelphia Weekly list. Ask a bunch of writers, bloggers and other assorted bar hounds for their top ten bars. I’m not sure how mathematical Philly Weekly’s list was after polling, but I’ve kept mine to a formula.

And that formula is as follows:

Collect responses from an email list that goes out to dozens of voters. Ten points are assigned for a first place vote and descending points for each place down the list. I also vote, and vote twice, starting Foobooz has its advantages. So I vote for 20 places, two get 10 points, two get 9 points, etc.

Then I add up the scores, ties go to the establishment that appears on more ballots. Then I publish the list. No changes are made by me or anyone else at Philadelphia magazine or Foobooz.

And that’s how the Top 50 Bars list is created, no matter what conspiracy theorists would imagine.

2012 Top Bars in Philadelphia [f8b8z]