Understand voting boosts and visit levels

Participation points rank players. Voting weight affects decorated homes. Your Halloween game level is a third, separate measure. Earning a game level does not increase a home's score or your participation points.

A normal rating has weight 1. A location-confirmed rating at the home adds 0.25, making weight 1.25 before any visit levels. Both high and low scores use the same weight. Your chosen 1 to 10 score does not change.

Rate three different decorated homes in person, with no more than 25 minutes between each new home. That earns one visit level. Each earned level adds another 0.25 weight to your in-person ratings, including earlier in-person ratings. A level stays for the voting season.

Each home counts once toward your visit levels. A gap longer than 25 minutes resets only unfinished progress of one or two homes, not levels already earned. Three homes can take up to 50 minutes if each gap stays within 25 minutes. The level belongs to your profile. It does not add participation points beyond the first eligible rating's fixed award.

You can rate your own home. Its rating gets in-person weight only after you earn a visit level at other homes and location confirms you rated your home in person. A location check at home alone does not earn that exception.

For each decorated home, the first three ratings from your household count. A later household member with an earned visit level and an in-person rating can replace the weakest of those three if their rating carries greater weight. Everyone in the household can still participate and earn eligible participation points. The rule applies separately to every decorated home.

Remote voting stays available without location. In-person confirmation needs a recent usable location near the home; it is not guaranteed by enabling the permission. The rating response tells you when it counted in person. Read Privacy for location use and retention.