Cumulative points for pool tournament finals

Hi,

I am trying to create a formula to calculate total points from three months of pool tournaments so I can seed the finals. I need to add up a row of cells (results from throughout the season) for each player. Possible entries are "1st", "2nd", "3rd", "FO" (first out), "x" (played, but didn't place) and an empty cell (did not play). If a cell has "1st" entered, it is worth 5 points; "2nd" = 3 points; "3rd" = 2 points; "FO" & empty cell = 0 points; & "x" = .5 points.

I think I have attached an example of the spreadsheet I have started. Only 8 players so far, but many more to be added. I tried to come up with a SUMPRODUCT formula, but I have never tried to write a formula with so many variables.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

bebo021999 - Wow. It's going to take some time for me to figure out how that works (I haven't used LOOKUP or IFERROR before), but it looks perfect. Gives me stuff to study. Thanks so much for taking the time to help! - Tom