Do you count credits and if you do, how many do you have and what are your guidlines?

I'm one of those people who counts credits, though I do it more for my own interest than to get as high of number as possible. That said, I will take the time to ride small junior coasters at a park (provided unaccompanied adults are permitted), but I will not go out of my way to a small park with a couple family coasters just to boost my count.

At the moment, my current count is 363 coasters spread across 75 parks. Most parks are located in the US, but I have been to a few in Canada and France. I had several years recently where I got to a large number of parks and racked up a ton of credits (the largest was 2014), but I'm running out of new places to visit (at least in the US) and time/money to travel, so it may be a few years before I hit 400.

As for what I count, my basic rule is that if it is listed on RCDB it counts, and if it isn't it doesn't. However, in more detail, these are my guidelines:

-Dual tracked coasters count as two coasters if the ride is two independent tracks. It doesn't matter whether or not they are the same layout or different.
-Relocated coasters count as one credit. While I do keep track of where I've ridden a coaster, it doesn't count again if it's the same physical coaster.
-Each clone is a new credit as they are different coasters.
-Traveling coasters are only counted once, and only if I can positively establish that I haven't ridden that same coaster elsewhere.
-Refurbished coasters only count as a new credit if at least 2/3 of the track has been replaced. New trains, new effects, or a new element do not make a ride count as a new credit.
-Powered coasters count if they are influenced by gravity (e.g. accelerate on descents). If they travel at a constant speed they do not count.
-Water coasters count if they contain a legitimate roller coaster section. A single drop and ascent (such as on Splash Mountain) is not enough to qualify the ride.
-Waterpark water coasters (Master Blasters, HydroMagnetic Rockets, etc.) do not count as there is no rolling.
-Alpine coasters count provided you ride the complete circuit. Alpine slides do not count.
-Other forms of gravity powered attractions, such as gravity powered dark rides (ex: Calico Mine Ride), do not count because they lack roller coaster elements.

I just counted mine, and I have 46 credits.

I've got 43, and my guidelines are if its a duelling coaster and it is two compleatly different tracks then it's two credits. That applies with relocated coasters and clones.

I used to use a website that had a coaster counter on it...and for the life of me I can't remember what it was...it was building a general ride counter companion website last I heard which was probably 5-8 years ago...

The last time I checked, and then adding what I have been on since then, I'm probably up around 450 credits.

Funny enough, I'm taking a break from roller coaster trips until my boys get tall enough to join in. Although we have a trip to Legoland planned for later this year. The way the boys are growing and eating, the 2 month old will be ready for big roller coasters before the nearly 4 year old will be.

I'd never heard of counting credits before, but I sat down and put them all in a spreadsheet, using wikipedia to help me remember the names of roller coasters at parks like Magic Mountain I haven't visited in a while.

Using the guidelines above, I came up with 49 roller coasters. 41 of them are in Southern California, with 11 at Knott's Berry Farm and 14 at Magic Mountain. I haven't been on a new roller coaster at Magic Mountain since Goliath opened, so there are probably another 7 or 8 I could add if I were to make a trip there just to boost my score. At least 5 coasters on my list no longer exist, out of which my favorite, for nostalgia, was probably the Corkscrew at Knott's.

I assume it's okay to count kid's coasters, like Canyon Blaster at Magic Mountain or Timberline Twister at Knott's. Having said that, one could make a case that larger roller coasters at county and state fairs should count, since they are probably at the same thrill level as a mad mouse coaster or higher.

My body doesn't tolerate high-intensity rides anymore so I don't enjoy them all that much, which explains not visiting Magic Mountain for about a decade. I can tolerate a coaster like Silver Bullet only by sitting in the front row and anticipating the track ahead and what the coaster is about to do. I won't ride a spinning coaster like Sierra Sidewinder after getting sick the past several times I rode it. My took my kids on both Giant Dippers in California (San Diego and Santa Cruz) last summer, and my recovery time was about 30 minutes for each.

I would warn readers in their teens and 20s to contemplate being in a similar situation by the time they reach their late 30s or 40s.

I never bothered to keep a count, but I'm probably well over 200 having visited virtually every major park in the US (there are over 50 roller coasters within a 4 hour drive of where I live). I never bothered riding kiddie coasters until I had a child, so as I've taken my son to all of the parks, I'm theoretically adding those to my "count" as well. Pteranadon Fliers at IOA was particularly cool since adults are explicitly not allowed to ride unless accompanied by a child of the correct height.

@Russel
Pteranodon was the hardest one for me to get.