Elo

Definition

Elo is a rating system originally designed by Arpad Elo for chess in the 1960s. It assigns each player a numeric rating that updates after every match: winners gain points and losers lose points, with the magnitude depending on rating difference. Elo is the conceptual ancestor of every modern game ranking system, although most games now use derivatives (MMR, Glicko, TrueSkill).

Example

"My Elo is around 1800" — the player is reporting their numeric rating in an Elo or Elo-derived ranking system.

Related terms

• MMR
• Glicko-2
• TrueSkill
• matchmaking
• rank