What does "ELO" actually mean???

[JoysJoy]

Until this week, I understood it as the number that represents my experience in the game and is tied to a formula on how likely I am to win.

Then i played in a tournament against a player with a ~250 ELO and a note next to their name that said "this is my first game so my time is doubled" so that cannot be what the number really means. Or that game experienced a huge glitch maybe?

But what do the letters themselves stand for? I can't find it anywhere.

Evolution Level Online? Experience Level Obtained?

And HOW can anyone have an ELO of over 200 and be given extra time as a first time player?

[Jellby]

It's a name, and apparently it means something like "alive": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C5%91

[ringersoll]

it is a man's name Arpad Elo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Elo

[T72on1]

Until this week, I understood it as the number that represents my experience in the game and is tied to a formula on how likely I am to win.

Then i played in a tournament against a player with a ~250 ELO and a note next to their name that said "this is my first game so my time is doubled" so that cannot be what the number really means. Or that game experienced a huge glitch maybe?

But what do the letters themselves stand for? I can't find it anywhere.

Evolution Level Online? Experience Level Obtained?

And HOW can anyone have an ELO of over 200 and be given extra time as a first time player?

It means it was his or her first time playing the game at the start of the game. Before the game finished, he or she has played and finished (and in this case won) other games (real time, or just turn based which he or she finished faster), hence the ELO rating.

[JoysJoy]

Thanks for trying to answer that question, T72on1, but you missed an important detail in it.

This person had an ELO over well over 200 and was playing a tournament where you cannot play unless you have at least 100 ELO.

This player could not possibly been playing the first time to even register to play a tournament game.

And I found out Professor Elo was a chess player who invented this ranking method so it is called ELO. It is not an acronym as I thought.

[qwertasdfg]

It can very well be someone's first (scored) game and they start at an elo value of 200. That's to do with how this site handles elo values and how they did in the past: you used to start at 1500, the new "elo" is old elo-1300.

Furthermore, people can play tournaments when having elo<100 if they're invited

[sprockitz]

Thanks for trying to answer that question, T72on1, but you missed an important detail in it.

This person had an ELO over well over 200 and was playing a tournament where you cannot play unless you have at least 100 ELO.

This player could not possibly been playing the first time to even register to play a tournament game.

And I found out Professor Elo was a chess player who invented this ranking method so it is called ELO. It is not an acronym as I thought.

New players can be invited (so it is possible to be in a tournament with 0 Elo). And the time for the tournament will not actually be doubled as all tournament games have fixed time limits.

[Cheery Dog]

That message of 'first time playing' appears on any game you start with 0 ELO. Whether it was right at the start I don't know with tournaments (how many rounds into the tournament?)
But you can then go play more of the game and and have a better average and no longer actually be in your first game.

I don't think it actually doubles the time at all in turn-based.

[Vandaley]

Just wanted to confirm that you can play in tournaments when rated below 100 if you are invited directly.

[JoysJoy]

This player was above 200 ELO and still said "FIRST TIME PLAYING".