This intro collapses after your first visit — tap New here? above to see it again.
EA's ladder reset is two months overdue. Ours resets every month.
A new account starts at rating 1500 with an RD (rating deviation) of 350 — the system has no idea how good you are yet, so any single game could swing your rating wildly. Your Points are calculated as Rating − 2.0 × RD, which right now puts you at 1500 − 700 = 800 Points. Brand-new accounts sit at the bottom of the board even at a default 1500 rating, because the system isn't confident enough to give them credit yet.
Play 10 games and your RD typically drops to around 100. Now Points = 1500 − 200 = 1,300, and you're on the board. Keep playing and RD bottoms out around 60 for the most active players — same rating then gives you 1,380 Points. The longer you play, the closer your Points get to your actual rating.
Stop playing for a few months and your RD drifts back up. Your underlying rating stays the same, but your Points drop. A few games brings it back down. Nothing permanent.