How we actually decide on a rating

People ask how we land on a specific score, and the honest answer is that it's a conversation, not a spreadsheet. After we've each played a game enough, we argue about it until a number feels right.

We don't have fixed categories worth a set number of points. A game can have rough graphics and still score high if it's fun. Fun is hard to quantify, so we don't pretend we can.

The one rule we hold to is that nobody scores a game they didn't play seriously. Twenty minutes doesn't count. If we can't commit real time, we don't rank it at all.

So when you see a number here, know it came from people who actually cared enough to disagree about it. That's the whole point of a small independent team.