BitMob - Avoiding the 7-9 Scale: An Exercise in Different Review Scales.
But enough background. The point of this post is to try to decide what scale I should use from now on. The 1-to-10 scale seems fairly reliable, since it can tell you at a glance what the critic thinks of a game, at least in ballpark figures. The problem with this scale is that it is subject to too much interpretation: Is 7 a good or bad score? Since it's above 5 -- the average -- it's technically an above-average score, but in most school systems, a 70 (7/10) is a D or a C, which is either at or below average.

With that in mind, I decided to take a look at a number of alternatives to this scale. Many of them are already being used elsewhere, while others are mostly theoretical. Still, it's important to know your options before you commit to something, so here are some of the ways I've considered helping consumers decide which games they should or should not buy.