The CurioRank - how it works

A transparent 0-100 product score with category-specific sub-rubrics. The formula is public. The weights are public. The data sources are public.

Why a public formula?

Most "best of" review sites hide their scoring. They publish a list with stars and an "editor's choice" badge but never show you the math. That's because - usually - there is no math, just vibes.

We took the opposite approach. The CurioRank is a deterministic, defensible heuristic derived only from product fields you can see on the page: the rating, the volume of reviews, the price tier, the documented pros and cons, the specs, and where available a derived sentiment score. Nothing fabricated. Same inputs, same score, every time.

The five dimensions of every CurioRank

Every product gets scored on between four and six dimensions, where the specific dimensions depend on the category. Two dimensions are shared across all categories:

The remaining ~55% of the score is split evenly across category-specific dimensions, each driven by keyword heuristics that scan the product's pros, cons, verdict, and specs for positive and negative signals.

Category-specific rubrics

A 1,000-piece jigsaw and a UCS Millennium Falcon should never be scored on the same axes. Neither should a kids’ STEM kit and a hobby-heavy strategy game. So they aren’t. Here’s the per-category breakdown:

Adult LEGO Collectibles

Board Games (Family)

Board Games (Strategy & Teen)

Card & Party Games

Screen-Free Audio

Building Toys (Toddlers)

STEM Kits (Ages 6-10)

Plush & Collectibles

Ride-On Toys & Balance Bikes

Premium Puzzles

The composite formula

Once we score each dimension on a 0-100 scale, we composite them:

CurioRank =
    0.25 × Owner Satisfaction
  + 0.20 × Value
  + 0.55 × (average of category-specific dimensions)

The result is rounded to an integer between 0 and 100. We also publish the sub-scores on every product page so you can interrogate the result. If a product scores 92 overall but a 65 on Build Quality and a 99 on Owner Satisfaction, you can see exactly where the gap is.

Try the calculator yourself

Move the sliders. Every product on PawBench resolves to one composite score using these exact weights. No magic numbers.

85 × 25% = 21.3
78 × 20% = 15.6
82 × 18% = 15
80 × 18% = 14.7
78 × 18% = 14.3
Or try a preset:

Composite score

81
Grade B+

Owner Satisfaction is weighted 25%, Value 20%, and the three category-specific dimensions share 55% equally. Real product scores compute exactly this way - every breakdown row on a product card is one of these dimensions.

What we don't claim

We don't claim to have hands-on tested every product on this site. We're transparent about when we have evaluated a product first-hand and when we've researched it from public sources (reviews, manufacturer specs, community discussion, expert reviews from sites like BoardGameGeek, Brickset, Common Sense Media, and Wirecutter). Where we have hands-on time, we say so explicitly.

We don't accept paid placements. Affiliate commissions on Amazon and other retailers fund this site, but the recommendations are the same recommendations we'd give a friend. We've disclosed multiple products as "skip this" or "save your money" within this site precisely because the recommendations don't bend toward higher-priced products for commission.

How the score gets updated

The CurioRank is regenerated whenever a product's underlying data changes - rating, review count, pros/cons, specs, tier, or derived sentiment. This is automated. So the score on a product page reflects the most recent data we have. We publish a "last updated" timestamp on every product page.

The code is open to inspection

The exact formula lives in lib/scoring.ts in our public-facing source. The dimension keyword lists and weights are in the same file. If you want to audit the math, the math is yours to audit.