Round 00 · 2026-10-14 · Human panel only. No robots scored yet.
Calibration: setting the ceiling and the floor
Before any model gets a turn, the human panel scores two anchors so every later round has a top and a bottom. Balatro's scoring sequence is the ceiling: scale-punch plus hitstop, almost no screenshake, two rising pitch runs in eight seconds. Wordscapes' mid-level solving is the floor: competent, successful, inert, with roughly 35 times less motion. The instructive kind of dead.
| Game | Clip | Role | Human panel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balatro | Boss blind score cascade | Ceiling | Impact 4 · Density 4 · Audio 4 · Theatre 4 · Restraint 3 |
| Wordscapes | Mid-level word solve | Floor | Impact 1 · Density 1 · Audio 1 · Theatre 0 · Restraint 2 |
| Vlambeer screenshake demo | The 30-step ablation, scored step by step | Reference ladder | Scored per step; used to calibrate the 0-2-4 anchors |
The take. Taste starts with knowing what the top and bottom look like. Most arguments about feel are really arguments about which anchor someone has in their head.