A catalogue of several dozen titles cannot be assessed one game at a time in any reasonable period. It can be reduced systematically, and the reduction takes about an hour if it is done in the right order.
The order
Eliminate on cheap criteria first, then measure what survives. Reading a full panel takes a few minutes; scanning a listing for maximum win takes seconds, and doing the expensive step on everything is what makes the task unmanageable.
Most of a long list will fall away on the first pass, which is the point of putting it first.
The first pass
From the listing alone: maximum win, return percentage where stated, and volatility label. Discard anything sitting well outside what suits the budget in question. This is fast because none of it requires opening a game.
Expect to remove most of the list. A catalogue of fifty typically reduces to eight or ten candidates on these three fields alone.
The second pass
Panels only, no play. Opening the survivors on a catalogue such as DemoSlotVibe and recording symbol ratio, feature trigger requirement and quotation basis for each takes a couple of minutes per title and cuts the list roughly in half again.
Keep everything in one table. Ten titles across three fields is thirty numbers, and nobody compares thirty numbers accurately from memory while switching tabs.
- Eliminate from the listing before opening anything
- Read panels on survivors without playing
- Keep every figure in a single table
- Measure round rate only on the final few
- Stop when the notes stop changing
The third pass
Play, but only on what is left. Round rate, hit frequency and load behaviour need actual rounds, and running that measurement on four titles is feasible where running it on fifty is not.
The stopping rule
Stop when another title assessed would not change the shortlist. Continuing past that point adds entries without improving the choice, and the temptation to be thorough is what turns an hour’s work into an evening’s.
Why the notes are the actual output
Because the shortlist is temporary and the table is permanent. Structural properties do not change between visits, so a catalogue assessed once is assessed for good, and the next encounter with the same studio costs nothing rather than repeating the whole exercise from a blank page.