Method
How the IQ score works
Every number on this site comes from the same model, applied to every room the same way. This page is that model written out, so you can disagree with it specifically rather than generally.
The 100 points
Four things are scored. Nothing else moves the number — not the brand on the door, not the ticket price, not how much anyone enjoyed it.
| Measures | Points |
|---|---|
| Size of the lit picture, not the screen | 38 |
| Projection system | 36 |
| Widest frame the room can actually show | 18 |
| Sound system | 8 |
| Total | 100 |
Lit picture, not screen fabric
This is the decision the whole site rests on. A screen is a piece of fabric; the picture is the part of it the projector lights. They are frequently not the same size, and the gap is not small — a room can hold 40% more screen than its neighbour and put up the same picture, because a third of it is never lit.
Size points are scored on the lit area. Where a venue publishes only the fabric dimensions, the page says so. The worked example is here.
Tiers
Tiers are bands on the same score, not a separate judgement.
- S83 and above
- A66 and above
- B50 and above
- C32 and above
- Dbelow 32
One extra rule: S is capped. A room cannot reach the top tier on an unverified record, however well it scores, because S reads as “worth travelling for” and that is advice. It needs two independent sources on the projector, or a confirmed 15/70mm engagement.
Sources, and what counts as two
A specification is confirmed when two independent sources agree. Independence is the hard part: two community databases that copy from each other are one source wearing two names, so they are grouped into a family and count once. The build fails if any record claims confirmation from two members of the same family.
Today 214 records have two agreeing sources on dimensions and 160 on the projector, out of 2,933. That ratio is low deliberately. It is the honest number, and raising it means finding sources rather than lowering the bar.
What the model refuses to do
Where a projector is known to be digital but its generation is not established, the page says “generation not established” rather than naming one. Where a screen size is unpublished, the score is marked as resting on an estimate rather than quietly using a plausible figure. Where a venue was checked and nothing was found, that is recorded as a closed question rather than left looking pending.
Seat counts are not converted into viewing angles, brightness is not inferred from a projector model, and a room is never scored on a number nobody published.
Known limitations
- Dome screens are scored on a surface-area convention, which is not like-for-like with a flat screen. Pages that do this say so.
- Sound is the weakest column. Most venues publish nothing, and an unknown system scores zero rather than a consolation point.
- Many records still rest on a single source. The confidence badge on each venue page tells you which.
- Some coordinates are city-level rather than exact. Those are flagged on the page and excluded from distance-sensitive comparisons.
Citing this
Figures are free to quote with a link to the venue page they came from. Cite the page rather than the site, because per-room records change as sources are confirmed, and include the date — the underlying data is reconciled continuously.
Data reconciled 2026-09-21 · 2,752 screens · 40 formats · About this project