We study the capability of the UBVRI photometric system to quantify star clusters in terms of age, metallicity, and color excess by their integrated photometry. The well known age-metallicity-extinction degeneracy was analyzed for various parameter combinations, assuming different levels of photometric accuracy. We conclude that the UBVRI photometric system enables us to estimate star cluster parameters over a wide range, if the overall photometric accuracy is better than ~0.03 mag.