Color Guesser
Match a target color using hue, saturation, and brightness sliders. Five rounds, scored by Delta E 2000 perceptual difference. A perfect match is 20 points per round, 100 total. New random targets every play — no login, no timer, no ads.
Match five random target colors. Score up to 20 points per round based on perceptual accuracy.
How to play
- Click Start Game to begin round 1 of 5.
- A target color appears. Use the three sliders (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) to adjust your guess color until it looks as close as possible to the target.
- Click Submit when you are happy with your match.
- See how close you got: your score for the round, the Delta E difference, and the exact target hex.
- Repeat for 5 rounds. Your final score is displayed at the end.
How the scoring works
Each round is scored using Delta E 2000 — the modern CIE standard for perceptual color difference. Your guess and the target are both converted to CIELAB, and the Delta E 2000 formula computes a single number representing how different they look to a human observer. Points are awarded on a linear scale: perfect match (ΔE 0) is 20 points, and each additional unit of Delta E costs 2 points, reaching 0 points at ΔE 10. Across five rounds, the maximum score is 100.
This scoring rewards perceptual accuracy, not technical precision. A ΔE of 1 is roughly the just-noticeable difference — below that, most people cannot tell two colors apart. A ΔE of 5 is a visibly different but related color. A ΔE of 10 is clearly wrong but might be in the same color family. Anything over 20 is a completely different color. Scoring linearly within this range means that fine-tuning a good guess produces meaningful score improvements, while a guess that is way off cannot be rescued by a lucky hue pick.
Tips for higher scores
- Match hue first, then saturation, then brightness — in that order, because hue errors are perceptually the most costly.
- If the target looks grayish or muted, drop saturation before adjusting hue — desaturated colors are more forgiving of hue error.
- For very bright or very dark targets, get brightness right before fine-tuning the other two channels.
- Use the swatch comparison — the game shows your current guess next to the target, so you can see the difference visually.
- Take your time. The game has no timer, so slow down and check each adjustment before submitting.
Use cases
- Color training. Sharpen your perception of hue, saturation, and brightness differences.
- Design calibration. Learn how your monitor renders colors and how your eye interprets them.
- Team warm-up. A quick round before a design review gets everyone thinking in color terms.
- Accessibility practice. Training your eye for subtle differences helps with contrast decisions and color-blind-safe palettes.
Frequently asked questions
How does the color guesser work?
Each round shows a target color. You adjust three sliders (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) to match it as closely as you can. Click Submit when you are ready. The score is based on Delta E 2000 — the perceptual color difference between your guess and the target. A lower Delta E is better: ΔE 0 means a perfect match, ΔE 5 is close, ΔE 10 is noticeably off. Five rounds, 100 points maximum.
What is Delta E 2000?
Delta E 2000 (ΔE00) is the current CIE standard for perceptual color difference. It measures how different two colors look to a human observer, accounting for the fact that the eye is more sensitive to differences in some hue regions than others. A ΔE of 1 is roughly the threshold for "just noticeable difference" — below that, most people cannot tell two colors apart. Delta E 2000 is more accurate than the older Delta E 1976 for saturated colors, especially blues and purples.
How are the points calculated?
Each round awards up to 20 points. The points decrease linearly as Delta E increases: ΔE 0 → 20 points, ΔE 5 → 10 points, ΔE 10 → 0 points. So a perfect match is 20/20, a very close guess is 15-19, a reasonable guess is 10-14, and a guess that is only loosely related gets under 10. Across five rounds, the maximum total is 100 points.
Is the color guesser the same for everyone?
No — the target colors are randomized each play, so every session has a different set. This means you can replay infinitely without memorizing colors. If you want a shared daily challenge with the same colors for everyone, that feature is planned for a future update.
What is the difference between hue, saturation, and brightness?
Hue is the angle on the color wheel — 0° is red, 60° is yellow, 120° is green, 180° is cyan, 240° is blue, 300° is magenta. Saturation is the purity of the hue — 0% is gray (no color), 100% is fully saturated. Brightness (also called value) is the lightness — 0% is black, 100% is the full-brightness version of the color. Together, they form the HSB/HSV color model that Photoshop, Figma, and Sketch use in their color pickers.
Can I share my score?
Yes — after the last round, click the Share Score button to copy a text result you can paste into a message, tweet, or post. The result shows your total score, per-round performance, and a link to the game. There is no leaderboard — this is a personal challenge, not a competitive one.