Colour Memory Test
See a colour for three seconds, then mix it again from memory. Five colours, and a score for each by how close you came, with your average as a match percentage at the end.
- Free, no sign-up
- How closely you matched, in %
- Runs in Paint Chips
Paint Chips controls: Drag on the colours · slide to make it greyer · MIX. Press Play, then the game takes the keyboard. Press Tab to leave it.
Free · five colours · no sign-in
Drag on the colours · slide to make it greyer · MIX
The test runs in Paint Chips, our colour game, as its own mode. Each round shows a paint chip with no name on it; when it goes blank, drag on the colour field to set the hue and lightness, use the slider to make it greyer or brighter, and press MIX. The reveal puts your colour beside the real one, says how far apart they are and names the colour. Once enough people have taken the test today, the end card also says how your score compares with theirs. Every test deals five new colours, so you can take it as often as you like.
How the match is scored
Your mix is compared with the original using CIEDE2000, the colour-difference formula the paint and print trades use. It measures how different two colours look to the human eye rather than how far apart their numbers are, because our eyes notice some changes of colour much more than others. A difference of about 2 is hard to see at a glance, and the score falls away as the difference grows, from 1,000 points for a near-perfect match to nothing for a different colour. Your match percentage is the average of the five.
Why colours are hard to remember
Memory stores colours as categories more than as exact shades: we remember "a dusty blue", and when we try to match it later we tend to pick something more typical of the category, often brighter and more saturated than the original. That is why the greyer, muted colours in the test are harder than the vivid ones.
When you play, it can help to name the colour to yourself while it is on screen, as precisely as you can ("a greyish sea green" rather than "green"), and to notice whether it looked bright or a little greyed.
Common questions
How long is the test?
Five colours, each shown for three seconds before you mix it. Most people finish in about a minute and a half.
Does my screen affect the result?
Your screen shows the original and your mix the same way, so the comparison is fair on any screen. Very low brightness or a strong blue-light filter can make muted colours harder to tell apart.
Is it free?
Yes, free and in your browser, with no download and no account. Each test deals five new colours.
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