A color guessing game about the things around you
Everyone knows what color a banana is. But could you mix that exact yellow from memory, without a picture to copy? This color guessing game asks you to do just that. Each round names one everyday thing, such as a fire truck, a glass of red wine or the Golden Gate Bridge. You narrow it down in two taps until the screen shows the color you remember, lock it in, and the real color slides in beside yours.
There is a new set of five every day, the same for every player, and a free play mode when five is not enough. At the end you get a score out of 50 and a short reading of how your color memory leans.
How to play
- Read the name. "Recall the color of a ripe banana." No picture, no swatch.
- 1. Family: tap the color family it belongs to, from pinks and reds round to blues and violets.
- 2. Shade: tap the closest shade, from pale to deep and from soft to vivid.
- Lock it in: press This is it. Want it just right? Drag the screen first to fine-tune. The real thing appears next to yours, drawn in both colors, with a score out of 10 and a tip for next time.
- Five rounds. After the fifth, see your memory palette, share your score or save it as a poster.
- Keyboard: after picking a shade, arrow keys fine-tune hue and lightness,
[and]change intensity, Enter locks it in, Backspace goes back to the families.
How the score works
Your color and the real color are compared in OKLab, a color space designed so that the same distance always looks like the same amount of difference to the human eye. That makes the score fair across the whole rainbow: being slightly off on a pale pink costs as much as being slightly off on a deep blue. A perfect match scores 10, a near miss that most people could not tell apart scores 9 or more, and a color that looks clearly different scores around 5.
Why your memory gets colors wrong
Color memory is surprisingly unreliable. Researchers who study "memory color" have found since the 1960s that people tend to remember familiar things as more saturated than they really are: the banana in your head is often yellower than any banana in the shop. Lighting, screens and brand colors all pull the picture around too. Your result card shows which way your own memory leans: warmer or cooler, more vivid or more muted, lighter or darker.
Where the reference colors come from
Each reference is the typical color of the real thing in daylight, taken from the lit middle of the surface rather than the shine or the shadow. A ripe banana is #F1D04B, a ripe tomato #D42A20, a clear daytime sky #78AFE0. Where an official specification exists, we use it instead: International Orange for the Golden Gate Bridge, National School Bus Yellow (#F2A900), Old Glory red and blue for the US flag, and International Klein Blue for Yves Klein's paintings. Real things vary, of course, so think of the reference as the color you would most often see, not the brightest crayon version.
Frequently asked questions
How does the color guessing game work?
You see the name of an everyday thing, like a ripe banana or a school bus. Pick the color family, then the closest shade, and lock it in. The real color slides in next to yours and you get a score out of 10. There are five things per game.
How is my score worked out?
We measure the distance between your color and the reference color in OKLab, a color space built so that equal distances look equally different to the human eye. A perfect match scores 10. A color that looks clearly different scores around 5.
Where do the reference colors come from?
Each reference is the typical color of the real thing in daylight: the lit middle of the surface, not the shine or the shadow. Where an official specification exists, we use it, such as International Orange for the Golden Gate Bridge or National School Bus Yellow.
Is there a new game every day?
Yes. Every day there is a new set of five, the same for every player, so you can compare scores with friends. Free play gives you as many extra rounds as you like.
Why do I keep picking colors that are too bright?
You are not alone. Researchers studying memory color have found that people tend to remember familiar things as more saturated than they really are. Your result card shows which way your own memory leans: warmer or cooler, more vivid or more muted, lighter or darker.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Everything is a tap: pick a color family, then the closest shade. If you like, drag the screen to fine-tune before you lock it in.