Shade Hunt: find the different color

How to play

1. Press Start. A grid of tiles appears, all the same colour except one.
2. Tap the odd tile. On a keyboard, move with the arrow keys and press Enter.
3. Keep going until the 60 seconds run out. A wrong tap takes 2 seconds off the clock.

Levels and scoring

Your score is the number of odd tiles you find in 60 seconds. The first grid is 2 by 2 with an easy difference. After that the grid grows to 3 by 3, 4 by 4, 5 by 5 and finally 6 by 6, and the difference in lightness shrinks with every find, from 24 percent at the start to about 2.5 percent. Each grid picks a new random colour, so some levels are harder than others. Your best score is saved in this browser.

Tips for a high score

• Take in the whole grid at once instead of checking tiles one by one. The odd tile often stands out at the edge of your view.
• Sit straight in front of the screen. On many laptop screens, the viewing angle changes how colours look from top to bottom.
• Turn off night mode, warm screen filters and this site's eye comfort mode for your best score. They make shades harder to tell apart.
• When you are stuck, a quick guess costs only 2 seconds, which can be cheaper than staring.
• Many people see some colours differently, and colour vision deficiency is common. That is normal, and nothing here measures it.

Take a proper screen break

Shade Hunt lasts one minute, so it fits between two tasks. A game is a change of task, but your eyes are still on a screen. After a round, try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet (6 metres) away for 20 seconds, and blink fully a few times. Our guide to the 20-20-20 rule explains where it comes from and what a 2022 study found, and screen eye strain: what actually helps covers screen setup, dry air and when to get your eyes checked.

Questions about Shade Hunt