Daily Color Challenge

Play the daily color challenge: guess today's hex code

The daily color challenge shows you one mystery swatch and four hex codes. You pick the code that matches the color. A new color arrives every day, and a first-guess streak rewards steady accuracy. 66Colorful offers it free in the browser with no signup.

Every puzzle works the same way. You see a large swatch, a short hint such as "Light Blue" or "Dark Green", and four options labelled A to D. Wrong picks are not final: you keep guessing until you find the right code, but fewer guesses score more points.

How to play the daily color challenge

You play by comparing the swatch with the four hex codes and clicking the one you think matches. The whole round takes under a minute.

1. Look at today's swatch and read the hint underneath it.
2. Read the four hex codes under the question "Which hex code matches this color?".
3. Click an option, or press 1 to 4 (or A to D) on your keyboard.
4. If the pick is wrong, read the feedback line and choose from the options that remain.
5. When you find the correct code, your result card shows your score, streak and every guess you made.
6. Click Copy spoiler-free result to share how you did without revealing the color.

The page also shows a countdown labelled "Next color in", so you know when tomorrow's puzzle unlocks. The day follows the site's clock, not your local time zone.

How the color challenge scoring and streak work

Your score depends on how many guesses you need: 100 points for a first-guess solve, down to 10 points for the fourth option. The streak counts only first-guess solves on consecutive days.

A missed day also resets the streak. The sidebar leaderboard shows how many players solved today's color in 1, 2, 3 or 4 guesses, and it highlights the row that matches your own result.

What does ΔE mean in this color guessing game?

ΔE (delta E) is a number that measures how different two colors look. After a wrong guess, the game shows the ΔE between your pick and the target, plus a plain label: close, noticeably different or very different.

The game uses the CIEDE2000 formula, a standard way to estimate perceived color difference. You can read the background in the Wikipedia article on color difference. Lower numbers mean the colors look more alike.

The decoys are built to be tricky but fair. Each wrong option sits at least 8 ΔE units from the answer, so a careful eye can always separate them. The options are also kept apart from each other, so you never get two near-identical decoys.

How to use ΔE feedback in the color guessing game

Treat the feedback as a compass. If your wrong pick was "close" (under 10), the answer is similar in hue, brightness or saturation, so compare the remaining options for a small shift. If it was "very different" (20 or more), look for a code that sits on a different part of the color range.

How to guess a hex code more accurately

You guess a hex code best by combining the hint with the digits in each option. A hex code stores three channels, so the digits tell you roughly how much red, green and blue the color holds. MDN explains the notation in its reference for the CSS hex color type.

Read the three pairs in a hex code

The first pair is red, the second is green and the third is blue. Each pair runs from 00 (none) to FF (full). For example, #1E90FF equals rgb(30, 144, 255): low red, medium green, maximum blue, so it reads as a bright blue.

Another example: #FF6347 equals rgb(255, 99, 71). Red is at full strength and green and blue are low, so the color is a warm red-orange. If you want to check any option, use the HEX to RGB converter.

Bright blue Warm red-orange

Use the hint to narrow hex code options

The hint names the color family and adds "Light" or "Dark" when the color is clearly bright or deep. A "Light" hint points to higher digits across all pairs. A "Dark" hint points to lower digits. Eliminate options that contradict the hint before you click.

Spot the dominant channel in a hex code

Find the largest pair in each option. If the swatch is clearly green, the middle pair should lead. When the three pairs are close in value, the color is muted or grayish, which matches a lower saturation. For a deeper comparison of the two formats, read HEX vs RGB.

Practice mode: unlimited color guessing rounds

Practice mode gives you random colors with the same four-option rules, as many times as you like. Click Start a practice round, then New practice round after each solve. Practice rounds never change your streak or the leaderboard.

The practice area keeps a small tally of how many rounds you solved on the first guess in the current session. Use it to test a strategy, such as always reading the dominant channel first, and see whether your first-guess rate improves.

The keyboard shortcuts work here too. Once you have finished the daily puzzle, pressing 1 to 4 or A to D answers the practice board.

Why play a color perception game?

A color perception game builds the habit of linking what you see to the code behind it. That skill saves time in real design and development work.

• Designers: train your eye to notice small shifts in hue, saturation and lightness before a client does.
• Developers: get faster at reading hex values and judging whether a color is warm, cool, light or dark from the code alone.
• Students: learn how RGB channels combine, with instant feedback after every guess.
• Teams and friends: compare results with the spoiler-free share text, which shows green and red squares for each guess plus your score and streak.

After you finish, click the color swatch on the result card to open its details, or use the Copy HEX quick action to copy the answer. Use Share link to send the challenge page to someone else.

Can color blindness affect a color guessing game?

Yes. People with a color vision deficiency may find some options harder to separate, especially red-green pairs. The ΔE labels and the hint can help, because they do not rely only on how the swatch looks.

The game is a fun test of color perception, not a medical screening. If you are curious about your own vision, try a proper color blindness test. You can also preview how a swatch looks to others with the color blindness simulator.

Screen settings matter as well. Brightness, night mode and display calibration all change how a swatch looks, so a close call on one device can be easy on another. For a fair practice session, turn off blue-light filters.

Daily color challenge tips and common mistakes

• Do not stare too long. Your eye adapts to a color after a few seconds. Look away briefly, then compare again.
• Do not ignore the hint. It rules out options quickly, especially the Light and Dark labels.
• Do not guess by hue alone. The decoys often match the hue and differ in lightness or saturation.
• Use a wrong guess well. Each miss reveals its ΔE, which narrows the remaining options.
• Protect your streak. Only a first-guess solve extends it, so take your time on the first click.

To train beyond the game, open the compare colors tool to view two codes side by side, or the color wheel to see how hue, saturation and brightness relate.

Explore today's color after the color challenge

When you have solved today's puzzle, look up the answer's name with the color name finder, or see the same color in another format with the HEX to HSL converter. Then come back tomorrow to keep your streak alive.