What is Palette?
Palette is a daily colour-matching game where you mix a target colour using three sliders. You can work in RGB or switch to CMY at any time, since both models control the same colour from opposite directions—RGB additive like a screen, CMY subtractive like ink. You submit once. Your score is calculated using Delta-E, a perceptual distance measure from print and textile industries, out of a maximum of ten thousand points.
How to play Palette
- Compare the target panel on the left with your mix on the right. Your mix starts as neutral grey with all three sliders at 128.
- Drag the sliders to adjust your mix. Switch between RGB and CMY whenever one model feels more natural for the colour you are trying to match.
- Watch the hex value under your mix update as you drag.
- Hit Submit when ready. One attempt per day, with a new colour at midnight UTC.
Why play Palette?
Most colour games ask you to pick a shade. Palette asks you to build one, which tests whether you understand what is inside a colour or just recognise it when you see it. Delta-E grading makes the scoring fair by measuring perceptual distance rather than raw RGB difference. The scoring ladder is tight: everyone lands in the right colour family, but the leaderboard is decided by the final handful of units. One shot per day and the free RGB-CMY switch keep each round short while quietly teaching you more about colour models than any tutorial.
Reading the feedback
Scoring uses a Delta-E ladder with a title for each rung. Under 1 earns a perfect ten thousand and the Chromatic Genius label. 1 to 3 keeps you above 9,900. 3 to 6 keeps you above 9,700. Past 12 you drop below 8,800 and get called colour blind. The gap between good and great is tiny, which is the point.
Modes
Daily: One colour per day shared worldwide, refreshed at midnight UTC.
Levels: A second tab beside the daily one in the header, marked with its own indicator.
Tips for mixing colours
Name the colour before you touch a slider. Deciding out loud which family it belongs to stops you from wandering the sliders and burning your one attempt on a shade you never intended.
Use CMY for muted and earthy tones. The game recommends it for good reason: thinking in ink is more intuitive for colours that look like paint or fabric than adjusting three light channels.
The last few units make the difference. A Delta-E of 6 is already two rungs down the ladder, so once you are in the right colour family, compare the edges of the two panels instead of searching for the hue.
Use the hex readout for the arithmetic, but judge the result by appearance. Delta-E measures how different the colours look; it does not measure the numerical distance between their values.
Common questions
How many attempts do I get?
One. You get one mix and one score.
When does the puzzle change?
At midnight UTC. The new colour is the same for every player.
What is Delta-E?
A perceptual measure of colour distance developed for print and textiles. Below 1 is imperceptible even to professionals, below 3 counts as a good match in commercial printing, and above 6 is noticeable at a glance.
Does RGB or CMY give me an advantage?
Neither. Both control the same underlying colour, and you can switch freely mid-mix. It only changes how you think about the problem.