Innerly

Spot the odd shade

One tile in the grid is a shade off from the rest. Tap it. The grid grows and the difference shrinks. Three lives.

  • About 2 minutes
  • No signup
  • Free
Play

One tile is a slightly different colour. Find it.

How it works

  1. Tap to start. A grid of coloured tiles appears.

  2. One tile is a slightly different shade. Tap it before the time runs out.

  3. The grid grows and the difference shrinks. 3 misses end the run.

The colour difference is the whole puzzle, so this game can't be played without seeing the tiles. The odd tile differs only in lightness, never in hue, so it doesn't depend on telling colours apart.

This is a game, not a vision test. It says nothing about your eyesight or your health, and it is strongly affected by your screen and the light in the room.

What it measures, and what it doesn't

The game measures how small a difference in shade you can spot, quickly, among a grid of matching tiles. It's part fine visual judgment and part quick searching, and the searching gets harder as the grid fills up.

Your screen matters as much as your eyes. At the higher levels the difference is close to what many screens can show at all, and brightness, glare and the light in the room change how visible it is.

How the game works

  • Level 1 is a 2 by 2 grid. The grid grows by a row and a column every four levels, up to 6 by 6.
  • Each level, the odd tile gets closer in shade to the others, and every round uses a fresh color.
  • You have 9 seconds to find the odd tile at first, a little less each level, down to 4 seconds.
  • A wrong tap or running out of time costs a life, and the level replays with a new grid. You have three lives.
  • If you switch apps or tabs mid-round, the colors hide, the level replays and you lose nothing.
  • The game runs to level 30, and your score is the highest level you cleared.

Getting a fair result

  • Turn your screen brightness up and avoid glare from a window or a lamp.
  • Look at the grid as a whole and let the odd tile stand out, rather than checking tiles one by one.
  • Hold your phone straight on. Some screens shift in shade when viewed at an angle.
  • Compare scores on the same screen, since a different display can change your score.

Questions people ask

What's a good score?

Broad Strokes: level 7 or lower. Sharp Eye: levels 8 to 13. Fine Tuned: levels 14 to 20. Calibrated: levels 21 to 26. Unreasonable: level 27 or higher.

What does my score mean?

It's the highest level you cleared in one run. It moves with attention, tiredness and the device you play on, so treat it as a result for today, not a fixed fact about you.

Why is my score different on another screen?

Screen quality, brightness and the light in the room all change how visible the difference is. At the higher levels the gap is close to the limit of what many screens can show, so the same eyes can score differently on a phone and a laptop.

Can I play with a keyboard?

Yes. The arrow keys move between tiles, and Space or Enter picks one.

Why does the color change every round?

A fresh color each round means you can't simply learn one shade. The colors are built in a color space designed so that equal steps in lightness look about equally different, whatever the color, so every round at a level is equally hard.

Does it work if I see colors differently?

The odd tile differs only in lightness, not in hue, so the game is designed not to depend on telling colors apart.

Is anything stored?

Your best score is kept in this browser only, so we can show it next time. Nothing is sent anywhere.

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