Swatchsmith

Dial in a colour to match a reference, switching between RGB, HSL, and CMYK slider sets to expose the error each model hides.

How to play

Tune sliders until your swatch matches the reference. The trick is that each colour model reveals different error — switching schemes is how you close the last gap.

• Adjust the sliders for the active scheme to move your colour toward the target.
• Switch between RGB, HSL, and CMYK; each makes a different kind of mismatch obvious.
• Toggle press-check to see how the colour prints on paper — vivid colours shift most at the gamut limit.
• Submit when the gap is within tolerance; precision, speed, and using multiple schemes all boost your score.

Controls

• Desktop: drag sliders, click scheme/difficulty buttons, Press-check, and Submit match.
• Phone & tablet: drag sliders and tap buttons — touch-friendly.

Game modes

• Daily and Practice seeds across Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty.

Tips & strategy

• Get close in RGB, then flip to HSL to fix hue and lightness independently.
• Switching schemes is rewarded — exploring them is both faster and worth bonus points.

What you'll learn

Swatchsmith teaches how RGB, HSL and CMYK describe the same colour differently, and why print gamut matters.

• Skills: colour models (RGB, HSL, CMYK), colour gamut, digital colour
• Best for: teens and up (designers)
• For parents & teachers: how digital and print colour models differ.

About Swatchsmith

Swatchsmith teaches how RGB, HSL, and CMYK describe the same colour differently, and why print gamut matters. It is an original, free browser game built in-house.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium — no download, no install. Browse all games →