Use full brightness, turn off night mode or blue-light filters, and look from a normal distance. This is a screening game, not a medical test.
About the Color Blindness Test
This free color blindness test shows you 9 round plates made of coloured dots. Inside each plate there is a number. Type the number you see, or press I see no number. At the end you get a score and a short result.
The plates check for red-green color vision deficiency, the most common kind. The dots of the number are orange and red. The dots around it are green and olive, at about the same lightness. Every dot is also made a little lighter or darker at random, so you cannot read the number from brightness. You can only see it by its colour.
The idea is the same as the well-known Ishihara plates, but these are our own plates, drawn in your browser. They are not the Ishihara plates, and the test is a screening game, not a diagnosis. Only an eye doctor or optometrist can tell you for sure.
Features
- 9 dot plates — round plates of coloured dots, each with a hidden number
- Red-green check — the plates test for the most common kind of color vision deficiency
- Screen check first — the first plate is easy for everyone, so you know your screen is OK
- New plates every time — random numbers and dots; press Start again with new plates
- Score and result — see how many plates you read right, and a short note on what it means
- See the answers — the real numbers are shown at the end, with a tick or a cross
- Private — the plates are drawn in your browser, and nothing is recorded or sent
How to use it
- Turn your screen to full brightness, and turn off night mode, dark filters and blue-light filters
- Sit at a normal distance from the screen, in a room with normal light
- Look at the plate and type the number in the box under What number do you see?
- Press Next (or Enter). If you see no number, press I see no number
- Do all 9 plates. The text above the plate shows Plate 1 of 9, Plate 2 of 9 and so on
- Read your score and the list of the right numbers
- Press Start again with new plates for a new set of random numbers
How the test works
- Plate 1 is a check plate. It shows the number 12 in blue on grey. Everyone should see it. If you cannot, the problem is the screen or the settings, not your eyes
- Plates 2 to 9 are red-green plates with a random number from 2 to 98. Half use orange on green, half use pink-red on green
- Two-digit numbers never end in 0 (so you will not see 10, 20 or 30)
- The plates are new every time, so you cannot learn the answers
What your score means
Your score counts plates 2 to 9, so the most is 8 / 8.
| Score | What the tool says |
|---|---|
| 7 or 8 of 8 | No sign of a red-green color vision deficiency |
| 4 to 6 of 8 | You missed some plates. This can be the screen, the light — or a mild red-green deficiency |
| 0 to 3 of 8 | You missed many plates. This is common with a red-green deficiency. An eye doctor can test you properly |
| Plate 1 missed | Check the screen brightness and colours and try again |
If your result is not clear, try again on a different screen, in daylight, with new plates.
About color blindness
Most people with "color blindness" still see colours. They mix up some of them, most often reds, greens, browns and oranges. The two red-green types are:
- Protan — the red-sensitive cones in the eye work weakly or not at all. Reds can look darker
- Deutan — the green-sensitive cones work weakly or not at all. This is the most common type
Red-green color vision deficiency is usually inherited and present from birth. It is much more common in men: about 1 in 12 men and about 1 in 200 women have it.
There is also a rare blue-yellow type (tritan). This test does not check for it.
Frequently asked questions
Am I color blind if I failed this test?
Not for sure. A screen, its colour settings, the room light and a filter like night mode can all change the colours. A low score is a good reason to see an eye doctor or optometrist for a proper test.
Is this the Ishihara test?
No. It works in the same way — a number made of coloured dots — but the plates are our own, drawn in your browser with random numbers. The real Ishihara test uses printed plates under good light, and an eye doctor reads the result.
Can this test tell protan from deutan?
No. It only checks for red-green color vision deficiency in general. It cannot tell the type or how strong it is. An eye doctor has tests for that.
Can color blindness be cured?
Inherited color blindness cannot be cured. Most people live with it without problems. Some special glasses make some colours easier to tell apart for some people, but they do not give normal colour vision.
Why can I see the number when my friend cannot?
That is how the plates work. People with normal colour vision see the orange-red number clearly against the green. For many people with a red-green deficiency the two colours look almost the same, so the number disappears.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Use full brightness and turn off night mode, eye-comfort mode and similar filters. A larger screen is a little easier.
Good to know
- This is not medical advice and not a diagnosis
- A changed colour vision later in life, or in one eye only, is different from inherited color blindness — see a doctor
- Nothing is recorded or sent. Your answers stay on this page
Related tools
- Color Contrast Checker — check text colours are easy to read
- Color Picker — pick a colour and get its HEX and RGB codes
- Image Color Picker — find the colours in a photo
- Screen Test — check your screen for dead pixels
- Reaction Time Test — how fast you react
