Toon Tone Scoring Explained

How your color guesses are measured, what each slider contributes, and how to maximize your Toon Tone score.

The Scoring Formula

Every Toon Tone round scores your guess from 0 to 100 based on how closely your chosen color matches the hidden target. The formula uses a weighted distance across three HSB dimensions:

score = max(0, round(100 × (1 − weighted_distance)))

Where weighted distance is:

0.5 × (hue_diff / 180) + 0.25 × (sat_diff / 100) + 0.25 × (bri_diff / 100)

Weight Breakdown

Hue — 50% weight

Hue is the dominant factor. A 30° hue error costs more than a 20-point saturation miss. The hue difference is calculated as the shorter arc around the 360° color wheel, then normalized to a 0-1 range by dividing by 180.

Saturation — 25% weight

Saturation error is the absolute difference divided by 100. Being 20 points off in saturation costs the same as being 10° off in hue. This weighting reflects the fact that humans are less precise at judging vividness than color family.

Brightness — 25% weight

Brightness follows the same formula as saturation. It is weighted equally because brightness and saturation have similar perceptual impact in the context of cartoon-style colors.

Score Ranges

  • 95-100: Near-perfect match. Your color memory is exceptional for this round.
  • 80-94: Excellent. You nailed the family and were close on intensity and value.
  • 60-79: Good. The color family was right but at least one dimension was notably off.
  • 40-59: Fair. You likely got the general area but missed significantly on one or more sliders.
  • 0-39: The guess was far from the target. Review the reveal to identify which dimension was most off.

Total Score

A full Toon Tone game has 5 rounds. Your total score is the sum of all round scores, ranging from 0 to 500.

  • 450+: Elite color perception.
  • 400-449: Excellent — well above average.
  • 300-399: Solid performance with room to grow.
  • 200-299: Average. Regular practice will push this up quickly.
  • Under 200: Just starting out. Focus on hue first.

Why HSB Instead of Delta E?

Some color games use CIEDE2000 (Delta E) for scoring, which measures perceptual color distance in the CIELAB color space. While Delta E is more technically accurate, HSB scoring has advantages for a game context:

  • Players can directly see which slider was off and by how much.
  • The three-slider interface maps 1:1 to the scoring dimensions.
  • Learning is faster because feedback is transparent and actionable.

Toon Tone prioritizes teachability over laboratory precision. The goal is to help players improve their color perception, not to produce research-grade measurements.

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