026
Say the Color, Not the Word
A browser party game that proves your own brain works against you.
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Your brain reads words automatically. That is the problem. It is also why this game is so hard.
The Stroop effect is psychology's most famous demonstration of cognitive interference. Show someone the word red printed in blue ink and ask them to name the color. Watch them hesitate. Reading fires before thinking can stop it.
In January twenty twenty-six, I built a browser game around that hesitation. Color words appear in mismatched ink. A timer counts down. Scoring tracks how well you override the reflex. Plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, vibe-coded with AI.
Pull it up at a gathering. Everyone gets it immediately. Everyone struggles just as fast. Instant shared humility is worth building for.
Narrated in my own cloned voice, generated with ElevenLabs v4.
The Stroop effect is one of psychology’s most famous demonstrations of cognitive interference. Show someone the word RED printed in blue ink and ask them to say the ink color. They hesitate. Reading is automatic. It fires before you can stop it, and that reflex collides with what you’re being asked to do. The hesitation is the effect.
In January 2026, I vibe-coded a game around it. Color words like RED, BLUE and GREEN appear in mismatched ink. Your job is to say the ink color, not read the word. It sounds simple until the clock starts.
Timed rounds keep the pressure on. Scoring tracks how well you override the reflex. The interface is clean: one browser window, no downloads, no accounts, nothing to install. Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
It’s the kind of thing you pull up at a gathering and everyone immediately gets.
It’s launched.
The making
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript