Colorblind modes change game colors to make information easier to distinguish. Good designs also add shapes, icons, or labels, because a palette change alone may not help everyone.
Colorblind Modes in Games: What They Do and When They Don't Help
Short answer
A colorblind mode changes the colors a game uses so that information carried by color stays distinguishable — usually by shifting hues away from the red-green axis, sometimes by adding shapes, icons or labels. The good implementations add a second cue rather than only swapping palettes, because a recolored red-green pair is still one cue. Where a game offers no option, a system-level color filter or a camera filter can help, and for physical board games the usual fix is marking the pieces yourself.
Reviewed July 26, 2026
What a colorblind mode actually changes
At minimum, it remaps the palette. A game that uses red and green for two teams shifts one of them toward blue or orange, moving the pair off the confusion axis so a red-green deficient player can separate them. Most modes offer presets named after the deficiency types — protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia — because the optimal shift differs for each.
The better implementations go further and add a second, non-color cue: a shape on a minimap icon, a pattern on a team marker, a number beside a resource, an outline weight. This matters because palette remapping only helps if the new colors suit your particular deficiency, whereas a shape works for everyone including players with strong or total color blindness.
That is the practical test of a good mode. If turning it on only changes hues, it is a partial fix. If it also changes what information is carried by, it is a real one.
Where color-coded games get hardest
Competitive games with team colors are the classic problem: red versus green health bars, team outlines, and minimap dots all in a hue pair that a red-green deficient player cannot separate at a glance. Racing games add color-coded item and position indicators to the same pile — a frequent complaint about kart racers in particular, where items and player markers are read in a fraction of a second.
Puzzle and deduction games are the other hard category, because color is often the entire game state. Code-breaking games built on colored pegs, matching puzzles, and card games that separate suits by color alone leave nothing to fall back on. That is also why they respond so well to a low-tech fix.
Board and card games are the least accessible of all, since there is no settings menu. Card games that use four colors are a common frustration; the usual solution among color blind players is a permanent marker and a small symbol in the corner of each card, or a set with symbols printed on it.
What to do when there's no colorblind mode
Start with the operating system. Windows, macOS, iOS and Android all include system-level color filters intended for color vision deficiency, and they apply to everything on screen including games with no accessibility options of their own. Console platforms have added similar filters at the system level.
For a physical game, a phone camera filter is the fastest route: point it at the board and read the transcoded view. Our color blind filter does this in the browser with a live camera, including a high-contrast mode built for reading color-coded material. Marking the pieces themselves is the permanent fix — a small symbol per color turns a color-only game into a color-plus-symbol one for good.
It is also worth asking the developer. Accessibility options in games have improved substantially, largely because players kept requesting them, and a specific request naming the exact screen and color pair is far more actionable than a general one.
Frequently asked questions
- What does colorblind mode do in games?
- It changes the colors the game uses so that information carried by color stays distinguishable — typically shifting hues away from the red-green confusion axis, with presets for protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia. Better implementations also add shapes, icons or labels so the information does not depend on color at all.
- Does colorblind mode actually help?
- It depends how it is built. Palette remapping helps if the new colors suit your particular deficiency, which is why the type presets exist. Modes that add a second cue — a shape, pattern, or label — help everyone, including players with strong or total color blindness, and are the more reliable design.
- How do color blind people play card and board games?
- Usually by adding a non-color cue themselves: a small symbol drawn in the corner of each card, textured stickers on pieces, or a set that prints symbols alongside colors. A phone or browser color filter also works for reading a board without permanently marking it.
- Is there a colorblind setting on consoles and phones?
- Yes. Windows, macOS, iOS and Android all include system-level color filters for color vision deficiency, and the major consoles have added similar options. They apply to everything on screen, which makes them useful for games that offer no accessibility settings of their own.
Related
Informational only, not medical advice. If you have concerns about your color vision, see an eye-care professional.