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For this puzzle I've made, guess what is the missing color. You can't use a computer to find the solution. But once you know you have it, you are allowed to use a computer, mostly to select a RGB color. I insist on the no-computers tag: it is way too easy if you are able to search on web :)

enter image description here

Hint 1 — 8th of July 2020

Most probably you already saw this set of colors. Moreover, if you saw it, I would bet you saw it first in your childhood.

Hint 2 — 18th of February 2022

I completely forgot this puzzle and decided to give another hint today.

This set of colors was introduced in 1935, before modern computers and is still visible from time to time nowadays. More exactly, here are the original colors in 1935, they have slightly changed at several occasions but the idea remains the same! enter image description here One color is missing, the same as in the question mark above! Having this hint in mind, I am adding the history tag :)

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    $\begingroup$ I don't think the no-computers tag says you can't search the internet, it seems to say you can't write or use a program to calculate the answer $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ @SteveV, thank you for your remark, maybe what I want can be put in "no online decovers"? I wanted that people do not reverse search the colors and the image I used. Is it possible in Puzzling.SE $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 19:50
  • $\begingroup$ The eighth color? Octarine of course! $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 28, 2025 at 18:03

4 Answers 4

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Oh, I finally see this and wonder how I didn't sooner! The missing colour is:

Brown

i.e. brown.

Because these are all:

the colours of the property sets on a Monopoly board!

Monopoly board

In fact, when the board is oriented as in the diagram above, the pairings of the colours as presented in the question can be seen starting in the middle at the top and taking one from each side working down the image.

The missing colour is the brown of the properties in the UK version known as Old Kent Road and Whitechapel Road, and in the US version as Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue (although these have previously been dark purple in the past!).

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    $\begingroup$ Hahaha, that makes me love the community and want to give you a high five hahaha ;) Two years later :D $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 18, 2022 at 22:53
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    $\begingroup$ @JKHA I mean, you literally put those other 7 colours there in front of us, and in the right order and everything - how I didn't work this out earlier I do not know :) Glad to be able to put this one to rest! $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 18, 2022 at 22:55
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Using:

Colour theory

The left coloumn is:

The set of analogous and complementary colours to red

If the right column is also such a set, the missing colour is:

orange, an analogous colour of yellow, with the green being the other analogous and blue the complimentary

So what's this all about?

Human perception of colour is complex (involving both biology, physics and psychology). But understanding it is also needed for a wide range of things, such as art, design and printing. There are many ways of modelling colour, but in simple models, there's an "opposite colour" ("complementary colour"), providing sort of a "maximum contrast", and also "similar colours" ("analogous colours") that goes well with it. The model used here is probably some simple colour wheel.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is a good answer although it is not the one this puzzle needs. I can state it to you by asking, why would I prefer red and yellow? And why red on left and not blue on right? The missing color for this puzzle isn't Orange :) But +1 for the answer I didn't had before creating my puzzle :) Actually, I don't exclude your answer would help finding the true missing color ;) $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 22:51
  • $\begingroup$ How do you define analogous and complementary? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 8:52
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New Answer

Black

Because

I've been thinking this was a possibility since day 2, but had trouble linking the green and orange. However, It could work, but is a bit of a stretch. Yellow/Red and Dark Blue/Pink really made this work for me.

The colors correspond to the faces of prominent members of the Sesame Street cast.

My funny answer was cookie color but my real answer is
Black, like the color of Cookie Monster's mouth.

enter image description here

Hint and title - We learn colors as children from these types of shows, and I did first see these characters as a child.

Previous Answer

Violet or Purple

Because

The first thing I did was attempt to rearrange the colors into rainbow order. Violet was missing, Pink was added, and there were 2 blues. So, my first response was Violet. However, it wasn't enough to post an answer.

Then, the idea of rainbows brought me to Rainbow Pride Flags, a fairly common sight in today's world, after which I found this: First Rainbow Pride Flag.

If the darker blue is supposed to be indigo, then these colors are mostly the same: Pink,Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Blue,Indigo,Violet or the colors of the first Gay Pride Flag or Rainbow Flag.

If the darker blue is not supposed to be indigo, then disregard everything I wrote. (Except the Violet part)

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    $\begingroup$ +1 for the search but there are still some unknown after your answer and it's not the intended one :) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 15:55
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    $\begingroup$ I've been thinking along exactly the same lines as you on this one...! I'd been trying to associate each individual colour to a particular one, rather than pairing them up like this, but because the 'full set' isn't limited to just 8 I ended up shutting off this avenue of thought. Using them as pairs might just work though, but I'm not yet fully convinced by the precise shades of light blue and tan in your answer as present... Would love to hear from the OP if this is close (or spot on, in fact)! :) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 17, 2020 at 13:15
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    $\begingroup$ @Stiv, rit13(jr obgu xabj vg'f abg pbbxvr pbybe.) I think it's the bold. Colors are weird. Blue dress, white dress, it all depends on the light surrounding it. One and three just feel crazy right. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 17, 2020 at 13:22
  • $\begingroup$ @JKHA, I posted a new answer since your last comment. Are we any closer? Thanks - :) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 28, 2020 at 13:00
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The first thing that came to mind for me was...

candy, or more specifically those sour gummy worms. Viewing the two columns as the two halves of the worms checks out; some were red/yellow, some were orange/green, and some were pink/blue.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the missing color because...

the gummy worms I had growing up only came in those three color combinations! I'm struggling to think of any candy that included that shade of light blue.

Maybe someone else will be able to get the correct color from here.

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