How to play
- Press StartThe panel turns red. Keep your hands still.
- Wait for greenIt changes at a random moment between 1.5 and 7 seconds.
- Click the instant it changesClicking while it is still red voids the round.
- Do it five timesYour score is the median of the five rounds.
What this test measures
This is a simple reaction time test. You already know what the signal looks like and what to do when it comes. So the only thing timed is how long your eyes and hand take to answer it. There is no choice to make.
Your score is the median of five rounds, not the average. Say you look away once and that round comes in at 500 ms. It drags an average a long way, but it barely moves the median. Your best round is shown too, because it is fun to see. Still, we think the median is the number closest to your real speed.
The wait before green is wide and random for a similar reason. It stops people from counting a rhythm and clicking early.
What counts as a good reaction time
On this screen, with browser delay included, a typical adult scores around 280 to 300 ms. The badge on your result follows this table.
| Screen median | Badge | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Under 150 | Superhuman | Hard to reach by actually reacting to the screen. Suspect an early click or an unusually fast setup. |
| 150-179 | Pro tier | Right at the edge of what people can do. |
| 180-209 | Skilled | Clearly fast. |
| 210-289 | Standard | Where most healthy adults land. |
| 290-359 | Warming up | Slower than typical. Usually short sleep or a slow device. |
| 360+ | Needs practice | Most likely fatigue, a laggy setup or a background tab. |
You may have heard that people react in about 200 ms. That is a lab number, with the equipment delay taken out. So if you see 300 ms here, take away roughly 80 ms of device delay. That leaves about 220 ms, close to the lab average of 213 ms, which is not slow at all. Our guide to what a good reaction time is walks through every band in more detail.
Real scores recorded on this site
So far, 708 runs of this test have been recorded here. Computers and phones score quite differently, so each gets its own table.
Computer (mouse)
| Range | Share |
|---|---|
| Under 150 · Superhuman | |
| 150-179 · Pro tier | |
| 180-209 · Skilled | |
| 210-289 · Standard | |
| 290-359 · Warming up | |
| 360+ · Needs practice |
Phone (touch)
| Range | Share |
|---|---|
| Under 150 · Superhuman | |
| 150-179 · Pro tier | |
| 180-209 · Skilled | |
| 210-289 · Standard | |
| 290-359 · Warming up | |
| 360+ · Needs practice |
Every finished run counts, so someone who plays five times adds five runs. The numbers are recounted every day, and a device table shows up once it passes 30 runs. Last updated: 1 Nov 2026.
The science
The study we lean on is Woods and colleagues (2015). They measured simple reaction time in 1,469 adults aged 18 to 65. The average was 231 ms. Once the researchers removed the 17.8 ms their own equipment added, it was 213 ms (standard deviation 26.8 ms).
Age matters less than most people expect. Reaction time slowed by about 0.55 ms per year of age, so the average 60-year-old is only about 22 ms slower than the average 20-year-old. That is less than one person's swing from round to round. Large browser datasets show a steeper slope, and the guide to average reaction time by age explains why.
Browsers add delay on top of all this. Anwyl-Irvine and colleagues (2021) measured 71 to 87 ms of added delay across online testing setups. The catch is that this delay differs by tens of milliseconds between devices. One flat 80 ms correction would flatter fast machines and shortchange slow ones. So the result screen shows your own trend on your own device instead.
Why your score jumps around
Getting a different number every run is normal. Woods and colleagues found that one person's trials swing by about 40 ms around their own average. On top of that, the moment your screen redraws and the moment your system handles the click shift a little each time. Five rounds cannot remove all of that. We think they are enough for a median you can trust, though.
How to improve it
Not by much. Simple reaction time is a fairly stable trait, and most gains come from better measuring conditions. Here are the conditions you can control:
Sleep
Reaction-time tasks are a standard lab measure of sleep loss. Test while exhausted and you are measuring the exhaustion.
Caffeine timing
If you drink coffee every day, your normal state is after your usual cup, so test then. Testing at the same time of day matters more than the dose.
Warm up
Your first run is often the slowest. Early gains mostly come from getting used to the panel and the click.
Finger on the button
Rest your finger on the mouse button or hold your thumb just above the screen. Any distance your finger travels adds time.
Refresh rate
A 60 Hz screen redraws every 16.7 ms, so green can show up late. At 144 Hz or more that wait shrinks. Your displayed score improves while you stay the same.
If you are tracking progress, compare the medians of complete five-round runs on different days.
Frequently asked questions
Why was my round voided as "too soon"?
You clicked while the panel was still red. That means you guessed when it would change instead of reacting to it, and even a lucky guess says nothing about your reaction time. The 1.5 to 7 second wait is that wide to make guessing pointless.
I clicked after the green appeared. Why was it still voided?
Because it was under 100 ms. Light has to reach your eye, the signal has to cross your brain, and the command has to reach your finger. That alone takes more than a tenth of a second, so a faster click cannot be an answer to the signal. Athletics uses the same line for false starts. Anything above it counts, however fast.
Why is my phone slower than my computer?
Touchscreens process your tap through their own circuits before the page hears about it, so phones usually add more delay than a mouse. The phone vs mouse reaction time guide compares measured phone delay with desktop figures and explains which score to trust.
Why is my score faster here than on other reaction sites?
Sites stop the clock at different moments. This test records the moment you press. Many others wait until you release, and a press and release takes about 60 to 100 ms. Scoring differs too. A median shrugs off one fumbled round, while an average mixes it in. Neither way is wrong, so compare your own progress within one site, not numbers across sites.
Why will the test not start in a background tab?
Browsers slow down timers in tabs you are not looking at to save battery. A measurement taken then would time the browser, not you, so the test waits until the tab is visible again.
All tests
- Reaction Time TestClick the moment the panel turns green. Five rounds, median scored.
- Aim TestThirty targets, one at a time. Average time and accuracy.
- Number Memory TestA number flashes, then you type it back. One digit longer each round.
- Sequence Memory TestSquares light up in order. Repeat the pattern as it grows.
- Visual Memory TestSquares flash all at once. Find every one, in any order.
- Chimp TestNumbers flash, then hide. Click them in order.
- Verbal Memory TestWords appear one at a time. Call each one SEEN or NEW.
- Color Match TestOne tile is a slightly different shade. The gap shrinks every level.
- Focus TestFind 1 to 25 on a scrambled grid, in order, as fast as you can.
- Stroop TestPick the color of the ink, not the word it spells.
- 10 Second ChallengeThe clock hides after 3 seconds. Stop it at exactly 10.00.
- Typing Speed TestCopy the sentence for 30 seconds. Only correct letters count.
- F1 Reaction TestGo the instant the five red lights go out, like a real Formula 1 start.
Related guides: What is a good reaction time? · Reaction time on a phone vs a mouse