False Start

About this test

Measuring a reaction time is simple: a signal appears, you press, you count milliseconds. What makes the exercise interesting is adding signals you must not press on. The game then becomes a test of restraint as much as speed, because the fastest way to press is to anticipate, and anticipation is exactly what the traps punish.

Two traps are mixed in with the normal starts. The first is an amber light that stays up for about a second: you have to watch it pass without moving a finger. The second is a very brief green that snaps straight back to red, and that one catches everyone at least once. Either way, reacting costs a life, and there are only three for ten rounds.

Two caveats for reading your score. First, your screen and browser latency is added to yours: expect several tens of milliseconds that are not yours, especially on a low refresh rate display. Second, a very low time earned while burning lives on the traps does not mean much — it is the combination that makes a good player.

How it works

A run is ten rounds and three lives. Each round lights three reds in sequence, then waits a variable delay before revealing the signal. Jumping on a trap, or failing to react within two seconds, costs a life; the run ends at the tenth round or the third life lost. Your score is the average of valid reactions: six hundred milliseconds scores zero out of a hundred, one hundred and eighty scores one hundred.