Two players decide who goes first, generally the challenger. To play, each player selects seven colours from a store of 45 tiles. Starting player places the color of choice from the seven anywhere on the grid of nine empty squares. Second player responds with their color, placing it on any on any available space on the grid. Players continue until board is filled. Earlier Color Match games allowed players a choice of ten color tiles from a store of 100.
The above Color Match game between Janis Demkin and Micah Lexier was one of twelve games played at a Drake Hotel tournament on March 26, 2009. The 100 colors employed at this time were standard digital hues drawn from a color matching system. In the same tournament below is the game played between Nancy Parke-Taylor and Earl Miller.