Color Psychology in Online Casino Games Design

We know that land-based casinos use a variety of tactics to keep customers inside and encourage them to play more. Most of these tactics are based on smart design tricks. For example, casinos do not have windows, and there are no clocks on their walls. This is because of the feeling of time: when you step in a casino, the time stands still. But simple design tricks aren’t the only tool casinos use. They also get help from psychology and visual stimuli to increase your gaming time and even raise your bet amounts. This also applies to online casinos. In fact, we can even say that they make more use of psychological tactics because they do not have a physical presence: They have to be content with visual stimuli. The use of colors, in this regard, is one of the most common tactics used by online casinos.

This is because colors have a real impact on human psychology. Certain shades trigger certain emotions. The best example of this is traffic lights: All over the world, these lamps use red, yellow, and green. While red means a universal warning, yellow attracts a lot of attention. Green, on the other hand, shows that everything is fine. In other words, our responses to colors are the same even in different cultures. People living on two different sides of the world always perceive red as a warning. In short, we react to certain colors, and mostly we cannot control this. Our brain reacts instinctively as soon as we see these shades.

Online casinos simply encourage us to play longer and spend more using this psychological response. They aren’t the only ones doing this. All purchasing services offered online use similar tricks. So, what are these tricks? What are the main colors used in online casino games, and what are their effects on our psychology? We answer this question and more below.

Red, Yellow, and Green

The most common colors used in online slot machines such as Jammin Jars free play are red, yellow, and green. We can say that this is a universal rule because all of these colors are used to attract attention and give a message. And this is what slot machines need: to attract attention. We have mentioned above that these colors are also used in traffic lights. The reason they are used in slot machines is the same: your brain is programmed to react to these colors in a certain way. This means:

• Red gives your brain a stop message. If you are looking at a webpage with many games, you pay more attention to games that use red.
• Yellow enhances this effect. Since it is a color that draws our attention, it gives a “stop and look here” message when used with red.
• Green, on the other hand, increases the likelihood of clicking on that game because it means “continue” universally.

In other words, the first two colors are used to attract our attention, and green color is used to encourage us to pick that game. Although this is a simple design, it is effective. These three basic shades mean the same all over the world and produce the same results.

Let’s give another interesting piece of information: Have you noticed that in progressive slots, the jackpot information is almost always shown on the left and above? This is because of our reading habits. A study conducted by Jakob Nielsen in 2009 has reached interesting results. According to this research:

• When reading printed publications such as newspapers and books, we start from the top left corner of the page and follow a Z pattern.
• When reading digital content like web pages, we start again from the top left corner of the page, but this time we follow an F pattern. In other words, the content in the upper left corner attracts our attention the most.

For this reason, something that is desired to attract our attention in online games is almost always placed in the upper left corner.

Basic Color Shades and Their Effects

We can say that online casino games (in general, all games) avoid using cool colors. Most of these colors have a calming effect, and some special shades can even create a depressive effect. Warm colors are the primary choice of almost all games. In this respect, red and shades are the most used in the game interfaces.

In other words, red is used not only to attract your attention but also to encourage you to continue playing. This color has a surprising effect on human psychology. It aggresses us and leads us to take unnecessary risks. Some clinical trials have shown that the athletes performing training in red rooms have improved performance. However, it has the opposite effect in jobs that require a mental effort. There are studies showing that students’ performance decreases by almost 20% in exams using red color.

In short, red is a color that enhances physical performance but damages the mental decision-making process and even causes us to take unnecessary risks. Using it in online casino games causes us to continue increasing the stakes and continue to play even if our bankroll is low.

Smart, isn’t it? For this purpose, of course, other colors are used, but none are as effective as red. Speaking of other colors, you can see the most used colors in online casino games and their psychological effects in the table below.

Gray and silver are almost never used in online casino games. Gray is a subtle color and does not attract attention. Silver, on the other hand, is a color that is identified with high-tech products, and although, it is a good choice for such products, it is not suitable for games that appeal to a large player community. In general, the most commonly used colors in online casino games, including red, are listed above. It is possible to create the desired effect by using them in different proportions. To give a simple example:

• When you win, the amount of the award is displayed in blue. In this way, you do not have a question mark in mind that the payment will be made or not.
• The amount of balance displayed on the interface is green. It both relaxes you and ensures that money comes to your mind when you look at it.
• Most of the interface is black to create a rich and luxurious effect.
• Buttons you need to click are designed in yellow or orange. This way, you are much more likely to click on them.

This is, of course, a simple example, but it does have an idea of ​​how colors work. As long as the correct colors are used, it is possible to manipulate players to a certain extent. But this also has certain limits. They are not strong enough to turn you into someone you are not.

Colors Are Not Magical Things

However, one should not see colors as things that have magical effects. So colors cannot turn you into a “mindless robot”. They just encourage you to take certain actions. You still decide whether to take these actions or not. If you are a player who normally spends only $100 on casino games, you will not feel the need to increase your budget to $1,000 just because of the colors, you can be sure of that. Or the colors won’t turn you into a problem gambler. They have no effect other than encouraging you for what you already intend to do, and depending on how strong your will is, this effect only works to a limited extent. In short, you cannot put the blame on colors: It is still you who makes the decisions.

Online casino game developers have simple goals. They want you to pay attention to their own games among hundreds of options. They want you to spend some more time in their games and, for example, make two more spins. They use colors for these purposes, and we can say that they are successful. Colors really help them to create an impression. However, they do not turn you into a completely different person. What they do is no different from the tactics that all other companies use to market their new products.