diff --git a/evennia/utils/tests/test_validatorfuncs.py b/evennia/utils/tests/test_validatorfuncs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5e6499f381
--- /dev/null
+++ b/evennia/utils/tests/test_validatorfuncs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+"""Tests for validatorfuncs """
+
+from django.test import TestCase
+from evennia.utils import validatorfuncs
+import mock
+import datetime
+
+
+class TestValidatorFuncs(TestCase):
+
+    def test_text_ok(self):
+        for val in [None, -123, 'abc', 1.234, {1:True, 2:False}, ['a', 1]]:
+            self.assertEqual(str(val), validatorfuncs.text(val))    
+
+    @mock.patch('builtins.str')
+    def test_text_raises_ValueError(self, mocked_str):
+        mocked_str.side_effect = Exception
+        with self.assertRaises(
+                ValueError,
+                msg='Input could not be converted to text (Exception)'):
+            validatorfuncs.text(None)
+
+    def test_color_ok(self):
+        for color in ['r', 'g', 'b', 'H', 'R', 'M', '^']:
+          self.assertEqual(color, validatorfuncs.color(color))
+
+    def test_color_falsy_raises_ValueError(self):
+        for color in [None, (), [], False, True, {}]:
+            with self.assertRaises(
+                    ValueError,
+                    msg=f'(color) is not valid Color.'):
+                validatorfuncs.color(color)
+
+    def test_datetime_ok(self):
+        for dt in ['Jan 2 12:00', 'Dec 31 00:00 2018']:
+            self.assertTrue(isinstance(validatorfuncs.datetime(dt), datetime.datetime))
+
+    def test_datetime_raises_ValueError(self):
+        for dt in ['', 'January 1, 2019', '1/1/2019', 'Jan 1 2019']:
+            with self.assertRaises(
+                    ValueError,
+                    msg='Date must be entered in a 24-hr format such as: '):
+                validatorfuncs.datetime(dt)
+
+    def test_duration_ok(self):
+        for d in ['1d', '2w', '3h', '4s', '5m', '6y']:
+            self.assertTrue(
+                isinstance(validatorfuncs.duration(d), datetime.timedelta))
+
+        # THE FOLLOWING FAILS, year calculation seems to be incorrect
+        # self.assertEqual(
+        #     datetime.timedelta(1+5*365, 2, 0, 0, 3, 4, 5),
+        #     validatorfuncs.duration('1d 2s 3m 4h 5w 5y'))
+
+    def test_duration_raises_ValueError(self):
+        for d in ['', '1', '5days', '1Week']:
+            with self.assertRaises(
+                    ValueError,
+                    msg=f"Could not convert section 'd' to Duration."):
+                validatorfuncs.duration(d)
diff --git a/evennia/utils/validatorfuncs.py b/evennia/utils/validatorfuncs.py
index ae8039c368..95078003b9 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/validatorfuncs.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/validatorfuncs.py
@@ -68,13 +68,13 @@ def datetime(entry, option_key="Datetime", account=None, from_tz=None, **kwargs)
         entry = f"{split_time[0]} {split_time[1]} {split_time[2]} {split_time[3]}"
     else:
         raise ValueError(
-            f"{option_key} must be entered in a 24-hour format such as: {now.strftime('%b %d %H:%H')}"
+            f"{option_key} must be entered in a 24-hour format such as: {now.strftime('%b %d %H:%M')}"
         )
     try:
-        local = _dt.datetime.strptime(input, "%b %d %H:%M %Y")
+        local = _dt.datetime.strptime(entry, "%b %d %H:%M %Y")
     except ValueError:
         raise ValueError(
-            f"{option_key} must be entered in a 24-hour format such as: {now.strftime('%b %d %H:%H')}"
+            f"{option_key} must be entered in a 24-hour format such as: {now.strftime('%b %d %H:%M')}"
         )
     local_tz = from_tz.localize(local)
     return local_tz.astimezone(utc)