Sort Puzzle

Sort Puzzle is a calm colour-sorting game in two styles. In Water Sort you pour coloured liquid between glass tubes; in Nut Sort you spin coloured nuts from one bolt to another. The goal is the same in both: finish with every tube or bolt holding a single colour. Levels take about a minute, there is no timer, and you can stop mid-level and pick it up later where you left off.

How to play

• Tap a tube to pick it up, then tap another tube to pour into it. Tap the same tube again to put it down.
• Only the top colour moves, and all of the touching layers of that colour move together.
• You can pour onto the same colour or into an empty tube, never onto a different colour.
• A pour stops when the receiving tube is full, so part of a run may stay behind.
• When a tube holds one colour all the way to the top it gets a cork, and when every tube is corked or empty the level is solved.

Nut Sort works the same way: the top nuts of one colour spin off their bolt and onto another bolt whose top nut matches, or onto an empty bolt. On a keyboard, press the number keys to pick tubes, or use the arrow keys and Enter; U undoes, H asks for a hint and R restarts.

Levels, stars and the daily

There are hundreds of levels in each style. Every level is checked by a solver before you see it, so it can always be finished, and the solver also works out the fewest moves it can be done in. Match that number for three stars; a few moves more earns two. New colours arrive as you go, and every ten levels mix in tight boards with one spare tube, taller tubes, a breather and a harder challenge. The daily level is the same for everyone each day and alternates between water and nuts, so you can compare your move count with friends.

Tools

Undo is free and unlimited, and Restart puts the board back to the start. Each level gives you three free hints that show the next move toward a solution; after that you can watch a short ad for another. Once per level you can also watch an ad for an extra empty tube, which always makes the level easier. Colour symbols add a shape to every colour, which helps if some colours look alike to you.

Tips

Keep an empty tube free for as long as you can: it is your most useful space. Before pouring, look at what sits under the top layer, because uncovering a colour you can join somewhere else is often worth more than the pour itself. Collect each colour in one tube rather than spreading it over two, and if a board feels stuck, undo a few moves and try a different first pour.