Color Sort

About Color Sort

Color Sort is a calm pouring puzzle. Each test tube holds four layers of coloured liquid, all mixed up. Pour from tube to tube until every tube holds a single colour. The levels never run out: they start with three colours and climb to twelve, and every one is checked by a solver before you see it.

Also called: water sort puzzle, ball sort, liquid sort.

How to play Color Sort

1. Tap a tube to pick it up. Tap another tube to pour into it.
2. You can pour onto the same colour, or into an empty tube.
3. The whole top layer of that colour pours at once, as much as fits. Whatever does not fit stays behind.
4. When a tube is full of one colour it gets a cork. Cork every colour to clear the level.
5. Stuck? Undo as often as you like, or add the one spare tube each level allows.

Rules

• A tube holds four units of liquid.
• You may pour only onto a matching top colour or into an empty tube, and never into a full tube.
• The level is sorted when every tube is either empty or full of one colour.
• Every pour counts toward your stars, including pours you later undo.
• Three stars: finish in par (the solver's pour count) or fewer, without the spare tube. Two stars: a few pours over par, or with the spare tube. One star: any finish.

Color Sort tips and strategy

• Keep an empty tube free as long as you can. It is your working space, and filling it early often traps you.
• Look for colours that are already near the top of several tubes. Gathering those first opens up the rest.
• Before pouring into an empty tube, check where the next layer underneath will go.
• A pour that only moves part of a layer can still be useful: it frees the tube below it.
• If you are going round in circles, undo back to the last point that felt good rather than restarting.