Color Sort
Sort coloured balls into tubes so each tube contains only one colour. A satisfying logic puzzle!
How to play
- Click a tube to pick up its top ball (it highlights in orange).
- Click another tube to place the ball there — same colour only, or empty.
- Use the 2 empty buffer tubes strategically to untangle the colours.
- Win by filling each tube with a single colour from bottom to top.
Click a tube to select the top ball, then click another tube to place it. You can only place a ball on the same colour or into an empty tube. Sort all colours to win!
How it works
Color Sort is a logic puzzle where several tubes are partially filled with coloured balls stacked on top of each other. Your goal is to sort all balls so each tube contains only one colour from bottom to top.
On each move you pour the topmost ball or consecutive identically-coloured balls from one tube into another. You can only pour into a tube if its top ball matches the colour you are pouring, or if the tube is completely empty. Tubes cannot be overfilled beyond their capacity.
The challenge lies in planning several moves ahead because pouring one colour may inadvertently lock another colour underneath it. Empty tubes are invaluable as temporary holding spots and should be used strategically rather than spent early.
There is always at least one solution to each generated puzzle. If you get stuck, the Undo button lets you backtrack without restarting from scratch.
Worked example
Freeing a trapped colour
- Identify a colour that appears near the bottom of multiple tubes, making it hard to consolidate.
- Use an empty tube as a temporary buffer to move balls sitting above the target colour.
- Pour the now-exposed target colour into its destination tube.
- Move the buffered balls back out of the temporary tube to useful positions.
The previously trapped colour is consolidated, opening up further sorting moves.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Filling the only empty tube too early, eliminating your buffer and leaving no valid moves.
- Focusing on completing one colour to the exclusion of all others, allowing blockages to build elsewhere.
- Attempting to pour into a tube that already has a different colour on top, which the game will block.
Key terms
- Pour
- Transferring the top ball or a matching-colour stack from one tube to another.
- Buffer tube
- An empty tube used temporarily to hold balls out of the way while rearranging others.
- Locked ball
- A ball that cannot be moved because a ball of a different colour sits on top of it.
Frequently asked questions
- How many empty tubes are there?
- There are always 2 extra empty tubes as buffer space — use them strategically.
- Can I undo a move?
- Not directly — if you get stuck, use the Restart button to reset the puzzle.