Sort It
Sort It is a puzzle with no randomness in it at all. The tubes are laid out the same way every time you open a level, the solution exists before you make your first move, and nothing you do changes what is possible except the order you do it in.
That makes it unusual company on a games site. There is no clock, no score, no opponent and no luck. Either you find the sequence or you do not, and when you fail it is because you spent a tube you needed, not because the game moved.
The early levels are pleasant and take under a minute. Somewhere around level thirty they stop being pleasant, and the reason is always the same: one move made twenty moves ago.
How to play Sort It
Tubes hold stacked coloured balls. You move them one at a time.
- Click a tube to lift the ball on top of it.
- Click another tube to drop it there.
- A ball can only land on a ball of the same colour, or into an empty tube.
- Several of the same colour on top move together as a block.
- A level is solved when every tube holds one colour and nothing else.
The empty tube is everything
An empty tube accepts any colour. It is the only place in the game where you can put something without committing to it.
Which means an empty tube is not storage, it is a move you have not made yet. Fill it with a ball you have nowhere else to put and you have converted your one flexible option into another fixed one, usually without noticing.
Why levels become unsolvable
Nothing in the game tells you when a level has become impossible. There is no message and no lockout. You simply keep playing a position that cannot be finished.
That is why restart exists and why using it early is correct. Twenty moves into a dead position, the only thing you are doing is confirming it.
Tips and strategy
Work backwards from the colours that are nearly done
Find the colour with the most balls already together in one tube. Completing it frees that tube entirely, and a freed tube is worth more than any single good move.
Chase completion, not tidiness. Moving one ball to a slightly better place achieves nothing if it does not finish something.
Count before you pour
Every colour has a fixed number of balls, usually four. Before moving anything into a tube, count how many of that colour are already there and how many are still buried elsewhere.
If a tube has three greens and the fourth is at the bottom of a stack under three other colours, that tube is not nearly finished. It is blocked, and treating it as nearly finished is how people spend their empty tube on the wrong thing.
Rules that keep positions alive
- Never put the last ball of a colour into a tube that already has a different colour under it.
- Never fill your only empty tube unless the move completes something.
- Prefer moving a block of two or three over moving a single ball. Blocks make progress, singles usually just relocate the problem.
- If a move is reversible, it is safe to test. If it buries something, work it out first.
When you are stuck
- Look for any colour that can be completed in one move. Do it.
- Look for any move that empties a tube completely. Do that next.
- If neither exists, look at what is under your top balls rather than at the tops themselves.
- If nothing opens, restart. You are in a dead position and no amount of looking changes it.
Pace
There is no timer, which people treat as permission to move quickly. It is the opposite. A game with no time pressure and no luck is a game where every mistake is entirely yours, and the only way to avoid them is to look before touching anything.
The players who finish the late levels are not faster. They make fewer moves.
Reading a level before touching it
The layout at the start contains everything you need to know, and thirty seconds spent on it beats five minutes of experimenting.
Count the colours. Count the tubes. The difference between those two numbers is how much slack you have, and on the hard levels it is one, sometimes zero.
Then find the tube that is closest to being a single colour, and the tube that is the most mixed. The first is where progress comes from. The second is the one you will have to dismantle, and knowing that early stops you from pouring anything into it out of convenience.
Similar puzzles here
Free The Key and Tangram share the property that the answer is fixed before you start. 2048 Legend is the version where one careless move ruins a good position. More in puzzle.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the goal in Sort It?
To end with every tube holding balls of a single colour. Balls can only be placed on the same colour or into an empty tube.
Is there a time limit?
No. There is no clock, no score and no randomness, so the only thing that decides a level is the order of your moves.
Why can I not finish a level?
Because a position can become unsolvable without any warning. If no move completes a colour or empties a tube, restart rather than continuing.
What should I do with an empty tube?
Treat it as your only flexible move and spend it on something that completes a colour. Using it as storage is the most common way to lose a level.
Can I move several balls at once?
Yes, if they are the same colour and stacked on top of each other, they move together as a block.
Is Sort It free?
Yes, free in the browser with nothing to install and no account.