Ball Sort Puzzle

Quick start in 3 steps

1. Tap a tube. Its top ball (or top group of the same color) lifts up.
2. Tap another tube. The balls drop in if the top color matches or the tube is empty.
3. Sort until every tube holds one color. Then the next level opens.

What is Ball Sort Puzzle?

Ball Sort is a calm color puzzle for one player. You see some glass tubes. Each tube holds balls in mixed colors, and a few tubes are empty. Your job is simple: move the balls so that every tube holds only one color. It sounds easy, and the first levels are. But with more colors and less free space, you have to plan many moves ahead.

You play it free in your browser, on a phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to download and no account to make.

The rules

The setup

Every level has some full tubes with mixed colors and two empty tubes. In Classic mode each tube holds 4 balls. In Tall tubes mode each tube holds 6. Each color appears exactly as many times as a tube can hold, so every color fills exactly one tube in the end.

How a move works

• Only the top ball of a tube can move.
• If two or three balls of the same color sit on top of each other, they move together, as many as fit in the target tube.
• You can drop balls onto a ball of the same color, or into an empty tube.
• A full tube takes no more balls.
• Tap the same tube again to put the balls back down. Tap a different tube with mixed balls to choose it instead.

Winning

You win when every tube is either empty or full with one color. A finished tube glows gold. A window then shows your stars and moves.

Getting stuck

You are stuck when no move is possible, or when moves are left but none of them can lead to a win. The game checks this after every move with a quick computer search. When it is sure there is no way left, it says "Dead end" and offers Undo and Restart.

Every button explained

• ↶ Undo: takes back your last move. Unlimited and free. On a computer, Ctrl+Z works too.
• ⟲ Restart: puts the level back to the start.
• 💡 Hint: two tubes glow. Move from the first glowing tube to the second. A hint costs one star on this level.
• ＋ Extra tube: adds one empty tube, once per level. It makes the level much easier and costs one star.
• ⏭ Skip: jumps to the next level. Tap it twice to be sure. A skipped level gets no stars, but you can come back to it any time.
• ☰ Levels: shows all levels you reached, with your stars. Tap any number to play it again.
• ◆ Symbols: puts a shape on every ball, like ♥ ★ ▲. Great for color blindness or small screens.
• 🔊 Sound: turns the soft sounds on or off.

At the top you see the level, your moves on this level and your total stars.

The three modes

• Classic: 4 balls per tube. Level 1 has 3 colors. A new color comes every few levels, up to 12 colors.
• Tall tubes (hard): 6 balls per tube and up to 10 colors. Long tubes hide colors deep down, so you need more planning. Made for players who find normal ball sort too easy.
• Daily puzzle: one puzzle per day with 9 colors and 5 balls per tube. Everyone gets the same puzzle. A new one comes at midnight.

Stars

• ★★★ solved without hint and without extra tube. Undo and Restart are allowed.
• ★★ you used a hint or the extra tube.
• ★ you used both.

Your best stars for each level are kept. Play a level again to improve it.

What makes this version different

Many players love ball sort games, but they often complain about the same things. We read those complaints and built this game around them.

• Every level can be solved. Before you see a level, the game solves it itself. If it finds no way, it throws the level away and makes a new one. So no level is broken from the start, not at level 30 and not at level 3,000.
• It tells you when you are stuck, so you don't play for minutes in a dead end.
• Free help: Undo, Hint, Extra tube and Skip never wait behind an ad.
• No lost taps: tap as fast as you want. Every tap counts at once.
• A real hard mode and a daily puzzle.
• Symbols for players who can't tell some colors apart.

Tips to solve levels faster

1. Look before you tap

Take five seconds at the start. Find colors that are already near the top of several tubes. These are your easy first moves.

2. Keep an empty tube as long as you can

An empty tube is your most valuable tool. If you fill it with a mixed stack too early, you lose your freedom. Use it, then free it again.

3. Build one color at a time

Pick one color and collect all of it in one tube. A finished tube glows gold and you never touch it again.

4. Dig out buried colors

If a color you need is at the bottom, count the balls on top of it. Ask: where can these go? Plan that first.

5. Don't split a group without a reason

Two or three same balls on top of each other are already a small win. Moving only part of them often makes things harder.

6. Use Undo to test ideas

Not sure if a path works? Try it. If it looks bad after a few moves, undo. That is how strong players learn.

Where does ball sort come from?

Sorting puzzles are old. The famous Tower of Hanoi from the 1880s also moves pieces between rods with strict rules. Ball sort and its cousin "water sort" (with colored liquid in glasses) became very popular on phones around 2020. Their simple look and calm play made them one of the most downloaded puzzle types. Our version keeps the classic rules and adds the help features players kept asking for.

Is Ball Sort good for your brain?

A puzzle game is not medicine, and no game makes you a genius. But sorting puzzles train some useful skills in a gentle way:

• Planning ahead: you think two, three or more moves into the future.
• Working memory: you keep in mind where each color is hidden.
• Calm focus: there is no timer. Many people play it to relax after work or before sleep.
• Learning from mistakes: Undo makes mistakes cheap, so you try new ideas without stress.

It is a good game for kids from about 7 years, for adults, and for older people who want a simple, quiet brain game.

What the game can and cannot do

• It can promise that every level can be solved from the start.
• The hint uses a computer search. On very big, very mixed positions it may stop early. Then it asks you to undo a few moves or add a tube, instead of showing a wrong hint. The hint shows a path that works, not always the shortest one.
• The dead-end warning only appears when the game is sure. If it is not sure, it stays quiet.
• Your levels, stars and settings are saved only in this browser on this device. If you clear browser data or change phone, they are gone. Nothing is sent to us.

More brain games: Mahjong Garden, Nonogram, Crown Grid, Mühle.