Water Sort
Puzzle Games · 21 playsWater Sort
Pour coloured water between tubes until each tube is one colour from top to bottom, level by calm level.
Quick start
Choose the tube to pour from, then the tube that should receive the water. You can pour onto the same colour or into an empty tube, as long as there is room. The whole top band of one colour pours together, as much as will fit. Sort every colour into its own full tube to clear the level. Undo and restart are always there.
Controls: Tap or click
About this game
Water Sort is a gentle colour puzzle that is easy to begin and surprisingly hard to put down. A row of glass tubes holds stacked bands of coloured water, four bands to a full tube, all jumbled up. Pour from one tube into another to gather the colours together, until each tube holds just one colour or stands empty. Early levels have three colours and two spare tubes; a new colour joins every couple of levels, up to twelve, and the bigger puzzles get a third empty tube to keep things fair. There is no timer, and you can undo as often as you like. Free to play in your browser, with no download and no sign-up.
Each tube is a stack, and only the top counts
The idea that makes Water Sort click: every tube behaves like a stack of plates. Whatever went in last is the only thing you can take out, and whatever sits at the bottom stays there until everything above it has gone somewhere else. Each tube in our version holds exactly four bands of colour, never more.
When you lift a tube and tap another, the game looks at the colour on top of the tube you lifted. If the target is empty, or its top band is that same colour and there is room, the liquid flows. It brings along every band of that colour stacked on top, but only as many as the target can hold.
The game only lets you pick up a tube that still has sorting left in it. Tap an empty tube, or one sealed with four matching bands, and nothing rises. That seal is permanent, which is lovely, because a completed colour can never be knocked back into a mess. The level ends the moment nothing is left to sort: each tube holds four of one colour or nothing at all.
What each level deals you
A given level number always deals the same shuffle. When a deal comes out with a tube already complete, the game deals again, so you will almost never start with a free colour. New colours arrive steadily, one more every second level:
- Levels 1 to 2: four colours, six tubes in total (two of them empty).
- Levels 3 to 8: five, then six, then seven colours, still with only two empty tubes, so each new colour squeezes the board a little harder.
- Level 9 onwards: eight colours or more, and the game hands you a third empty tube to keep things fair.
- Level 17 and beyond: the full twelve colours, fifteen tubes on screen, and still three spares.
A worked situation: gathering a colour
Picture this little corner of a board, each tube read from the bottom up. Tube one: yellow, red, green, green. Tube two: red, blue, blue, green. Tube three: blue, yellow, yellow, with one space free. Plus one empty spare.
Green is the obvious target, with three of its four bands sitting on top. Tubes one and two are both full, so neither can take anything; the spare is the only place green can go. Pour tube one into the spare and both greens travel together in a single move. Then pour tube two’s green onto them. Two pours, three greens gathered, and two tubes now show new colours: red on tube one, a pair of blues on tube two.
Now be careful. Those two blues want to join tube three’s blue, but that blue is buried under two yellows. The patient move is to leave the blues where they are and go looking for the fourth green, so the spare can seal and stop being a liability. A spare holding one colour is half a win; a mixed spare is a problem you built yourself.
Reading the board from the floor up
Once the early levels feel easy, start solving from the bottom up rather than the top down. Ask which colour sits lowest in the most tubes, because that colour will be the last to finish. Every other colour has to be cleared off it first, so plan where those other colours will live while you dig.
Keep an eye on any tube down to its last band. One good pour turns it into a brand-new spare, and from Level 9 onwards, with eight or more colours crowding the screen, winning back an empty tube often matters more than tidying the colour you were chasing.
When two moves look equally good, choose the one that keeps your options open: the pour that leaves an empty tube untouched.
Habits that quietly lose levels
By the time the Stuck message shows up, the real mistake is usually several pours behind you. Watch for these:
- Pouring just because a pour is legal. A legal move that does not finish a colour, free a buried one, or empty a tube is usually a wasted spare slot.
- Looking only at tops. The bottom band of each tube is the last thing you will ever free, so glance at the floors first and notice which colours are trapped deepest.
- Tapping too quickly. If your second tap lands on a tube that cannot accept the pour, the game simply picks that tube up instead.
- Splitting a pair. Pouring two blues onto a target with one free slot leaves one blue behind. Often that scatters a colour you had together.
- Parking a colour in the spare when a matching top was already waiting elsewhere. Both pours are legal, but only one of them keeps your empty tube empty.
Playing for a tidy move count
Nothing in Water Sort counts down, and nobody will suggest a pour for you, so the only race is with yourself. The win screen tells you how many moves the level took, and your best level reached is remembered in this browser alongside your current board.
You can rewind as many pours as you like, but the Moves figure keeps climbing: an undone pour still counts. If you enjoy chasing a neat number, solve the level once however you like, then press Restart. You get the very same layout again with the counter back at zero, and this time you already know where the trouble hides.
Family tips
Empty tubes are your most valuable resource, so try not to tie one up with a lone band. When you do use a spare, choose a colour you can build on straight away, ideally one sitting on top of two or three other tubes, so the new tube fills quickly and gets finished.
Plan two pours at a time. Before pouring, ask what will be left on top of the tube you are pouring from, and whether that colour has anywhere to go next. A pour that uncovers something you can place right away is far better than one that simply moves the muddle around.
Colours trapped at the bottom of tubes take longest to sort, so start freeing them early. If the game says you are stuck, step back a few pours with undo rather than restarting; the slip is usually only two or three moves back. Each level is laid out the same way every time, so a restart lets you replay with what you have learned.
Questions about Water Sort
Why did only part of my colour pour across?
The target tube ran out of room. A pour carries every matching band from the top of your tube, but tubes hold four bands, so if the target had one free space only one band moves and the rest stay put.
Can I pour onto a different colour?
No. Liquid only flows into an empty tube or onto the same colour. If you tap a tube that cannot accept it, the game picks that tube up instead (or simply lets go, if it is a finished tube), so tap a lifted tube again to put it down.
When do I get a third empty tube?
From Level 9, the first level with eight colours. Before that every level gives you two empty tubes.
What should I do when the game says Stuck?
Press Restart to replay the same layout from the start. Next time, watch for the moment you filled your last empty tube with a colour that had nowhere to go next. It is better to undo as soon as a board starts to feel tight, before the Stuck screen appears.
Is there a time limit or a lives system?
Neither. Take as long as you like over every pour; there is no penalty for restarting a level as often as you want.
Will I lose my progress if I close the page?
No. Your level, the current tubes, your move count and your undo history are saved in your browser, so the game reopens where you left it.
