Original puzzle guide
Color Water Sort: rules, strategy and 50-level guide
Quick rule: choose a tube, then pour into an empty tube or a tube whose top liquid is the same colour. A pour automatically moves as much of the matching top colour as the destination can hold.
Color Water Sort is a locally hosted MiniGames UK puzzle built around one simple goal: separate mixed liquid until every non-empty glass contains only one colour. The early levels use three colours and generous workspace. Later levels gradually add colours and longer solution paths while always keeping two empty workspace tubes.
Controls and legal pours
- Tap or click a non-empty tube to select it, then choose a destination.
- You can pour into an empty tube or onto the same colour. A different top colour blocks the move.
- Press number keys 1–0 to select tubes on a keyboard. Ctrl/Cmd+Z also performs Undo.
- Use Hint for a highlighted source and destination, Undo to reverse your last move and Restart to restore the original puzzle.
A reliable sorting strategy
- Protect one empty tube. Two workspaces are powerful, but filling both too early makes it much harder to expose buried colours.
- Merge before you scatter. When two tubes show the same colour on top, joining them usually creates more useful space than moving either colour into an empty tube.
- Finish a colour when possible. A completed four-layer tube is effectively removed from the puzzle and reduces the number of active decisions.
- Expose repeated colours. If the same colour appears near the top of several tubes, clear the layers above it so those pieces can be consolidated.
- Undo dead ends early. A bad workspace move is cheaper to reverse immediately than after five additional pours.
How the three-star score works
Every level has a known par route because the puzzle is generated from a solved arrangement through reversible mixing moves. Solving at or under par earns three stars. A small number of extra moves earns two stars, and any valid completion earns at least one star. Your lowest move count and highest star result are saved on the current device.
What changes across the 50 levels?
Levels are deterministic, so level 17 is the same puzzle every time you revisit it. Difficulty rises in two ways: the number of colours increases from three up to eight, and the mixing sequence becomes longer. Completing a level unlocks the next one. You can move backward through previously unlocked levels to improve your personal best without losing later progress.
When should you use Hint?
The built-in hint follows the known solution while you stay on that route. If you choose a different valid strategy, the game switches to a board-based heuristic that prefers same-colour merges, completed tubes and moves that reduce mixed stacks. A hint shows a recommended move but never performs it automatically, so you remain in control of the puzzle.
If you get stuck
Look for a tube whose top colour matches another tube before spending an empty workspace. If every useful colour is buried, Undo the last move that filled an empty tube. When the board has become difficult to read, Restart is often faster than trying to repair a long chain of temporary moves.
Play Color Water Sort
Play Color Water Sort free in your browser →
No download or account is required. Progress, stars and best move counts are stored locally in the browser.