Ball Sort Puzzle

Ball Sort Puzzle — how to play and tips

Ball Sort Puzzle is a relaxing color-sorting game that has become one of the most popular puzzle formats on phones, and this version runs directly in your browser with no download or sign-up. Each level gives you a row of glass tubes filled with mixed-up colored balls plus two empty tubes. Your goal is simple to state and surprisingly deep to solve: rearrange the balls until every tube contains only one color. When all the colors are sorted, the level is cleared and a slightly bigger puzzle with more colors and more tubes begins.

How to play

Tap any tube to select it; its top ball lifts out so you can see what you are holding. Then tap a second tube to pour the ball into it. A pour is only allowed in two situations: the destination tube is empty, or the ball on top of the destination tube has exactly the same color as the ball you are moving. Every tube holds a maximum of four balls, so you can never pour into a full tube. If several balls of the same color are stacked together on top of a tube, they all move together as long as there is room. Tap the selected tube again to put the ball back and choose differently. Each ball also carries a small symbol, so players who find some colors hard to tell apart can still match balls by shape.

The three helper buttons

Undo takes back your last pour and can be pressed repeatedly, so you can explore an idea and step back without penalty. Restart resets the current level to its original mixed-up arrangement if you feel you have boxed yourself in. Add Tube gives you one extra empty tube, usable once per level; it is a real lifeline on harder boards, but because it is limited it rewards you for planning rather than relying on it immediately.

Tips and strategy

Think about the empty tubes as your workspace, not as a place to dump balls. Before pouring anything, look at the bottom ball of each tube, because the color at the bottom decides which tube can eventually become the home of that color. A good habit is to pick a color whose balls are already near the top of several tubes, gather them into one tube first, and only then move on to the next color. Try to avoid burying a ball you need soon underneath a different color unless you have a clear way to dig it out again. When you are stuck, undo a few moves rather than restarting; most dead ends are just two or three moves long. Save the Add Tube button for the moment you truly run out of legal moves, and remember that having both empty tubes free at the same time makes almost any position solvable.

Why it is so satisfying

Ball sort puzzles hit a sweet spot between relaxation and thinking. There is no timer, no lives and no penalty for taking your time, so you can play for thirty seconds on a commute or settle in for a long session. Early levels with three colors teach the rules, while later boards with up to ten colors ask you to plan several moves ahead. The game stores the highest level you have cleared in your browser, so your best result is waiting for you when you come back.

Playing on mobile and desktop

The tubes are large touch targets, so tapping with a thumb is comfortable even on a small phone screen, and on a desktop you simply click. The board scales to fit any screen size, and the whole game works offline once the page has loaded. Because everything is saved locally, no account is required and nothing about your play leaves your device.

New: modes, levels, hints and stars

The game has three difficulty modes, each with its own 50-level road map. Easy grows from three to seven colors with four balls per tube, two spare tubes, two extra-tube refills and unlimited undo. Medium grows from five to ten colors and moves to five balls per tube from level 20, while the extra tube disappears. Hard grows from eight to fourteen colors, uses five and then six balls per tube, allows no extra tube, and limits your undos to five and later three. From level 15 on Hard, every level also has a move limit that gets tighter as you progress, and every tenth Hard level is a 90-second timer boss. Every fifth level is a boss level with one more color. You get a few free hints each day: three on Easy, two on Medium and one on Hard. Levels are generated automatically from the level number, and every one is checked by a solver, so it is always possible to finish.

Each level awards up to three stars. Finish close to the number of moves a solver needs and you earn all three; solve it slowly and you still get one. Using a hint caps the level at two stars. You get three free hints each day, and the Hint button shows which tube to lift and where to pour it. The Level select screen shows every level with its stars, and your progress is saved on your own device for each mode.

Level map, stars and scores

Every mode has its own road map of 50 levels. The path winds upward from level 1 to a trophy at the top, with a crown on every fifth level for the boss puzzles. Each finished level shows its star rating and the best score you reached, and the top of the map adds up your stars and points across the whole map. Your score depends on the number of colors, your star rating and how few moves you needed compared with the solver, and a hint costs a little. Replay any unlocked level to improve it.

Beads or glossy balls, changing layouts and sound

Each ball is made of dozens of tiny round, glossy 3D beads with a little highlight, so a full tube looks like layers of colored glass beads. If you prefer big, shiny balls, switch to Glossy balls in Settings, and you can also switch from the spread-out layouts to straight rows of tubes. The tubes are also arranged differently from level to level: in a straight row, a wave, an arch, a staggered brick pattern, a pyramid or a loose scatter, so no two neighbouring levels look the same. If you prefer the original look, open Settings and switch the balls to Classic dots, which draws each ball as a small cluster of seven glossy dots. When you pour, the tube tilts over the target and the dots stream across in a little arc, with a soft popping sound for each dot. All sounds are generated by your browser as you play, so nothing has to be downloaded, and you can switch sound and vibration off in the menu or with the speaker button. If you have reduced motion turned on in your device settings, pours happen with a much simpler animation.

Daily challenge

Once a day, everyone gets the same puzzle. Solve it to grow your streak of consecutive days and use the Share button to send your result to a friend. The daily puzzle changes at midnight in your time zone.

Accessibility

Every color also has its own small symbol drawn on the center dot, so the game can be played without telling the colors apart. You can turn the symbols off in Settings, switch between three color themes, and play with the keyboard: press a number key to pick a tube, U to undo, H for a hint and R to restart.