Water Sort Puzzle — Color Pour

How to play

1. Select a tube containing water, then select a destination. Click or tap, or focus a tube button with Tab and activate it with Enter or Space.
2. You can pour only into an empty tube or onto the same color at the top, with enough room. Each pour moves as much of the matching top layer as the destination can hold. Each tube holds four layers.
3. Complete a stage by filling each occupied tube with one color. Empty spare tubes may remain. One successful pour counts as one move. Each new puzzle starts with two empty spare tubes, except the introductory practice, which has one.

Why a water sort move works—or doesn’t

Imagine blue water on top of one tube. You can pour it into an empty tube or a tube with blue on top, as long as there is room. You cannot pour it onto pink, even if the destination has space. Colors buried below the top layer cannot move until you uncover them.

Each tube holds four layers. If the source has two blue layers together but the destination has space for only one, only one layer moves. One successful pour counts as one move, regardless of how many layers it transfers.

Tips for sorting the colors

• Keep an empty tube available when possible. It gives you room to uncover a color that is buried lower down.
• Look below the top color before pouring. A useful move opens access to another matching layer.
• Use Undo if a pour closes off your options. A hint suggests one move, so you can still discover the rest yourself.

What to do when you get stuck

Before restarting, try Undo to return to a previous layout in the current play session. Moving a full single-color tube into an empty one only changes its position; it does not uncover a new color. Look for a pour that frees a buried layer or combines matching partial tubes.

Hint suggests a source and a destination for one pour, without revealing the whole solution. If no hint is available, undo a recent move. Restart generates a different puzzle at the same stage and resets its move count, while keeping unlocked and completed stages.

Water sort puzzle FAQ

Is Color Pour free to play?

Yes. All 30 stages are free in your browser on desktop or mobile, without a download or account. You can generate fresh puzzles at unlocked stages.

Why can’t I pour into a tube?

The destination must have space and either be empty or show the same color on top. Only the connected top layer of the source can be poured.

What is the trick to solving a water sort puzzle?

Keep a spare tube available, combine matching partial tubes, and look at the layer you will uncover before pouring. Moving a completed single-color tube to an empty one does not improve the layout. If a move blocks your options, undo it and try a different order.

How many stages are there, and are the puzzles random?

There are 30 stages. The first teaches the rules with one pour, and later stages add colors, up to eight. Completing a stage unlocks the next. Starting or restarting a stage generates a fresh puzzle with a valid solution. Small introductory layouts may occasionally repeat; the stages are not a fixed list of boards.

Does the game save my progress?

When local storage is available, the game saves unlocked and completed stages, the current puzzle and its move count in this browser. Refreshing resumes that puzzle; restarting generates a new one. Clearing site data or switching browsers can remove or change saved progress. Move counts from different random puzzles are not ranked against one another.

Do hints show the whole solution?

No. A hint suggests one pour to try. It does not promise the shortest solution. You can also undo a move or restart if you get stuck.

Try a fruit merging puzzle

Explore another puzzle about planning where things land in Orchard Drop, our free fruit merge game.