Color Sort Solver
A solver for matching-color color sorting games — balls, hoops, buttons, blocks, or nuts & bolts. Enter visible stacks and search for a legal solution, free.
Pick a color below, then click a tube to add balls in bottom to top — copy them exactly as they appear in your level. Pick the eraser to remove a tube's top ball.
Supports visible colors, 4 or 5 units per tube, up to 12 colors and 1–3 empty tubes. Search limits: 400,000 nodes and about 8 seconds. No result does not prove a puzzle impossible.
Solution
Color sort variants with matching rules
Ball & hoop stack
Classic color sort: one piece moves at a time onto a matching color or an empty stack. That's exactly what this solver plays.
Nut & bolt sort
For nut-and-bolt games using one-piece matching-color moves, treat each bolt as a tube and each nut as a ball. Special locks or hidden pieces are not supported.
Liquid levels
Water and paint games pour whole color runs at once — those need the water sort solver instead.
Prefer playing to solving? Our free ball sort game has unlimited levels with a built-in hint button, and the strategy guide teaches you to need this solver less.
Color sort solver FAQ
Which color sort games does this solver handle?
Visible tube- or stack-based games where one top piece moves onto the same color or an empty stack: ball sort, hoop stack style games, nut and bolt sort, block sort, button sort and similar puzzles with 4 or 5 pieces per stack.
What about liquid color sort games?
Liquid games pour a whole run of one color at once — for those use our water sort solver, which follows pouring rules.
Is this color sort solver free?
Yes — free, unlimited, no account. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Can I share a puzzle with a friend?
Yes. The Share button copies a link that encodes your exact puzzle, so whoever opens it sees the same stacks and can view the same solution.