Ball Sort

Ball Sort is a game about bringing jumbled coloured balls into order. The tubes are all mixed up and your job is to leave one colour in each. Free to play in your browser, no install required.

About Ball Sort

There is one rule: you can only place a ball on top of another of the same colour, or into an empty tube. That restriction is what makes the game what it is. The empty tubes are your room to manoeuvre; fill them without thinking and you run out of places to move.

The levels start easy. Three colours, a few tubes and a comfortable solution. Then the colour count grows, the tubes get fewer and every move can lock the one before it. At that point you need to see ahead: if I put this ball there, where am I stuck two moves later?

There is no timer and no move limit. You can stare at a level for as long as you want, or try and undo. Resetting is instant, so jamming up never stings; if anything, it makes you want to find the right order.

Why kids like this game

Sorting colours is satisfying in itself. A completely jumbled board turning spotless repeats that same feeling on every level.

Is this game safe for kids?

Yes. No violence, no scary imagery and no audio pressure. The game runs straight in the browser and asks for no sign-up.

1. Touch a tube to select the ball on top.
2. If several balls of the same colour are stacked, they are all selected together.
3. Touch the tube you want to move them to and the balls transfer.
4. A ball can only sit on top of the same colour or go into an empty tube.
5. Keep empty tubes as room to manoeuvre, do not fill them at random.
6. When you jam, reset the level and try again.
7. The level is complete once every tube holds a single colour.

• Think before you spend an empty tube: the one gap you hold is your only way out on most levels.
• Finish what is nearly done: if most of a colour sits in one tube, complete it first and free up space.
• Read the bottom colour: the ball at the base of a tube tells you which colour that tube will end up as.
• Look for chain moves: if moving one ball frees another, make that move first.
• Do not fear the reset: wrestling with a locked board always takes longer than starting over.

• Classic colour sorting: you separate the balls by moving them between tubes.
• Rising difficulty: the colour count grows while the empty tubes shrink.
• No move limit: try as much as you like.
• Instant reset: restart a jammed level with one tap.
• Calm visual style: soft colours and a plain interface.
• Plays the same on mouse and touch screens.