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How to play

Sortlock is a sort-balls-by-colour puzzle with one twist: some balls are hidden and you have to deduce them with logic. The rule clicks in 5 seconds; the depth lasts hundreds of levels.

1–3 min per level Offline 13+

Goal

  • Sort the balls so every flask is filled with a single colour — or left empty.
  • When a flask is full of one colour it is "solved" and seals shut with an animation.

How to move

  • Tap a source flask, then a target flask — the top ball flies over.
  • You can only pour onto an empty flask or onto a ball of the same colour.
  • You cannot stack a ball on a different colour or overflow a flask.

Deduction layer

  • A ball marked "?" is hidden — its colour is unknown.
  • Work out the colour from the clues: colour counts, flask rules and already-revealed balls.
  • You may move a hidden ball, but it pays to think first — every board has a single logical solution.

Hints & undo

  • "Undo" rolls back your last move; "Hint" reveals the next logical step as a leading question, not a ready-made answer.
  • In Endless and the Easy/Normal tiers, undo and hints are unlimited and free.
  • Competitive modes are stricter: the Daily board and the Hard/Expert tiers cap undos and hints, and Expert and the Daily board add a small time penalty for each one used.

When you get stuck

  • If a board reaches a dead end with no useful moves, Sortlock tells you right away.
  • Undo the last move, Restart the level, or Shuffle the balls into a fresh, still-solvable arrangement of the same shape.

Accessibility

  • Every colour is paired with a letter on the ball: R, B, G, Y, P, O and so on.
  • A hidden ball is marked "?". Colour is never the only way to tell balls apart — the game is colour-blind friendly.
  • Play in English, Español, Français, Deutsch or Беларуская, with a "reduce motion" option to save battery.

Daily board & Echo duels

  • Every day there is one shared board for all players in the world.
  • Solve it against a rival’s "echo": their ghost replays the moves and shows their reasoning. Win by using fewer moves.
  • Climb the daily ranking, keep a streak, challenge a friend with a 6-character code and share a spoiler-free result card.

Four ways to play

The same deduction puzzle, four flavours. Difficulty is shown as a 1–10 ⚡ rating you can tap any time to switch.

Endless

Adaptive difficulty just for you — boards that tune to your skill and never run out.

Daily board

One board for all players, plus an echo duel against a rival ghost matched to your skill.

By difficulty

Pick a tier — Easy, Normal, Hard or Expert. The same levels for everyone, refreshed daily.

Echo competitions

A daily ranking of the best daily-board solutions — fewest moves, fastest time.

Difficulty tiers

Easy 5 colours · a couple of "?" Unlimited help
Normal 7 colours · more "?" Unlimited help
Hard 8 colours · lots of "?" Max 5 undos / 5 hints
Expert 9 colours · the most "?" 2 undos / 2 hints · time penalty

What the balls mean

Revealed ball
Colour + letter (R/B/G/Y…)
Hidden ball
Colour must be deduced
Solved flask
One colour to the top

Tips for beginners

1

Solve the "cheap" deductions first — the ones where a single colour remains possible.

2

Free up a whole flask: an empty flask is your most valuable resource.

3

Count the balls of each colour — the counter almost always hints the hidden one.

4

Don’t move a "?" at random: a wrong reveal costs you a move.