Getting Started
Wizard Sort is a relaxing yet deceptively deep color-sorting puzzle. Each level presents a row of glass flasks (test tubes) stacked with multicolored liquid layers. Your job is to pour liquid between flasks until every tube holds a single, solid color. The controls are simple — tap a source flask to pick up its top layer, then tap a destination flask to pour — but the depth comes from deciding what to move where, and in what order.
The browser version of Wizard Sort on Suntongames is free, requires no download, and works on both desktop and mobile. Use the Play Now button above to jump in, then come back here when you want to refine your technique.
Core Mechanics
- Each flask holds a fixed stack of color layers — typically four.
- Only the top layer of a flask can be poured.
- Liquid can only land on a matching color, or on a completely empty flask.
- A full single-color flask is "solved" and ignored by future moves.
- Empty flasks are valuable scratch space — use them to break up mixed stacks.
- Every level is solvable without spending coins. If you feel stuck, you have missed a reorder rather than run out of moves.
The game auto-pours as much of the matching color as will fit, so a single tap can move one or several layers at once. Pouring from a half-empty flask onto a matching color is often more efficient than pouring into an empty flask.
Intermediate Strategy
Once levels introduce eight or more flasks and six or more colors, naive pouring gets you stuck within a few moves. Use these techniques to stay ahead:
- Sort by frequency first. Count how many layers of each color exist. Tackle the most abundant color first so you free up flask space faster and reduce visual clutter.
- Build "tail" flasks. Pick one flask per color and pour matching layers onto its bottom. Don't worry about the order of non-bottom layers yet — establish a single-color base in as many flasks as possible.
- Reserve one empty. Always keep at least one fully empty flask as swap space. If you must fill your last empty, plan two moves ahead so it empties again immediately.
- Collapse stacks before splitting them. If a flask reads A-B-A-B from top to bottom, pouring A off first creates B-A-B which then needs another flask. Pour B somewhere first so the two A's can stack directly.
- Watch the bottom layer. The bottom of each flask is the hardest to change, because nothing can be poured underneath it. Plan around bottoms early — they dictate your color assignments for each tube.
If you find yourself pouring the same color back and forth between two flasks, you are in a loop. Undo and try a different starting color — loops almost always mean you picked the wrong color to "solve" first.
Advanced Tips & High-Score Techniques
Wizard Sort tracks your move count and rewards lower counts with more stars per level. To consistently three-star harder stages:
- Plan a full solve before moving. Top players mentally solve the entire puzzle, then execute. With practice this takes seconds on small boards and a minute on the largest ones.
- Use the "buffer flask" trick. Designate one flask as a temporary holding tank that you refill and empty on a fixed rhythm. This lets you cascade colors without re-planning every move.
- Chain-pour for free moves. When a pour empties a flask, that flask becomes a free destination on the next move. Chain these empties to move multiple colors with one mental reset.
- Avoid partial fills on matching colors. Pouring A onto A when the target has one free slot but the source has three layers of A leaves two stranded. Wait for a better target or split the source first.
- Read ahead two pours. Before committing a move, ask: "After this pour, what becomes the new top of both flasks, and what can I do with each?" If the answer is "nothing useful", pick a different move.
The undo button is unlimited and free. Use it aggressively while planning — high-level Wizard Sort is more about exploration than perfection. Better to undo five times to find the optimal line than to commit to a 30-move solve when 18 was possible.
Level Difficulty Curve Analysis
Wizard Sort's difficulty curve is mostly linear, with occasional spike levels that act as skill checks:
- Levels 1–20 (Beginner): 4–6 flasks, 3–4 colors, generous empty space. Designed to teach mechanics gently. Most players clear these in under five minutes total.
- Levels 21–60 (Intermediate): Fifth and sixth colors appear, empties become scarce, and pre-stacked "trap" patterns like A-B-A-B-A-B show up. Move counts start mattering for stars.
- Levels 60+ (Advanced): Eight or more flasks, seven or eight colors, and starting configurations that look impossible but always have at least one clean solve. Spike levels usually appear every 25 stages.
If a level feels dramatically harder than the ones around it, it is almost certainly a designed spike. Take a breath, plan in your head first, and treat it as a checkpoint rather than a wall.
Common Mistakes
- Pouring into the wrong empty too early. Empties are precious. Don't dump a random color into your last empty just because it's available — that empty is your only tool for breaking mixed stacks.
- Locking mixed flasks. Filling a flask to capacity with two colors in it ends the level — there is no way to split it back out without an undo.
- Ignoring the bottom layer. The bottom of each flask is the hardest to change. Plan around it, not the top.
- Spamming undo without a plan. Undo is a tool, not a strategy. If you undo more than three times in a row, stop and re-plan the whole board in your head.
- Forgetting you can pour between two non-empty flasks. Many players only pour into empties, missing legal same-color pours that would free up space without consuming an empty slot.
- Chasing stars on a first playthrough. Move-count optimization is much easier once you already know the level's solution. Solve it once for the clear, then replay for stars.
With these techniques, you should be clearing eight-color boards in under 25 moves and three-starring the spike levels that used to stop you cold. Wizard Sort rewards patience and pattern recognition over speed — keep practicing and the moves will start to feel automatic.