Pour Order
LeaderboardPour every tube to one color, rack after rack, before the clock runs out.
- Length
- Endless
- Quick run
- 2-minute version in The Daily
- Works on
- Mobile & desktop
- Category
- Puzzle
- All-time best
- 71,669
Pour Order controls: Tap a tube, then tap where to pour · or keys 1-9, Z to undo. Press Play, then the game takes the keyboard. Press Tab to leave it.
Pour Order
Endless
Tap a tube, then tap where to pour · or keys 1-9, Z to undo
How to play Pour Order
Tap or click the start screen: the first rack appears, three colors mixed through five test tubes, with a minute on its clock.
Tap a tube to lift it, then tap another tube to pour. The top color moves onto the same color or into an empty tube, as many layers as fit.
Fill a tube with four layers of one color to seal it. Seal every color to sort the rack: the time left on its clock becomes points, and the next, harder rack slides in with a fresh clock.
Out of pours? Use Undo (2 seconds), Restart (5 seconds) or tap the dashed spare tube to add an empty one (10 seconds).
Keep going as long as you can: the run ends when a rack's clock runs out. Finish racks at or under par for the full par bonus.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Touch: tap a tube | Lift it (tap it again to put it down) |
| Touch: tap a second tube | Pour the lifted tube's top color into it, or lift that tube instead if it cannot take the pour |
| Touch: UndoRestartthe dashed spare tube | Take back the last pour (2 s); put the rack back as dealt (5 s); add an empty tube (10 s) |
| Mouse | Click tubes and buttons exactly like taps |
| Number keys 1-9 and 0 (top row or numpad) | Pick tube 1 to 10 (numbers show under the tubes) |
| Z or BackspaceRTSpace | Undo; restart the rack; add the spare tube; put the lifted tube down |
Tips
Keep an empty tube empty for as long as you can. It is the most valuable space in the rack: fill it only when the pour frees a buried color or finishes a tube.
Before each pour, look at what it uncovers. The best pour exposes a color you can move again straight away, so your pours chain together.
Pour onto matching colors before you pour into empty tubes. A merge never costs you space; an empty tube used too early often does.
Start a rack with the color that sits on top of the most tubes. Freeing it first usually opens up the whole rack.
When a rack goes wrong, count the cost: two undos are cheaper than a restart, but if you are lost deep in a rack, restart it and play it cleanly.
Save the spare tube for the seven-color racks. Ten seconds is a lot on a short clock, but it is far cheaper than a long dead end.
Speed pays twice: every second left on a rack's clock is worth 60 points, and the clocks only get shorter, so a clean, quick rack now sets you up for the next.
Modes
- EndlessRack after rack, each on its own clock and harder than the last
About Pour Order
Pour Order is a free water sort puzzle you play in your browser. A rack of glass test tubes holds layers of colored liquid, all mixed up, and you pour from tube to tube until every tube holds a single color. It is the color sort game you may know from phones as water sort, ball sort or liquid sort, rebuilt as a fair race against the clock: no levels to unlock, no lives to buy and nothing to download. Every layer also carries its own symbol, a circle, star, heart or wave, so the puzzle reads just as well if you are color-blind.
Tap a tube to lift it, then tap the tube you want to pour into. Only the top color moves, and only onto the same color or into an empty tube; it pours as many layers as fit. Four layers of one color seal the tube with a cap and a chime. You are never stuck for good: Undo takes back a pour for 2 seconds, Restart puts the rack back as it was dealt for 5, and the dashed spare tube adds an extra empty tube for 10.
Pour Order is endless. Each rack comes with a clock of its own, and the racks keep getting harder: three colors in five tubes, then four, five and six, then seven colors in nine tubes, where one careless pour can leave you with no move at all. After that every rack has seven colors and a clock ten seconds shorter than the last, down to 35 seconds. Sort a rack and the time left on its clock becomes points; let a clock run out and the run is over. A first run usually sorts six or seven racks; a sharp player goes past twenty. A two-minute race of four racks on one clock is one of the games The Daily can deal you, and it puts Pour Order among our quick games too.
Every rack has a par, the fewest pours that can sort it, found by a solver. Each sealed color is worth 100 points and each sorted rack 500, plus a par bonus of up to 300 that shrinks by 50 for every pour over par. A computer checked every rack in the game for the same minimum number of pours and the same number of traps, so rack 5 of your run is exactly as hard as rack 5 of anyone else's: only the order of the tubes and the colors change, and a high score is skill, not a lucky deal.
Every run counts: your best score goes on the leaderboards, and top runs are verified by replaying them on our servers. The costs of Undo, Restart and the spare tube come off the rack's clock and your bonus, never off the real time on the board, and the clock keeps running if you step away. On a phone you simply tap; on a computer you can click, or play from the keyboard with the number keys 1 to 9 and 0 for the tubes, Z to undo, R to restart and T for the spare tube.
Pour Order sits with our other puzzle games and brain games. If you like sorting things out and planning a few moves ahead, try Sudoku Sprint or Block Fit next, or the rest of our games like 2048. It plays the same on mobile and PC, and it is one of the easy free games to play at work or on the train.
Details
- Category
- Puzzle Games
- Tags
- Genre
- Puzzle
- Orientation
- Portrait (9:16)
- Works on
- Mobile & desktopPhones, tablets and computers
- Controls
- Keyboard, mouse or touch
- Length
- Endless: a run lasts until you lose (2-minute version in The Daily)
- Modes
- 1
- Released
- Updated
- Credits
- Design and development: Gamefinity
- Age rating
- 4+
Pour Order FAQ
How long does a game of Pour Order last?
As long as you keep sorting. Each rack has its own clock, from one minute for the first to over two minutes for rack 6, and then ten seconds less every rack down to 35 seconds. The run ends when a clock runs out. A first run usually lasts five to ten minutes, and the clock keeps running if you step away.
How is the score calculated?
100 points for each color you seal, 500 for each sorted rack plus a par bonus of up to 300 (50 less for each pour over par), and 60 points for every second left on a rack's clock when you sort it. Undo, Restart and the spare tube cost clock time, so they cost bonus points too.
Does it really keep getting harder?
Yes. The first five racks add a color each, from three up to seven, and rack 6 is a trickier seven-color deal. After that every rack has seven colors and ten seconds less on its clock, until the clock stays at 35 seconds, where only a fast, clean sorter keeps up.
Is every game equally hard?
Yes. Every rack comes from a bank in which a solver checked the exact minimum number of pours and how easy it is to get trapped. Rack 1 of every run has the same par and the same trap rate, and so does every rack after it; only the order of the tubes and the colors change.
What happens if I run out of moves?
Nothing is lost. Undo takes back your last pour for 2 seconds, Restart puts the rack back as it was dealt for 5, and the dashed spare tube adds an empty tube to the rack for 10. The game tells you in red when no pour is left.
Can I play Pour Order on my phone?
Yes. It is made for touch: tap a tube, then tap where to pour. It plays just as well with a mouse, and on a computer you can also use the number keys and Z, R and T.
Is Pour Order color-blind friendly?
Every color has its own symbol on every layer and on its cap: circle, triangle, star, diamond, wave, square and heart. You can sort the whole rack by shape alone.
Next up
More games like Pour Order.
