Playbook
How to play Vial Sort
Tap a vial, then tap another to pour the top run of matching colors. A vial holds four. Empty tubes are your working space. Finish with each vial uniform—or empty—in as few pours as you can.
Controls
Tap a source vial, then a destination. The top run of identical colors pours until the destination is full or the run ends. You cannot pour onto a different color. Tap the source again to cancel.
Scoring and lives
A solve scores more with fewer pours. There are no lives. Shuffle whenever the board no longer makes sense. Empty vials are the real resource.
Habits that raise the ceiling
Keep one vial empty as working space. Finish a nearly complete color before opening a new one. Pour whole runs, not single drops, when the destination can take them.
Common mistakes
- Filling every vial so there is no place to pour
- Breaking a finished color to rescue a single misplaced drop
- Pouring one ball at a time when a full run would fit
A two-minute drill
Solve one board while protecting a single empty vial at all times. If you fill it, undo the idea mentally and reshuffle. Space first.
This page is a complete how-to, not a wrapper around an ad. If you want more depth, the journal explains practice, lives, and fair difficulty for the whole arcade.