# Magic Sort: rules and tips for the water sort puzzle

Source: https://roam.new/magic-sort/

Magic Sort! is a water-sorting puzzle from Grand Games, a studio in Istanbul. You pour colors between bottles until every bottle holds a single color. It is free on the App Store with in-app purchases, and also on Android.

## The rules

- **Pour onto a match**: You can only pour onto the same color on top, or into an empty bottle.
- **Bottles have a limit**: Each bottle holds a fixed number of layers, so you cannot dump everything in one.
- **One color each**: The level is done when every bottle is one solid color or empty.
- **Boosters**: Undo and extra bottles help on hard levels, and some cost coins.

## A sample level, step by step

Say there are three colors, four layers of each, mixed across three full bottles. There are also two empty bottles.

- **1. Pour the top layers**: Move each top color onto the same color or into an empty bottle.
- **2. Build one color**: Pick the color that sits near the top in most bottles and collect it in one bottle first.
- **3. Free a bottle**: Once one bottle is a single color, you have room to move the rest.
- **4. Finish by the bottoms**: Each bottle's bottom color tells you which color to collect there.

## Tricks for hard levels

Most stuck levels come from filling the empty bottle too early. Treat it as your workspace, not a place to park colors.

- **Free a bottle first**: Work toward emptying one bottle completely. Space is the real resource.
- **Read the bottoms**: The color at the bottom of each bottle tells you where that color has to end up.
- **Count the layers**: Know how many layers of each color exist before you start moving them.
- **Undo is not cheating**: Try a line, see where it ends, and go back. Most players solve hard levels this way.

## Watch for look-alikes

Several other apps use the name Magic Sort, including water sort and bottle fill puzzles from different studios. If you want the Grand Games one, look for Magic Sort! with the exclamation mark and check the developer name on the store page.


## Play it on Roam

- [Pour, Cork, Shelve](https://roam.gg/play/pour-cork-shelve/): A cozy potion shop, a sleepy cat, and vials to sort.

## Make your own sort puzzle with Roam

Roam is a free iPhone app where you describe a game and play it. Give the sort puzzle your own theme and your own twist. Roam is rated 13+ on the App Store.

Try: "potion sorting puzzle in a witch's shop, pour colors until each bottle is one color, a cat knocks a bottle over every 5 levels"

[Get Roam on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6745489251?pt=126889634&mt=8&ct=rnew-magic-sort)

## Questions people ask

**Who makes Magic Sort?**
Grand Games, a mobile games studio in Istanbul, Turkey.

**Is Magic Sort free?**
Yes, it is free to download, with in-app purchases.

**How do you beat a hard Magic Sort level?**
Keep one bottle empty as long as you can, plan by the bottom colors, and use undo to test lines.

**What is a water sort puzzle?**
A puzzle where colored liquid sits in layers inside bottles, and you pour until each bottle holds one color. Magic Sort is one of many games in this style.

## About Roam

Roam ("Roam - Make Games" on the App Store) is an iPhone app where you play games and make your own by describing them or from a photo. It is free to download and play, and making games works without a subscription; optional Spark and Reality plans and credit packs add more creation. Android: pre-register on Google Play. https://roam.gg