Water sort puzzle tips and strategy
How to solve a water sort puzzle — also called a liquid sort or color sort puzzle — without painting yourself into a corner. First the technique that works across the genre, then how Decant's boards, Daily and Pro work.
How to play a water sort puzzle
Every water sort puzzle has the same goal: pour liquid between tubes until each tube holds a single colour. You can only pour onto a matching colour or into an empty tube, and a tube only holds so much. The skill is in the order you pour. In Decant, tap a tube to lift it, then tap another to pour into it. Tap the lifted tube again to put it back down.
Four to a tube
Every tube holds four units, and every colour has exactly four units on the board. A board starts with one full, mixed tube per colour. No tube arrives already sorted.
Two spare tubes
Every board is dealt with two empty tubes beyond one per colour, and that never changes. The spare room is the whole puzzle: spend it well and the board opens up.
The top run pours
A pour moves the whole run of one colour sitting on top of a tube, as much of it as fits. If the target has room for one unit and your run is three, one moves and two stay behind.
When it's done
The board is solved when every tube is either empty or full of one colour. A finished tube is locked; you can't pour out of it. If no legal pour is left, Decant says so, and you can undo or restart.
Decant also refuses one pointless move: pouring a tube that's already all one colour into an empty tube. It would only change which tube holds the colour.
Water sort strategy tips
These are general techniques for the genre. Each one works under Decant's rules too.
- 01Finish a tube whenever a pour can.A completed tube can't be disturbed and never needs thinking about again. If a pour tops a tube up to four of one colour, it is almost always the right move.
- 02Pour onto matching tops before you touch an empty tube.Stacking a colour onto the same colour costs you no space. Of those pours, prefer the one that empties a tube completely: an emptied tube is a new spare, and spares are what let you dig.
- 03Spend a spare only to uncover something useful.Before pouring into an empty tube, look at what the pour will reveal underneath. If that colour then has a matching top to go to, the spare bought you progress. If it doesn't, you've just used up room. Spending your last spare is the riskiest pour on the board.
- 04Avoid splitting a run.Three of a colour together is worth more than three scattered across tubes. Pouring a long run into a tube with room for only one or two leaves the rest behind and spreads the colour out. Wait until the run fits.
- 05Plan backward from the colour closest to done.Every colour has exactly four units, so count them. Pick the colour with the most units already on top or near the surface, work out which pours free the rest, and build toward it. One finished colour usually frees the next.
- 06Don't bury a colour you'll need.Pouring onto a colour covers whatever is underneath it. Before you pour, check what you're sealing in. A colour trapped under two others in a full tube is the usual reason a board goes dead.
- 07If you're shuffling, stop.Moving the same colour back and forth between two tubes gets you nowhere. When you catch yourself doing it, undo to the last real decision and try a different pour there.
Decant's levels: 180 boards, four difficulties
The Puzzle ladder holds 180 boards in four difficulty rungs. The spare room stays at two tubes throughout; difficulty comes from the number of colours. Every board was proved solvable before release, and the ladder shows your best pour count on each board you've solved.
| Difficulty | Boards | Colours | Tubes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gentle | 1–40 | 5 | 7 |
| Steady | 41–90 | 6 | 8 |
| Tricky | 91–140 | 8 | 10 |
| Severe | 141–180 | 10 | 12 |
Free pour is Decant's practice mode. Choose gentle, steady, tricky or severe, then deal a fresh board at that difficulty. Practice boards are generated and proved solvable before you play them. Your daily allowance is spent when you deal a board, not when you open the screen.
The Daily puzzle: Daily tide
Daily tide is one board a day, the same for every player. A new one arrives at 00:00 UTC, dealt fresh for that date and proved solvable. It is never one of the ladder or practice boards, and the screen shows its difficulty and colour count before you start.
You get one ranked attempt, and fewest pours wins; players with the same pour count share a place. The ranked attempt has no Restart: if the board goes dead with no undos left, that attempt is over. Replays after that are unranked. Ranking needs no account. If rankings can't be reached, the board still plays, unranked. A ranked solve that couldn't be sent is retried until the 00:00 UTC reset; a run that crosses the reset doesn't rank for either day.
Playing for fewest pours: everyone gets three undos on the ranked attempt, Pro included. An undone pour is removed from your count. Only the pours in the line that actually solves the board are counted. The tutorial never runs inside the ranked Daily, so new players learn on a ladder board first.
Finishing today's Daily builds your day streak. Past Dailies are in the archive with Pro, as unranked practice; they don't count toward your streak. Tap another player on the leaderboard to block or report them.
The Ranks tab also runs a weekly league built on ranked Dailies. Each Daily you clear in the fewest possible pours (or within an older Daily's target) earns a point, and fewer extra pours across the week breaks ties. Each week ends in a Gold (top 10%), Silver (next 30%) or Bronze trophy. Trophies are cosmetic, and nothing you buy moves a place.
Free vs Pro
Pro adds more puzzles, not different rules. Both tiers play the same boards with the same two spare tubes, and neither has ads.
| What you get | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Today's Daily | Included | Included |
| Tutorial | Included | Included |
| Ladder boards | First 30 | All 180 |
| Practice per day | 3 | Unlimited |
| Undos per board | 3 | Unlimited (3 on the ranked Daily) |
| Daily archive | None | All |
| Advanced stats | Not included | Included |
Free practice resets at midnight UTC. Everyone gets records of boards solved, streak, Dailies, practice clears, pours, undos and restarts. Pro adds perfect clears by difficulty. A Perfect clear uses the fewest possible pours. Older archived Daily puzzles may show a Target instead: a reference solution, not a guarantee of the minimum.
Prefer a quicker pace? Turn on instant pours in Me. Liquid symbols and high contrast help distinguish colors, and sound, haptic, handedness and motion controls let you make it yours. After a clear, share your result as an image card.
Get Pro with the one-time Decant Full Game Unlock, or with a monthly or annual StackForge Play Pass, which covers Pro in Decant and every StackForge game and is tied to your account. The paywall shows store prices before you buy and has Restore purchases.
FAQ
Is every level solvable?
Yes. Every ladder board was proved solvable before release. Each Daily and each practice board is proved solvable before you're given it. If a board goes dead, the pour order is the problem, not the deal. Undo or restart.
How many levels are in Decant?
180 ladder boards across four difficulties, plus a new Daily every day and practice boards at any difficulty. The first 30 ladder boards are free.
Can you buy an extra tube?
No. Every board has exactly two spare tubes on both tiers, and there are no extra tubes, hints, lives or energy for sale.
Does Decant have ads?
No, on either tier.
What happens when you run out of moves?
Decant shows "No pours left." Undo a pour if you have one, or restart the board. Restart is always free on every unranked board; the ranked Daily attempt has no Restart.