The rules, precisely
- You may pour from one tube to another only if the receiving tube is empty, or its top layer is the same colour as the liquid you are pouring.
- You pour the entire contiguous block of the top colour, not a splash of it — if three blue layers sit on top, all three move together (or as much of the block as fits).
- A tube is finished when it is full of one colour, and a level is solved when every colour is consolidated.
The block rule is the one people misread. You cannot pour one layer of blue and leave two behind — the move takes the whole top block. This is what makes careless pours so costly.
Why boards get stuck
A deadlock happens when every remaining colour is covered by a different colour and no empty tube exists to break the cycle. It feels like it happened suddenly, but the cause is earlier: you used your spare empty tubes as scratch space and filled them with mixed colours. Empty tubes are the only undo the game gives you, and spending them on half-organised liquid is how levels die.
The planning habits
- Read the whole board before the first pour. Count the colours and check how many tubes you have. If there are more colours than tubes can cleanly hold one each, you will need spare capacity — know where it is coming from.
- Prioritise consolidating a colour that already has a tall block. Completing one tube early frees a whole tube of space, which is worth more than spreading progress across many colours.
- Never pour a block onto a mixed tube unless it completes the colour. A tube holding red with blue on top is nearly useless; a tube holding only red is a resource.
- Keep at least one tube empty for as long as possible. Treat an empty tube as your reserve parachute, not as storage.
- When two moves both look fine, take the one that uncovers a colour matching something already consolidated.
What to do when you are nearly stuck
If every move would bury a needed colour, look for a two-pour sequence rather than a one-pour fix: move a small block into the empty tube, consolidate something, then decide whether the temporary guest can be evicted. If no sequence exists, the level is dead — restart rather than shuffle liquid randomly. On most versions a restart costs nothing, and a clean second attempt with the opening planned takes less time than salvaging a wrecked board.
Practise the habits on Water Sort — and if you like methodical spatial puzzles, Wood Block Puzzle scratches the same itch from the other direction, or browse the puzzle games guide for the wider catalogue.
