Jelly Jars

What is Jelly Jars?

If you've played a water sort puzzle or a ball sort puzzle, you already know the idea. You get a row of jars, each stacked with mixed colors, plus a couple of empty jars to work with. Move colors around until each jar is full of a single color. In our version the colors are jellies with names like Berry, Tango, Lemmy and Sprout, and they squish into the jar with a happy little sound when you get them home.

It's free and runs in the browser on your phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to download. Your stars and unlocks are saved on your device.

How to play

Tap a jar to pick it up, then tap another jar to pour. Every jar holds four jellies, and every color has exactly four jellies in the puzzle, so a finished jar is four of a kind.

• You can only pour onto an empty jar or onto a jelly of the same color.
• When the top of a jar has several matching jellies in a row, they all move together, as many as will fit in the target jar.
• A jar that is already full won't take any more.
• The puzzle is solved when every jar is either empty or holds four jellies of one color.

If you tap something that won't work, the game tells you why: "Colors must match", "That jar is full" or how many moves until a lid opens.

Sleepy jellies

From level 8 on, some jellies are asleep. They wear nightcaps and show up in a soft lavender color, so you can't tell what color they really are. A sleepy jelly wakes up the moment it becomes the top jelly of its jar, and then it shows its true color. You can't pour a sleepy jelly, so the only way to deal with one is to clear what's sitting on top of it.

Lidded jars

Starting around level 14, a jar can have a lid with a number on it. That number is how many pours are left before the lid pops off. Every pour you make anywhere on the shelf counts it down by one. Until it opens, you can't pour into that jar or out of it, so treat it as a jar that will join the puzzle later.

Controls (phone and computer)

On a phone or tablet, just tap. On a computer you can click, or play entirely from the keyboard:

Stars, moves and par

Every level has a par, which is a move count our solver found for that exact puzzle. The move counter and your current star rating sit at the top of the screen while you play.

• 3 stars: finish in par moves or fewer.
• 2 stars: finish within roughly a third over par (plus two moves of slack).
• 1 star: finish at all.

Using the extra jar caps you at 2 stars for that attempt, and the win screen will remind you to replay without it if you want the third. Restarting is always free.

Undos and extra jars

You get 2 free undos on every puzzle. After those, undos come out of your saved stock, which starts at 4. You also start with 2 extra jars, and you can add one per level. You earn more along the way:

• +1 undo the first time you 3-star a level.
• +1 extra jar for your first win each day.
• A gift jar every 5 levels you clear for the first time, worth +3 undos and +1 extra jar.

Levels, daily jar and leaderboards

The level map is split into worlds of 15 levels: Sunny Pantry, Picnic Hill, Candy Lane and Moon Garden. The first 60 follow a hand-tuned curve that adds colors, sleepy jellies and lids slowly, with an easier breather every fifth level. After level 60 the game keeps going with Bonus Jars worlds. Each level is the same puzzle every time you play it, so you can come back and chase three stars.

The Daily Jar is one puzzle that's the same for everyone that day: 7 colors, 2 empty jars, 4 sleepy jellies and one lidded jar. It's scored out of 1,000. You lose 25 points for each move over par, 40 for each undo and 300 if you add the extra jar, with a floor of 100. Finish it on back-to-back days to build a streak, and compare your score on the daily leaderboard. There's also a leaderboard for total stars.

Themes and jelly friends

Open the Shelf from the title screen to change the look. Themes unlock with total stars:

The Shelf also keeps your jelly friends. A new friend joins the first time you reach a level with more colors than you've seen, up to ten: Berry, Tango, Lemmy, Sprout, Minty, Skye, Grape, Bubbles, Cocoa and Snowy.

Color sort puzzle tips

These work in Jelly Jars and in most water sort style puzzles.

• Look before you pour. Count which color is closest to done. A jar with three of one color on top only needs one more, and that's often the cheapest win on the board.
• Guard your empty jars. An empty jar is your most valuable tool. Don't drop a single jelly into one unless it opens up something right away. Filling empties with junk is the usual way people get stuck.
• Pour runs, not singles. Since matching jellies move as a group, it's often better to wait one move and pour three Berries together than to shuffle them one at a time.
• Dig for sleepers early. A sleepy jelly is information you don't have yet. Uncover them sooner rather than later so you aren't planning around a mystery color at the end.
• Use the lid countdown. A lid with 2 on it will be open in two pours. Plan so that its contents are useful when it opens, rather than racing to make moves that waste your empties.
• Chase par on a replay. On a first try, just solve it. Once you know where the trouble spots are, replaying for three stars is much easier, and restarting costs nothing.
• Save undos for the daily. On normal levels a restart is free, so lean on that and keep your undo stock for the Daily Jar, where every undo costs points but a restart wipes your moves.

If you like this kind of tidy sorting, try Trinket Trio for match-three tile clearing, or Dock Jam for a sliding block puzzle.

Questions