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Hexa sort tips: how to keep the honeycomb from filling up

Published September 23, 2026

Comb SortStack the colors until ten of a kind fly awayPlay now

The short answer to winning a hexa sort puzzle: you never lose because of colors, you lose because of space. In Comb Sort, the level ends only when the three stacks in your tray have no empty cell left to go to — so every tip that matters is really about keeping cells open. Keep one cell in reserve, drop each color next to its tallest pile rather than its nearest one, read what a slide will uncover before you trigger it, and spend the first minute on easy clears that unlock the grey cells. The rest of this guide explains why each of those works and how the game changes once wood, ice and extra colors show up.

How hexa sort works in Comb Sort

You get three stacks of colored tiles in a tray under the honeycomb. Drag any of them onto an empty cell. If the top color of that stack matches the top color of a neighbouring stack, the shorter run slides onto the taller one by itself. That slide uncovers a new top color, which may match another neighbour and move again — so one placement can set off a chain across half the comb.

When ten tiles of one color sit on top of a stack, they fly off the board and count towards the goal in the top bar, usually around three hundred tiles. Nothing else scores. Empty all three tray slots and three new stacks arrive. The level is won when every goal in the bar is met, and lost only when the tray has nowhere left to go.

There is no timer, no move limit, no lives and no energy. That matters for strategy: the game waits while you look, so there is never a reason to drop a stack before you have checked where its colors will travel.

Keep one empty cell in reserve

This is the rule that decides most levels. The board can look packed and still be perfectly safe, as long as there is somewhere to put the next stack. It can also look half empty and be one bad drop away from the end, if the open cells are about to be filled by stacks that match nothing around them.

Treat your last free cell as off-limits unless dropping there starts a clear. When the tray offers you three awkward stacks, it is usually better to place one where it at least touches its own color — even if the chain is short — than to fill the reserve and hope the refill is kinder. The refill only comes after all three slots are empty, so a bad tray has to be played out, not waited out.

Feed the tallest pile, not the nearest one

Only piles of ten score, so the question for every drop is: which pile of this color is closest to ten? Put the new tiles next to that one. Because the shorter run slides onto the taller stack, a tall pile acts like a magnet — every matching tile you place beside it grows it, and a pile at seven or eight will pop with the next small feed.

Dropping a color next to the nearest small stub does the opposite. You end up with several half-piles of the same color scattered over the comb, each eating a cell and none of them close to clearing. When you see two stubs of one color, look for a drop that merges them before you open a third.

Two-color stacks deserve a second look. The top color starts a slide, but the bottom color is then left exposed in that cell. If the bottom color has no neighbour of its own nearby, you have just parked a stranded tile. Place two-color stacks where both halves have somewhere to go.

Read what each slide uncovers

Chains are where the big clears come from, and they are not luck. Every time tiles slide away from a stack, the tile underneath becomes the new top color — and that tile decides whether the chain continues. Before a drop, look past the color you are moving and check what sits beneath it in the stacks that will lose tiles.

A drop that triggers one slide and uncovers a match is worth more than a drop that triggers two slides and uncovers colors with no neighbours. When you can, set up chains on purpose: leave a stack whose lower layer matches a tall pile next to it, and the next slide will carry on by itself. The main menu keeps your longest chain, which is a nice way to notice when you have started doing this well.

Clear early to unlock the grey cells

Grey cells with a number on them are locked. The number is how many tiles you need to have cleared before that cell opens, so the comb you finish a level on is wider than the one you start with. Room is the only real currency in a sorting puzzle, and these cells are how the game pays you for clearing.

That is why the opening minute should go on easy pops. Early in a level the tray gives simple two-color stacks and only three colors are in play — the best moment to rack up clears cheaply and open cells before the board gets busy. As your cleared count climbs, a fourth color joins, then a fifth, up to eight. When a new color appears, spend a move or two consolidating what is already on the board before you start a fresh pile for it; eight colors spread over eight half-piles is how levels end.

Wood, ice and what to do when you are stuck

From level eight, wooden blocks appear. Wood loses one layer whenever a stack clears in the cell right beside it. From level fifteen there is ice, which melts when a neighbouring cell clears and frees the tiles frozen under it. Both appear as separate goals in the top bar, so a level may need three hundred tiles and a couple of blocks broken before it counts as done.

Stray cascades rarely hit the right cell, so plan for it: pick a color, build its pile in a cell next to the blocker, and finish it there. Clearing a pile beside the wood is slower than clearing it wherever it happens to reach ten, but the fast route leaves the blocker standing.

If the board fills up anyway, you have two options: free up the three tallest stacks and keep going, or restart the level. A restart costs you nothing but a few minutes, and the second attempt is almost always tidier than the first because you already know how the level develops.

Play Comb Sort free in your browser

Comb Sort runs free on crokocat — no download, no account. It is built portrait-first for one thumb on a phone, and works on a tablet or with a mouse on desktop: click, drag and release a stack onto the comb. The game remembers your level, your total tiles cleared and your best chain, so you can close the tab and pick up later. Levels are generated rather than hand-built, so there is no last one.

If you want the same sorting instinct in a different shape, Gem Sort on the same portal is the classic flask version with free undo, and Rainbow Sort adds a moving conveyor that does not wait for you to think.

Rainbow SortRoll every marble into its colorPlay nowGem SortSort the sparklePlay now

Frequently asked questions

What is the best strategy for hexa sort puzzles?

Protect space. Keep at least one empty cell for the tray, drop each color next to its tallest pile so it reaches ten sooner, check what every slide will uncover, and clear early to open locked cells.

Why do the tiles move on their own in Comb Sort?

That is the sorting rule. When two neighbouring stacks share a top color, the shorter run slides onto the taller one. Each slide uncovers a new top tile, which can set off a chain.

How do you break wood and melt ice in Comb Sort?

Clear a stack in a cell next to them. Each clear takes one layer off wood, which appears from level eight. Ice, from level fifteen, melts from a neighbouring clear and frees the tiles under it.

What happens when the honeycomb is full?

The level is lost only when the stacks in the tray have no empty cell to go to. You can free up the three tallest stacks and continue, or restart the level; your overall progress is kept.

Is Comb Sort free to play?

Yes. It runs in the browser on desktop, phone and tablet with no download and no sign-up, and it has no timer, move limit, lives or energy.

Guides & tips

Play it here