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Nut Sort & Bolt Sort Puzzle Solver

Threaded yourself into a corner? Drop in your bolts and the colored nuts on each, click Solve, and we'll return the shortest sequence of moves to leave every bolt holding a single color.

Start Solving

Stuck? Enter Your Puzzle

Select the focused tube then tap a color — or use number keys. Hit Solve when ready.

Add some colors to your tubes to start solving.

Puzzle Board

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What Is a Nut Sort & Bolt Sort Puzzle?

Nut Sort (also marketed as Bolt Sort, Nut & Bolt Sort, Screw Puzzle, Nuts and Bolts, or Bolts and Nuts) is the hardware-themed member of the color-sort family — where bolts replace tubes and colored nuts replace liquid layers or balls. It shares Ball Sort's one-move-at-a-time rule, but with a twist: bolts often have heterogeneous heights within the same level, so you can't always move a nut to the most logical destination. A six-nut bolt with three slots free is a different opportunity than a two-nut bolt with three slots free, even when both have the same top color. That bolt-height constraint is what makes Nut Sort and Bolt Sort feel mechanically harder than Ball Sort despite using nearly identical movement rules. ChromaOracle's solver respects per-bolt capacity and finds the minimum-move path no matter how irregular the layout.

How Do You Solve a Nut & Bolt Sort Puzzle Online?

  1. 1Add as many bolts as the level shows you, with the matching capacity for each. Nut Sort and Bolt Sort levels frequently mix shorter and taller bolts in the same puzzle, so per-bolt height matters more here than in Ball Sort.
  2. 2For each bolt, tap a color or press 1–9 to thread on a nut from bottom to top, in the order they're stacked in your game. If a nut is hidden or shown without a clear color, press ? — Mystery Mode will resolve it.
  3. 3Click Solve. ChromaOracle returns the minimum number of single-nut moves needed to leave every bolt holding one color. Step through the playback to see which nut moves to which bolt, exactly as it will play out in your game.

Nut & Bolt Sort Strategy: Working Around Bolt Height

Treat bolt-height as the puzzle's secret variable. The 'safest' move in Ball Sort terms — moving a top nut onto a matching color — can still be wrong in Nut Sort if it fills a tall bolt that you needed as workspace. Always check capacity before committing.
Plan toward the tallest bolt as your final destination per color whenever possible. Tall bolts swallow color stacks without becoming unusable; short bolts get topped off and locked early.
When a nut is hidden (covered by another, or marked with a fog or lock indicator), set it to ? and use Mystery Mode. The solver tests every possible identity for the hidden nut and returns only the moves that are correct no matter what's underneath.

Nut Sort & Bolt Sort Solver FAQ

What's the rule for moving nuts in Nut Sort and Bolt Sort?

You move one nut at a time, from the top of one bolt to the top of another. The destination must be empty, or its top nut must match the color of the moving nut, and there must be enough thread length on the destination bolt to receive the nut. The third condition — bolt capacity — is the key difference from Ball Sort: a legal-by-color move can still be illegal if the destination bolt is full.

How does the bolt-height limit work in Nut Sort and Bolt Sort?

Each bolt has a maximum number of nuts it can hold (its 'thread length'). Most Nut Sort and Bolt Sort levels mix short bolts (3–4 nuts) with tall bolts (5–7 nuts) in the same puzzle, and the solver respects each bolt's individual capacity. A bolt that's already full simply isn't a valid destination, even if its top color matches what you're trying to move. This is the most common reason a level looks stuck.

Can I add a different-color nut on top of an existing stack?

No — the same color-matching rule applies: you can only place a nut on top of an empty bolt or one whose top nut matches your moving nut's color. Partial-fill doesn't change that. Some Nut Sort apps visually animate a 'rejection' when you try; ChromaOracle's solver simply won't generate the move.

Is the Nut Sort solver free? Does it work for Bolt Sort, Screw Puzzle, and Nuts and Bolts too?

Free, no sign-up, no install, no ads — and yes, it works for every game in this family. Nut Sort, Bolt Sort, Screw Puzzle, Nuts and Bolts, Bolts and Nuts, and Nut & Bolt Sort all share the same underlying mechanics. ChromaOracle treats them identically: enter your bolts and nuts, click Solve, get the optimal solution regardless of which app you're playing.

How do I solve Nut & Bolt Sort levels with hidden colors?

Use Mystery Mode. Mark any hidden nut with ? (typically the bottom layers under a covered or fogged indicator), then click Solve. ChromaOracle generates every possible arrangement of the unknowns, runs the solver against each, and returns the moves that are guaranteed safe across all permutations. Make those, reveal the next layer, then re-solve.

Why does Nut Sort feel harder than Water Sort or Ball Sort?

Three reasons. First, bolt-height variation means workspace planning has to account for capacity, not just color. Second, level designers tend to give Nut Sort tighter empty-bolt budgets. Third, the hardware theme tends to be paired with longer level packs. Mechanically Nut Sort is identical to Ball Sort, but level design typically pushes the average difficulty up.

Can a Nut & Bolt Sort puzzle be unsolvable?

Yes, especially when bolt heights and nut counts are mismatched in user-modded packs. Official levels are nearly always solvable by design. If ChromaOracle reports unsolvable on a level you're confident is from a real game, double-check bolt capacities and the bottom-to-top order of the nuts you entered.

Does ChromaOracle find the shortest Nut Sort & Bolt Sort solution?

Yes. The solver uses breadth-first search, which guarantees the absolute minimum number of moves rather than just any working solution. Bolt-height constraints are part of the move generator, so the search space already excludes capacity-violating moves before they're considered.

Learn More

Nut Sort Strategy Guide

Beginner to advanced techniques for mastering Nut Sort.

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Compare Water Sort, Ball Sort, Nut Sort, and more in one place.

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