Magic Sort! Level 961 Walkthrough and Solving Guide

To beat Level 961 in Magic Sort!, prioritize emptying one bottle completely during your opening moves to serve as a reusable buffer. Once that space is open, transfer surface liquids to uncover buried layers, consolidate matching colors into dedicated tubes, and avoid splitting partial color stacks across the board.

Opening Priority: Unlocking a Buffer Bottle

Level 961 opens with mixed bottles that limit your starting options. Your primary goal is not filling a complete bottle immediately, but clearing all four units out of a single tube to create an empty buffer slot.

Scan top layers: Identify colors that appear on the surface of multiple bottles.
Combine matching tops: Pour matching surface segments together onto an existing stack rather than spreading them across empty space.
Expose blocked colors: Choose initial moves that reveal a useful secondary color underneath, ensuring your first pours advance a clear follow-up action.
Empty one vial: Direct your initial combinations toward draining one specific bottle until it has zero liquid remaining.

Managing the Buffer Tube

An empty bottle provides the maneuvering room needed to untangle mixed stacks. Use it strictly as a temporary transit point rather than a dumping ground for random liquid.

Action	Execution	Purpose
Transit Shift	Move a top color segment temporarily into the empty tube	Uncovers a blocked color underneath that can immediately transfer elsewhere
Consolidation	Pour matching colors onto an active partial stack	Frees up space in source bottles and builds toward a full container
Bottle Seal	Pack all four units of a single color into one vial	Permanently removes that color and container from active play
Buffer Reset	Move the transit liquid back onto a matching stack	Restores the empty bottle to zero capacity for the next sequence

Whenever you place liquid into an empty tube, have an immediate exit plan. If the move does not instantly reveal a segment you can route away to clear the buffer again, hold off on that transfer.

Mid-Game Layer Routing

Once you have established working space, focus on colors buried at the bottom of crowded tubes. Puzzles stall when players clear easy surface colors while leaving heavily mixed bottles untouched.

Target base segments: Look at the bottom of multi-colored bottles to see which color is trapped at the base.
Peel upper layers: Transfer the top layers of that bottle onto compatible stacks elsewhere on the board.
Consolidate inward: Once the target tube contains only its bottom color, draw matching units from other tubes into it to finish the set.
Cap finished vials: Sealing a bottle with four matching units permanently shrinks the board footprint and prevents mistakes.

Preventing Deadlocks

Regular late-game stages like Level 961 fail when moves split colors unnecessarily or overfill open slots. To keep the board solvable:

Do not divide matched pairs: If two matching segments are already stacked together, keep them together unless splitting them finishes a bottle immediately.
Monitor tube capacity: Standard bottles hold four liquid units. Check that the destination container has enough room before pouring to avoid stranding partial segments.
Avoid spreading incomplete colors: Keep unfinished color groups clustered in as few bottles as possible rather than scattering single units across multiple vials.
Use undo promptly: If every available move requires placing a color onto an incompatible layer or blocking your only open buffer, step back using the undo function before filling remaining spaces.

Endgame Cleanup

After three or four bottles are sealed and removed from play, the remaining liquid pools can be resolved through direct exchanges:

Pick one remaining incomplete color as your active target.
Pour matching segments from other open bottles into that target container until it caps.
Use the newly emptied tube to cycle the remaining two colors back and forth until all liquids are sorted into their dedicated bottles.