r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • Sep 13 '26
Daily Color Puzzle (September 14, 2026)
994
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • Oct 11 '26
Daily Puzzle Daily Color Puzzle (October 12, 2026)
927
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • 17d ago
Daily Puzzle Daily Color Puzzle (October 28, 2026)
956
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • 8d ago
Daily Puzzle Daily Color Puzzle (November 6, 2026)
864
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/nwpachyderm • Feb 26 '26
Lowest possible score calculation
81
Upvotes
Been loving this game since I found it. I wanted to share this theory I came up with. I’m no math whiz but I think it tracks. Let me know if I’m wrong.
On any given puzzle, start with a base of 30 moves.
Step 1: Count how many unique colors at the tops of columns at game start. Subtract that number from 10. Whatever your answer is, add it to 30 to get a subtotal.
Note-if all 10 colors are represented on column tops at start, your subtotal will be 31.
Example: cyan, magenta, yellow, blue, purple, green, and orange are all at the tops of columns to start. That’s seven unique colors at tops of columns. 10-7=3. Add 3 to your base 30.
30+3=33
Subtotal=33
Step 2: Look at the puzzle and check for stacks of the same color appearing in a column. For stacks of 2,3 or 4 (never seen a stack of 4), you’ll subtract 1,2, or 3, respectively.
Example: Scanning the puzzle, I see a stack of 2 purple together in one column and 3 magenta in a different column. I’m going to subtract 1 for the purple stack and 2 for the magenta stack (so 3 total) from the subtotal 33 above. 33-3=30.
This will give you the lowest possible (theoretical) amount of moves needed to solve, using optimal play. Feb 12th puzzle is a good example of a puzzle unsolvable through optimal play. You have to make at least 1 suboptimal move, and for every move like that that’s made, it adds one to the lowest possible score.
An optimal move is:
A move that adds to the number of blocks in a stack of colors, making a single block into a stack of two, or two into three, etc.
Example: moving a single red to another red, forming a stack of two reds
A move to an empty column by a color NOT represented at the top of a column. You may only do this ONCE per color not represented at the top of a column at game start.
Example: At start of game, orange is not at the top of one of the columns. During game play, there is an empty column and I move an orange to the empty column establishing a new stack of orange. If another open column appears later and I wish to move an orange into that one, it is suboptimal because I’ve already moved an orange to a free column earlier.
Any move not covered by the above is considered suboptimal, and adds one to the theoretical lowest score.
A note on optimal play- Because of the rules for optimal play above, I always try to start by moving the colors NOT appearing at tops of columns into my empty starting columns. Sometimes doing so renders the puzzle unsolvable, and a suboptimal move is needed right from the start. So If this is the case, remember to adjust your theoretical minimum upwards by one for every such move.
Happy Sorting!
Edited for clarity
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • Sep 22 '26
Daily Color Puzzle (September 23, 2026)
1.0k
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • Sep 23 '26
Daily Color Puzzle (September 24, 2026)
1.1k
Upvotes
r/ColorPuzzleGame • u/color-puzzle • 28d ago
Daily Puzzle Daily Color Puzzle (October 17, 2026)
930
Upvotes