Shell Sort Cove

What you do

Shell Sort Cove is a calm beach sorting puzzle where every set of four matching shells sinks into a clam that snaps shut and sends a pearl to your set counter. Eight beaches of six boards each add one new idea at a time: hermit crabs, sandy shells, kelp nets, five-slot tide pools, a lucky starfish and low tide with one spare tray. Every board is checked by a solver, and the target is the shortest finish plus about a quarter. A daily tide brings one fresh mixed board each day, the same for everyone on that date.

• The 48 boards rise from a 6-move lesson to a 27-move finale.
• Trays and shells resize to fit phones in portrait or landscape, tablets and desktops.

How to play

1. Tap a tray to lift its top shell, then tap another tray to drop it there. You can also drag the shell.
2. A shell can land on an empty tray or on a shell of its own kind. A tray holds four shells.
3. When the top four shells of a tray are one kind, they close into a clam and leave the board. Clear every shell to finish.
4. Hermit crabs (a shell with a crab peeking out) only walk into an empty tray, but other shells of their kind can stack on them.
5. Sandy shells hide their kind until they become the top shell of their tray.
6. A tray under a kelp net stays shut until the set shown on its tag clears.
7. Tide pools hold five shells. Whenever their top four match, those four clear.
8. The lucky starfish can sit on any shell and any shell can sit on it. It stands in for the missing shell of the one kind that has only three, marked with a star on the set counter.
9. Finish within the target moves without a hint for three pearls. Undo is free and takes back the move count too; a hint limits that board to two pearls.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: tap a tray to lift its top shell, then tap where it should go, or drag the shell onto a tray.
• Keyboard: number keys 1 to 8 pick a tray, or arrow keys move between trays and Space or Enter lifts and drops; U undoes, H shows a hint, Escape puts a shell back.
• Undo, Hint and Restart buttons sit under the trays; the map button opens the beach map.
• Shared toolbar: pause, restart, mute, help and fullscreen.

Tips worth knowing

• Keep an empty tray free for as long as you can: it is the only place a hermit crab can go.
• Build on trays that already have two or three matching shells on top.
• Clear the set on a kelp tag early, so the netted tray can help you.
• Count the shells you can see: every kind has four, so a sandy shell is often one you can name before it shows.
• Park the starfish where it gives a stuck shell somewhere to land, but finish with it in the set marked with a star.
• The pearls by the move counter show how many pearls the shortest finish from your position can still earn.

Accessibility

• Shell kinds differ in shape as well as color, and the set counter shows each kind's picture.
• Trays are large tap targets that grow with the screen, and every action has a button as well as a gesture.
• Everything can be played from the keyboard, and status text explains invalid moves, kelp nets and dead ends.
• There is no timer, and reduced-motion settings trim the particle effects.

Guides and roundups

• Best Cozy Puzzle Games to Play in 2026
• Best Cozy Organizer and Sorting Games in 2026