Lining up
shu
Put the jumbled colors back in order.
How to play
Drag tiles to swap them. Each one that lands in the right place raises the pitch. Finish the row and light runs across it, then two more tiles join.
Notes on the feel
Sorting by hue alone takes the clues away from anyone who sees color differently, so lightness runs in the same order too — sorting darkest to lightest gives the same answer. The very last swap before it lines up is the best part.
What is this, really?
The urge to put colors in order shows up in the same shape in every country. Colored pencils in a stationery shop. Tubes of paint on a shelf. Book spines. Towels coming out of the wash. Rearranging them changes nothing about how any of it works, and yet the moment it lines up, something does look as though it has been settled. Doing it is not tidying — tidying has a purpose — which is exactly what makes it interesting.
Putting things in order has an unmistakable end. Once everything is where it belongs, there is no version of it that is better. Arriving at "there is nothing more to do here" inside half a minute is what this particular shape of good feeling is for. This toy is a row of color tiles and nothing else, and a band of light runs left to right across them the instant they are right.
How it is done where it comes from
When you order a real shelf, it finishes faster if you move the one obviously wrong item first rather than working along from one end. You can see the disorder in the whole drop with every move.
The same applies here: moving the color that is furthest from home first cuts the number of swaps. It also means the row looks closer to finished earlier, which is its own small reward while you are still working. Every tile that lands in the right place raises the pitch, so you can hear how far along you are without watching. Finish a row and two more tiles join, so the same method gets steadily harder: six tiles can be solved by eye, and twelve cannot, which is where planning a couple of moves ahead starts to pay. Note that sorting by hue alone would take the clues away from anyone who sees color differently, so the lightness runs in the same order as the hue — arranging them from darkest to lightest gives exactly the same answer.
Questions people ask
- I find the colors hard to tell apart. Can I still do it?
- Yes. Lightness changes in step with hue, so ordering the tiles darkest to lightest, or lightest to darkest, produces the same correct row. The pitch also rises whenever a tile lands in its place, so the sound confirms it too.
- Is there a time limit?
- No. However many moves you take, nothing cuts you off. What is recorded is your best time to finish a row, and the Daily Dopa compares the same thing.
- How many tiles can it reach?
- It starts at six and adds two every time you finish, up to twelve. After that it stays at twelve. The number reached is not saved, so the next time you open it you start from six again.