Nuts & Bolts
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Today's daily game
Daily Nuts & Bolts
A new deal every day, the same for everyone. Your first try is the one that counts.
Next deal at midnight, Pacific time
Puzzle GamesUpdated
Nuts & Bolts
Sort the Nuts onto Matching Bolts. Free Online
Play Nuts & Bolts free online in your browser, a nut-sorting color puzzle, with no download or account needed.
Nuts & Bolts is a free nut-sorting color puzzle, in the same family as ball sort and water sort games. Every bolt starts with a stack of mixed-up colored nuts, and your job is to shuffle them around until each bolt holds four nuts of a single color. Only the nuts on top of a stack can move, and they can only land on a matching color or an empty bolt, so a few spare bolts and some careful ordering are all you have to work with. There is no timer, no lives and no way to fail, and undo is always free. Play it free here at CardAndPuzzle.com, in your browser on a PC or a phone, with no download or sign-up.
How Do You Play Nuts & Bolts?
- Tap, Then Tap: Tap a bolt to lift the nuts on top, then tap another bolt to drop them there. Tap the same bolt again to put them back.
- Runs Move Together: Every nut of the same color at the top of a stack lifts together. As many as fit land on the new bolt, and the rest stay behind.
- Match or Empty: Nuts can only land on a nut of the same color or on an empty bolt.
- Four to a Bolt: A bolt holds four nuts. Fill one with four of the same color and it is capped and finished.
- Winning: Every bolt is either finished or empty.
Can Every Nuts & Bolts Puzzle Be Solved?
Yes. Each puzzle is dealt, then run through a solver, and any deal without a solution is thrown out. The solution is checked again on your device before you play, so a puzzle you are given can always be finished.
- No Fail State: There are no lives and nothing to lose. If you run out of useful moves, the game tells you and suggests a way out.
- Free, Unlimited Undo: Undo any number of moves, all the way back to the start.
- Replay Any Time: Replay this puzzle from the Game menu, free.
- Four Difficulty Tiers: Every puzzle is labelled Easy, Normal, Hard or Expert, so you can see how much planning it needs. Hidden nuts push a puzzle up a tier, and a third empty bolt brings it down one. Puzzles run from three colors up to thirteen.
- Breathers Along the Way: Some puzzles give you a third empty bolt to make room, a short rest between the harder ones.
The journey starts with three colors and a walk-through on the first puzzle, and grows from there. Puzzles come one after another in order, and the journey never runs out.
What Are Hidden Nuts?
Further into the journey, some bolts wear a gray hood with a question mark. The nuts under it are hidden, and each one shows its color only when it reaches the top of its bolt. Hidden nuts turn a puzzle you can read at a glance into one where you plan around what you do not know yet. A revealed nut stays revealed, even if you undo the move that uncovered it.
How Do Hints, Undo and Extra Bolts Work?
- Undo Is Always Free: No limit and no cost, on every puzzle.
- Hint: Highlights a bolt to lift and shows where its nuts should go.
- +1 Bolt: Adds one extra empty bolt to the puzzle when you need more room. You can add one per puzzle.
- 5 Free of Each: You get 5 free hints and 5 free extra bolts, and you can earn more by watching a short ad.
- Moves and Par: There is no timer or score on screen, just your move count next to a par for the puzzle.
- Perfect Clears: Finish within two moves of par without a hint or an extra bolt and it counts as a perfect clear, with bonus XP toward your level. Undo does not count against you.
- Numbers on Nuts: Turn this on in the settings to print each color's number on its nuts, so colors are easy to tell apart.
- Picks Up Where You Left Off: The board saves after every move, so you can close the page and come back to the same puzzle.
What Are the Best Nuts & Bolts Strategies?
- Keep an Empty Bolt Free: An empty bolt is your most valuable space. Do not fill it unless the move gets you closer to finishing a color.
- Build on What Is Nearly Done: A bolt with three of a color at the bottom only needs one more. Finish it and it is out of the way for good.
- Move Whole Runs: Lifting a run of two or three nuts at once saves moves. Before you split a run, check whether there is a bolt that can take all of it.
- Dig Toward the Buried Color: If one color is stuck at the bottom of several bolts, plan a few moves ahead to uncover all of it at once.
- Uncover Hidden Nuts Early: On hooded bolts, the sooner you know what is underneath, the less you have to undo later.
- Undo Is a Tool: Undo is free and does not spoil a perfect clear, so use it to test an idea and back out if it goes nowhere.
Why Play Nuts & Bolts Here?
- Every Puzzle Is Solvable: Checked by a solver before you ever see it.
- No Timer, No Lives: Nothing counts down and nothing locks you out. Play one puzzle or fifty.
- Free in Your Browser: No app store, no download and no account needed. It works on a PC, Mac, Chromebook, tablet or phone.
- Mouse or Touch: The whole game is two taps or two clicks per move.
- Matches Your Theme: The bolts change metal to suit whichever of our themes you are using, from steel and chrome to brass and copper. Pick one on the themes page.
More Free Logic Puzzles
Nuts & Bolts is one of our free puzzle games. If you like puzzles that are always solvable, try Arrows, where you clear a jammed board one arrow at a time, or Minesweeper with its no-guess Journey mode. For a card game that rewards the same planning, play FreeCell Solitaire.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you play Nuts & Bolts?
Each bolt holds a stack of colored nuts, all mixed up. Tap a bolt to lift the nuts of one color sitting on top, then tap another bolt to drop them there. Nuts can only land on an empty bolt or on a nut of the same color, and a bolt holds four nuts. When a bolt has four nuts of one color it is capped and finished. Sort every color onto its own bolt to win.
Do you move one nut at a time?
No. When you lift a bolt, every nut of the same color on top comes with it, and as many as fit land on the target bolt. Anything that does not fit stays where it was. That means one move can shift a whole run of nuts, which is why the order of your moves matters.
Can every Nuts & Bolts puzzle be solved?
Yes. Every puzzle is checked by a solver before it reaches you, and deals with no solution are thrown away. The solution is checked again on your device before you play. You can still reach a dead end by making the wrong moves, but undo is free and unlimited, so you can always back out of it.
What happens if I run out of moves?
Nothing bad. There are no lives and no way to fail. If no useful move is left, the board shakes and the game suggests undoing a few moves, adding an extra bolt (once per puzzle), or replaying the puzzle from the Game menu.
What are the hidden nuts?
Later puzzles put a gray hood with a question mark over the lower nuts on some bolts. You cannot see their colors until they become the top nut on their bolt. Once a hidden nut is revealed it stays revealed, even if you undo the move that uncovered it.
How do you solve a nut sorting puzzle?
Keep at least one bolt empty for as long as you can, because empty bolts are your working space. Finish colors that are nearly done so they are out of the way, move whole runs rather than splitting them, and plan a few moves ahead to uncover a color that is buried at the bottom of several bolts. If an idea goes nowhere, undo is free, so back out and try another order.
Can I play Nuts & Bolts on my phone?
Yes. Nuts & Bolts runs in the browser on phones, tablets, Chromebooks and computers. Every move is two taps or two clicks: one to lift the nuts and one to drop them.
Is there a timer in Nuts & Bolts?
No timer runs on screen and there is no score. The game shows how many moves you have made next to a par for the puzzle, and the win screen shows your moves, par and time. Solve a puzzle within two moves of par without a hint or an extra bolt and it counts as a perfect clear.
Are there hints in Nuts & Bolts?
Yes. Hint shows you a good next move by highlighting the bolt to lift and where to drop it. You can also add one extra empty bolt to a puzzle when you need room. You get 5 free hints and 5 free extra bolts, and after that you can earn more by watching a short ad. Undo is always free.
Is Nuts & Bolts like a nut sort, ball sort or water sort puzzle?
It is the same kind of puzzle. Nut sort, ball sort, water sort and color sort games all share one idea: stacks of colors, only the top moves, and it can only go onto a matching color or an empty space. Nuts & Bolts is our version, built around nuts and bolts. A whole run of same-colored nuts moves together, there is no fail state, and it is free in your browser with no download.
Is Nuts & Bolts free to play?
Yes. Nuts & Bolts on CardAndPuzzle.com is free and runs in your browser on a PC, Mac, Chromebook, tablet or phone. There is nothing to download and no account needed, and your board is saved after every move. Sign in if you like to keep your progress on every device.
Is there a daily Nuts & Bolts puzzle?
Yes. Every day at midnight Pacific time, Nuts & Bolts gets one new puzzle that everyone plays. Your first try is the one that counts, and replays are practice. The board ranks by fastest finish, and you can see where you stand against the people you follow, your league of twenty players at your level, and everyone. The Card & Puzzle regulars, sixteen computer players who are always marked, fill any empty league seats. Find today's deal in the strip under the game, on Daily, and on the Nuts & Bolts leaderboard.
